Personal Finance Daily: Military widows forced to remarry to get benefits

Personal Finance Daily NOVEMBER 08, 2011 Military widows forced to remarry to get benefits By MarketWatch Don't miss these top stories: Military widows forced to remarry to get benefits How to live 100 healthy years Financial literacy is a big, fat Wall Street hoax Union-limiting law up for vote in Ohio When it comes to "unfair," this one is near the top of the list. Military couples pay for years into an annuity product that they believe will help supplement their military pension. Then, the military husband (or wife) dies, and the widow (or widower) finds out that the annuity payments won't get paid out, after all. Unless the widow remarries. Read Jeanette Pavini's Buyer Beware column today for more on this confounding legal quagmire. Plus, don't miss Kristen Gerencher's column, her second in a two-part series profiling Dr. Walter Bortz. In today's story, he offers four ways to live to be 100 — and healthy. Plus he has four strategies for curing the nation's health-care system. — Andrea Coombes , Personal Finance editor Military widows forced to remarry to get benefits A complex, confusing law prevents widows and widowers of military personnel from receiving an annuity benefit they paid into — unless they remarry after they turn age 57. Read more: Military widows forced to remarry to get benefits. How to live 100 healthy years It takes "guts and smarts" to live to 100 and still feel well, says Dr. Walter Bortz, a scientific researcher, author, geriatrician and octogenarian marathon runner. Here are his four tips for healthy living, plus his four strategies for revamping the U.S. health system. Read more: How to live 100 healthy years. Financial literacy is a big, fat Wall Street hoax Financial-literacy programs are getting popular again. Warning: They don't work. Maybe for 7% of us. But for the rest of Americans, they are a big waste of your time, and your money. Read more: Financial literacy is a big, fat Wall Street hoax. ECONOMY & POLITICS Union-limiting law up for vote in Ohio Voters in the Buckeye State will have their say about a law that limits collective-bargaining rights for state employees, a closely watched issue that will reverberate into the 2012 election year. Read more: Union-limiting law up for vote in Ohio. Fed should discuss future plans, two officials say Two senior Fed officials said the central bank should talk more openly about where they think rates are going and how they might react under different economic circumstances. Read more: Fed should discuss future plans. Third appeals court upholds health-care law A third appeals court upholds President Obama's sweeping 2010 health-care legislation. Read more: Third appeals court upholds health-care law. Optimism is up, but that's no vote of confidence The slight improvement in the economic optimism index this month s likely to be more a sigh of relief than a sign of enthusiasm. Read more: Optimism is up, but that's no vote of confidence. Italy's Berlusconi wins vote, loses majority Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi wins approval of a routine budget item but loses his parliamentary majority as pressure mounts to resign. Read more: Italy's Berlusconi wins vote. The political prisoner of the euro crisis Somewhere inside the headquarters of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, new chief Mario Draghi faces a desperate dilemma of Machiavellian proportions. Read more: The political prisoner of the euro crisis. Get the latest news on our mobile site: http://www.marketwatch.com/m MarketWatch has sent you this newsletter because you signed up to receive it. To ensure you receive this newsletter in the future, please add marketwatchmail.com to your list of approved senders. Sent to: kumaresan.selva.blogger@gmail.com Unsubscribe | Subscribe Copyright 2011 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved. MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (updated 6/26/07). MarketWatch - Attn: Customer Service, 201 California St., San Francisco, CA 94111