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Here in the Northeast, it's been a mild winter so far -- if you exclude the freak Halloween storm that caught us all by surprise. But the roads are slick today so you may need a refresher in winter driving and car care.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation offers a great page of safe winter driving tips - including everything from preparing your vehicle, supplies you should have in the car, safe driving pointers, and advice for what to do if you are stranded while driving. One of the things that always seems difficult is sharing the road with plows and snow clearing equipment - to pass or not to pass? So the common sense tips for driving near plows offers some good guidance. The graphic that accompanies the tips is excellent so we are reprinting it below.

Have fun this New Year's Eve, but be careful! It's a good idea to plan in advance for your safety - and that of your friends and family.

As a rule of thumb, you should consume only one drink or less per hour. Effects will vary based on a person's body weight and body chemistry. Plus, alcohol has a cumulative effect so how many drinks you consume over how many hours has an effect. In general, your body can only metabolize about one drink per hour. And be careful about how you define "one drink" - this equates to 12-ounces of beer, a 4-ounce glass of wine, or one shot (one ounce) of 80 proof alcohol.

The Blood Alcohol Calculator from the Police Notebook will estimate your impairment level and tell you if you are "legal." The calculator works by giving an estimate of your "blood alcohol count" (BAC) or the ratio of alcohol to blood in your system. Enter the type of drink, how many drinks you consumed/plan to consume, your weight, and the amount of time you have been/will be drinking. This will produce an estimated BAC, and will tell you if you are impaired and at risk of arrest should you be stopped by police.

The site also includes some handy reference charts for men and for women, and charts that describe the type of impairment that people experience at various BAC levels. There are also a list of common myths and suggestions for how to get car keys away from an intoxicated person.

If you are out on New Year's Eve, have an advance strategy to ensure your safety:

• Plan for a designated driver.
• Plan to sleep over.
• Look for a Tipsy Taxi service in your area. Many communities sponsor a free taxi service that can be called to get a ride home. You can call a local police department to see if there are any operating in your community.
• Drink non alcoholic beverages.
• Have one or two drinks early in the evening and switch to non-alcoholic beverages for a few hours before you drive home.

If you are hosting a party, take your responsibilities seriously. You would never forgive yourself if a guest were injured or killed - or killed another driver - after leaving your house. Plus, you might have either criminal or civil liability for any accident ensuing from intoxication that occurred at your home. Here is a good Responsible Party Host Tip Sheet (PDF) to help you plan a safe party.

And one final note of caution:
People can and do die from alcohol poisoning when they consume more alcohol than their body can safely process in a short period of time. Tragically, many young people succumb to alcohol poisoning every year due to ignorance about the facts of excess alcohol intake. Call 9-1-1 if you see someone exhibiting behavior that might indicate alcohol poisoning, evidenced by any of the following symptoms:

• Cold, clammy, pale or bluish skin
• Unconscious or unable to be roused
• Slow or irregular breathing
• Puking repeatedly or uncontrollably

The Edmunds True Cost to Own Calculator is a handy tool that will help inform you of the true cost of your next vehicle purchase. The purchase price is not the only indicator of which car is the better deal as sometimes the cheaper car will hit you with other costs down the line. The True Cost to Own Calculator helps reveal those hidden costs.

Here's how it works. Based on your area and the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price, it then factors in estimates about depreciation, taxes, fees, financing, fuel, maintenance, repairs, and the purpose of this blog, insurance. All estimates are based on a 5 year period with 15,000 miles driven per year. Although these are just estimates it's educational and often surprising to compare the charts of different makes and models to see what the estimated "True Cost to Own" is.

It's also good for comparing whether or not that hybrid car you've been eying is finally worth it, since in theory the higher purchase price will save you gas in the long run. You might be surprised. The True Cost Calculator helps determine this and reveal other hidden costs.

Insurance is already figured into the tool, but here is a list of the Most and Least Expensive Cars to Insure for 2011. Another factor you might want to consider is susceptibility to theft. Here is a list of the Top 10 Most Stolen in 2010.

Before you purchase your next vehicle be sure to check this tool out - it pays to do a little advance research!

An August 2011 Consumer Reports article about nutritional labeling advises us how to avoid temptation at the fast food counter, citing a study that shows that a group of people who saw calorie counts before ordering consumed 14% fewer calories than a group that didn't... other studies offer different results, showing little or no effect on consumer behavior. Does fast food nutrition labeling help us make healthier choices, yes or no?

