This Week’s Money Map:

• 💸 Insurance emptying your wallet? The year-end fix most people ignore

• 💰 Tax write-offs hiding in plain sight

• 🛟 Your side hustle needs insurance (yes, really)

• ✈️ First class for coach prices: Free tools airlines don't want you to know

💸 Is your insurance emptying your wallet? The year-end fix most people ignore

It's mid-December, and while you're wrapping presents and planning New Year's resolutions, insurance companies are busy finalizing their 2026 rates. Most of us won't give our policies a second thought until something goes wrong, and by then, it's too late.

Here's what nobody tells you: a simple 30-minute review right now could save you up to 20% on premiums next year while closing dangerous gaps in your coverage. Here’s where you should look.

Your car insurance wake-up call
Remember when fixing a fender bender cost a few hundred bucks? Those days are gone. Car repair costs jumped 10% this year, thanks to computer chips in everything and those fancy backup cameras that cost more than your first car did.

Start by checking your car insurance liability limits. If they're below $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident, you're playing financial roulette. One serious accident could wipe out your savings, and rates are only climbing for 2026.

But here's the silver lining — if you work from home or barely drive, usage-based and low-mileage car insurance policies can slash your bill by 30% or more.

And remember that insurers won't remind you about discounts. Good student in the house? Dash cam installed? Bundling policies? Each one chips away some percentage from your bill. You just have to ask.

Your home needs a second look
The storms of 2025 taught us that "once-in-a-century" weather events now happen every few years. Yet most homeowners haven't updated their policies since moving in.

Inflation pushed rebuilding costs up 7% this year. If your home insurance coverage hasn't kept pace, you'll be writing personal checks to finish repairs after a disaster. Spend three minutes with a home insurance online calculator to get your replacement value right.

Health insurance shouldn't be a mystery
Open enrollment is almost over, but that doesn't mean you can't optimize what you've got. Take five minutes to confirm your favorite doctors are still in-network for 2026.

If you've got a Health Savings Account, you're sitting on one of the best tax breaks around. Max it out before year-end ($4,150 for individuals, $8,300 for families), and that money grows tax-free for medical expenses or even retirement.

Five-minute life insurance check
When's the last time you looked at your beneficiary forms? If you got married, divorced, had kids, or lost someone, those old designations could send your life insurance payout to the wrong person. It happens more often than you'd think — in fact, the majority of beneficiary disputes stem from outdated paperwork.

Your next move
The insurance game feels rigged because companies bet you won't review policies annually. They win when you ignore those renewal notices and accept whatever rates arrive. Beat them at their own game.

💰 Tax write-offs hiding in plain sight

It's almost the end of the year, and tax season is barreling toward us faster than you think. While most Americans scramble for receipts in April, smart filers are banking serious savings right now by claiming deductions they didn't even know existed.

Here's the truth: the average taxpayer leaves hundreds of dollars on the table every year by missing legitimate write-offs. Here are some perfectly legal deductions you might have missed.

Job hunt and advancement deductions
Searching for work in your field? Those expenses might be deductible, even if you didn't land the job. Resume services, career coaching, travel to interviews, even those networking lunches can qualify. The catch? It needs to be in your current line of work, and you can't claim it if you're switching careers or hunting for your first job.

Paying for your own education to improve job skills? Tuition and books may be deductible if the courses maintain or enhance abilities needed in your current work. Just make sure you're not studying for a completely new career.

Your side hustle is a goldmine
If you're self-employed or freelancing, you're sitting on dozens of write-offs most people ignore. That home office? Even if it's just a corner of your bedroom, it’s a write-off as long as you use it exclusively for work.

Business travel gets even better. When you fly to that conference or meet clients out of town, you can write off airfare, hotels, 50% of meals, and even travel insurance. Yes, travel insurance counts as a business expense when it's protecting a work trip. Just keep those receipts and document the business purpose.

Here's where it gets interesting: if you mix business with pleasure, you can still write off the business portion. Extend that work trip for a weekend getaway? The flights and days you worked are deductible. The vacation days aren't, but you're still saving significantly.

The stuff you bought anyway
That professional wardrobe? Unfortunately, regular business clothes don't count, but specialized uniforms or protective gear do. If you're a performer, those costumes are fair game. Teachers can write off up to $300 in classroom supplies they purchased out-of-pocket.

The donations collecting dust
That bag of clothes you dropped at Goodwill? Deductible. But here's what most people miss: you need documentation. No receipt means no deduction, and the IRS is strict about this. For anything over $250, you'll need written acknowledgment from the charity.

Medical expenses everyone forgets
Most people know about doctor visits and prescriptions, but did you know travel costs to medical appointments are deductible? That includes mileage, tolls, even parking. If medical expenses exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, you can deduct the overage.

Dental work, vision care, hearing aids, even some weight-loss programs prescribed by doctors can qualify. One woman wrote off her medically necessary gym membership after her doctor prescribed exercise for a specific condition.

Take notes and receipts
The December deadline matters because some deductions require action before year-end. Got a clunker sitting in your driveway? Donate it before December 31. Want to max out that IRA contribution? You've got days, not months.

The IRS isn't going to call and remind you about write-offs you missed. But your bank account will definitely thank you for finding them now.

🛟 Your side hustle needs insurance (yes, really)

You’re finally crushing it — selling vintage finds on eBay and Depop, coaching clients on Zoom, doing some photography gigs, or running a small baking business this holiday season. Revenue is climbing, followers are growing, and then it happens: a client sues you, or your laptop with all those customer files gets stolen from your car.

Here's what nobody tells you when you start that side hustle: you need small business insurance because your regular homeowner's coverage won't cover business activities. And "I only do this part-time" won't hold up in court when someone's lawyer comes calling.

General liability: The foundation you can't skip
This is your first line of defense when the physical world goes wrong. A client trips over your photography equipment at a shoot. You accidentally spill coffee on their laptop during a meeting. A customer claims your homemade soap gave them a rash.

Even baseless lawsuits cost $5,000 to $10,000 just to defend. General liability typically runs $300 to $600 annually for small operations, and it covers both your legal defense and potential settlements.

Professional liability protects your expertise
You give advice. Create content. Provide services. Professional liability (also called errors and omissions insurance) kicks in when clients claim your work cost them money.

Missed a deadline that torpedoed their product launch? Gave social media advice that backfired? Built a website that crashed during their big sale? They can sue, and this coverage handles your defense plus any settlement.

For consultants, designers, coaches, writers, and anyone selling expertise, this is as essential as your laptop. Expect to pay $500 to $1,500 yearly, depending on your revenue and risk level.

Your gear needs its own protection
That $2,500 camera setup? Your podcast recording equipment? The specialized tools that make your business possible? Here's the painful truth: your homeowner's or renter's policy might cover $500 to $1,000 of business equipment if you're lucky.

Business property insurance protects your actual investment whether it's stolen from your car, damaged in a flood, or destroyed in a fire. One wedding photographer learned this the hard way when $8,000 in gear was stolen — her home policy covered exactly $500.

Cyber liability isn't just for tech companies
You collect customer emails in Mailchimp. Process payments through Square. Store client information in Google Drive. That makes you a target, and a data breach could annihilate your business.

Cyber liability covers breach notifications (legally required in most states), legal fees, credit monitoring for affected customers, and crisis management. Policies start around $500 to $1,000 annually for small operations.

Protect your hustle
Insurance feels like throwing money away until that one moment when it saves you from financial ruin. Start with the basics today, scale coverage as your income grows, and sleep better knowing one bad client or stolen laptop won't destroy everything you've built.

✈️ First class for coach prices: Free tools airlines don't want you to know

You've been hoarding credit card points, dreaming of that lie-flat seat to Paris. Then you search and find... nothing. Or worse, a "saver award" that costs 300,000 points when the website promised 60,000.

Here's what frequent flyers won't tell you — manually checking each airline's website is like playing whack-a-mole blindfolded. But a handful of free tools can crack the code in minutes, revealing business class seats at economy prices. Here’s where to find them.

Point.me: The beginner's best friend
If you're new to points travel, start here. Point.me searches across major programs simultaneously, showing you which credit card points get you the best deal for your route. Type in "New York to Tokyo" and it'll compare flights using Chase points, Amex points, Capital One miles, the whole menu.

The catch? The free version limits searches to three per month. For casual travelers planning one or two big trips annually, that's plenty. 

Seats.aero: The serious searcher's weapon
This is where things get real. Seats.aero monitors award availability in real-time and can alert you the moment that business class seat opens up. Set your route, pick your preferred airlines, and let it hunt while you sleep.

The free tier covers basic searches across popular routes and a few alert options. It's legitimately useful for anyone willing to be slightly flexible with dates. The downside? The best features — like extensive alerts and deeper airline coverage — sit behind a paywall.

AwardTool: The map that changes everything
Forget searching by destination. AwardTool shows you an actual map of where you can fly on points from your home airport. It's brilliant for the "we want to go somewhere amazing, but we're flexible" crowd.

The visual interface makes it easy to spot deals you'd never have thought to search for. "Oh, there's award space to Istanbul next month? Let's go!" The limitation is that it focuses primarily on Star Alliance and a handful of other programs, so it won't cover every possible redemption.

Roame.travel: The straightforward searcher
Roame takes a no-nonsense approach: search your route, see what's available, book it. The free version provides solid basic searches without overwhelming you with features you might not need.

It's particularly good at finding last-minute availability that other tools miss. The interface feels less polished than Point.me, but if you care more about results than aesthetics, Roame delivers. 

PointsYeah: The educational approach
PointsYeah combines search tools with genuine education about maximizing points. It's less about raw search power and more about teaching you to how to max points.

For someone building a points strategy from scratch, the resources here are gold. The search functionality is competent but not groundbreaking. Think of it as the platform that helps you understand why certain redemptions are better, not just which flights are available.

Your winning strategy
Most award seats get grabbed within 24 hours of release. These tools give you the speed advantage that turns "sold out" into "see you in first class." Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.

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The MoneyGeek Team

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