Well, yes, and no, apparently... But we would point out one salient fact: fast food is fast. People may want to make healthy choices, but they're also in a rush. They're picking up and dropping off their kids, thinking about that presentation they need to deliver, or errands they need to run. If they had a few minutes to peruse the nutritional labeling, maybe they would have had time to make their own healthy lunch.

It makes sense to try to sort out this information and settle on selections during some free moment before placing an order. The article offers four suggestions for avoiding fast food temptation, the first being: Visit websites: Many fast-food chains post figures for fat, calories, and sodium. But that's a lot of work!

Surely there must be some magical Internet gizmo that would make all this much, much easier? And, yes, there is: Fast Food Explorer to the rescue! This clever fast food calculator makes it quick and easy to compare nutrition facts for fast food at 12 of America's most popular chains. You can view by Fat Calories, Total Calories, Cholesterol, Sodium, Carbohydrates and more in various categories, from sandwiches to side dishes -- and a handy feature is that you can compare between restaurants. So let's say you have an Arby's, a Burger King, and a Wendy's nearby, and you have a hankering for chicken: The Fast Food Explorer compares the three and instantly shows you that Wendy's 5-piece Crispy Chicken Nuggets is the healthiest (adult menu) choice.

Nice! And also rather addictively fun. Here's your easy way to make healthy decisions before you're blinking at the lunch menu and worrying about getting to your next meeting on time.

There's a total of more than $32 billion in the nation's unclaimed property pools representing more than 117 million accounts. It's mostly money or assets that were either forgotten or abandoned - and in many cases, the abandonment occurred when the account holder died and nobody else knew the account(s) existed. Don't let your property become part of that pot!

We've previously talked about the importance of updating your beneficiaries on insurance polices and other financial records. Just like changing batteries in your smoke detector and getting your car inspected, you should set a routine time to do this annually - failing to do so might leave your loved ones wrangling with court proceedings - or even totally unprotected. The importance of planning cannot be overemphasized. Not to be grim, but you simply never know when your time will be up. For a statistical assessment, see our prior post What are the Odds where we have a lot of risk tools that you can play with. They range from actuarial tables to to calculators for finding out your relative risk of dying in the next year or being attacked by a shark.

OK, you get the point. Planning is important. This past week, the Wall St. Journal featured an excellent and very helpful article in their finance section about The 25 Documents You Need Before You Die - alternately titled as "Designing your death dossier," which makes it sound pretty fancy. The article makes the point that it is not simply enough to ensure that your policies are updated - it's also critical that somebody in your family knows what and where all your important documents are.

We counted more than 25 important documents referenced in the article - but it is unlikely that all will be relevant to your situation. Nevertheless, it's a great reference article to bookmark and keep as a checklist for your annual planning.

Oh, and about that unclaimed $32 billion, if you think any of it might rightfully belong to you, here's a good place to check: The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators will let you conduct a free search.

Our last post dealt with various tools and technologies for keeping home inventories, and we just learned about a free new app for iPhones. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) have introduced myHOME Scr.APP.book, a tool that lets you capture images, descriptions, bar codes and serial numbers. It looks great. You can see a brief 2 minute video demo below and you can get tips from NAIC's InsureU on how to create a home inventory. And if you don't have an iPhone, there's always the low-tech method, which works too. NAIC offers a Home inventory checklist.

Also, be sure to check our our last blog post for other alternatives.

A step-dad who drowned his 3-year old girl in her backyard pool to collect her life insurance, a landlord who set fire fatal to one of his tenants while trying to cash in on property insurance, and a doctor who made a fortune running an illegal "pill mill" that resulted in 68 fatal overdoses ... these and a handful of other killers, liars and cheats make up the rogue's gallery that is the 2010 Insurance Fraud's Hall of Shame.

The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud compiles these lists annually, highlighting some of the worst and most egregious examples of fraud from the prior year - but they are just the tip of an estimated $80 billion dollar iceberg. Sometimes, fraudsters act alone. Other times, fraud is perpetrated by organized crime rings.

Consumer attitude to insurance fraud can be highly frustrating. Research by the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud reveals, "Two of five Americans want little or no punishment for insurance cheats; they blame the insurance industry for its fraud problems because they believe insurers are unfair." Many of those who tolerate insurance fraud wrongheadedly view it as a battle between an everyman David vs a large corporate Goliath. But the truth is far different ... it's more a battle between criminals and you. After all, it's not the insurance companies who take the hit: it is a crime you pay for - money from your pocket. Fraud and theft are business expenses that get factored into the costs that honest people pay for insurance.

The idea that insurance fraud is victimless is a common myth. Besides adding to the cost of insurance for every honest consumer and honest business, thousands suffer even more serious consequences: Every year, people are bilked out of life savings by illegal investment schemes; health is endangered when people are swindled by phony health policies; injured employees and their families suffer when businesses fail to carry legally mandated coverage, and innocent people are killed and maimed in arson and staged auto accident fraud schemes. See videos of common criminal fraud schemes.

If you have been a victim or insurance fraud or suspect insurance fraud, here are some ways to take action.

• Report to your state insurance authority. Many states have specific insurance fraud bureaus
• File a complaint online with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
• Notify the insurer - Insurance company fraud hot lines
• Call the National Insurance Crime Bureau Hot Line at 1-800-TEL-NICB (1-800-835-6422). Cell phone users can also text the keyword "FRAUD" and their tip to TIP411 (847411). Or drop an email. Tips can be anonymous.
• Check to see if an insurer or an agent is legit and licensed in your state: State Insurance departments.

Many healthcare reform provisions are scheduled to kick in sometime in 2011 - some went into effect on January 1. Here are a few resources that outline changes scheduled to take effect in 2011 and what the changes mean to you and your family.

• HealthCare.gov: Provisions of the Affordable Care Act, by year
• Kaiser Family Foundation: Health Reform Implementation Timeline
• Wall Street Journal's Health Blog: The Health-Care Law Provisions Taking Effect in 2011
• Idaho Department of Insurance: Affordable Healthcare Act - What it Means for You in 2011

The Kaiser Family Foundation has produced an excellent single-source guide to Health Care Reform and health insurance reform. They've also produced a 9 minute animated video that summarizes and explains Health Reform in simple terms.

Tomorrow is the American Cancer Society's 35th Annual Great American Smokeout, a good day to quit smoking if you haven't already, or to support the smokers that you know in kicking their habit. Quitting smoking is not only a good decision with respect to your physical health, it can also be quite a boon to your financial health. Even beyond the cost of cigarettes themselves, smoking carries other high costs. Most life insurance, health insurance, homeowners insurance and even auto insurance policies carry higher premiums for smokers. It stands to reason: the price of insurance is based on the odds of having to make payment on a claim. Smokers are an overall riskier bet than nonsmokers. For life and heath insurance, the risks are obvious and well-documented: on average, smokers have significantly more health problems and die younger.

Property insurance is also more costly for smokers due to a higher risk of smoking-related accidents. Households with smokers have an increased risk of fires. According to the US Fire Administration, "... an estimated 9,000 smoking-related fires in residential buildings occur annually in the United States, resulting in an estimated average of 450 deaths, 1,025 injuries, and $303 million in property loss ...they are the leading cause of fire deaths, accounting for 17 percent of fire deaths in residential buildings." Smoking is also considered to be one of the major "distracted driving" culprits leading to an increase in auto accidents. And with any property, residual damage from smoke can decrease the property value and make resale more difficult. There may be other costs too: last year, it was revealed that Apple voided computer warranties due to second-hand smoke.

Save your health and save money in the process - that's a win-win all around!

Stop smoking resources
American Cancer Society: Great American Smokeout Guide to Quitting Smoking
American Cancer Society: Great American Smokeout Resources and Tools
American Cancer Society: Helping a smoker quite: do's and don'ts
American Lung Association - Help resources for quitting smoking
Centers for Disease Control: Smoking & tobacco tools and resources
Mayo Clinic 10 ways to help teens stay smoke-free
Teen's Health: How can I quit smoking?

As the economy eases and the real estate market shows signs of revival, many people whose home buying plans were on hold are now beginning to look around. If buying a new home or vacation property is on your agenda, the Insurance Information Institute (III) has some advice for you: make insurance considerations an important part of your home buying process. In addition to looking at considerations such as location, neighborhood, and home features, you need to do a risk assessment of the home and property so you don't find yourself owning something with some unpleasant surprises down the line.

For a quick overview of issues and considerations that you should be thinking of, see III's Home Buyer's Insurance Checklist and short video on the topic: