This post comes from Kimberly Lankford from partner Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine.

Hurricane season begins on June 1, and now is the perfect time to take steps to protect your home (and finances) from the storms -– rather than waiting until a storm approaches and scrambling to get ready.

1. Consider a home generator
Not only will you be more comfortable with lights, electronics, your refrigerator and air conditioning, but the generator can also help you avoid other problems when the power goes out -- such as flooding when your sump pump stops working or mold that can grow if your basement floods when your air conditioning is on the blink, too.

You may even get a 5% discount on your homeowners insurance if you install an automatic standby generator, which is powered by natural gas or propane and turns on automatically after detecting a power outage. The most common is 17 kilowatts, which powers 16 circuits, says Roy Cranford, president of generator dealer CDS Emergency Power, in Baltimore. The generator costs about $4,000, plus about $3,500 for installation (to connect to your electrical system and gas or propane line). 

This post comes from Susan Johnston at U.S. News & World Report.

Hitting the road this summer? Here's how to save a bundle on hotels, flights and more.

Memorial Day weekend kicks off the summer travel season, and according to travel booking website Orbitz.com, more than three-quarters of Americans are planning to take a summer vacation. To ensure your hard-earned travel dollars go as far as they can, U.S. News talked to veteran travelers and experts to reveal these under-the-radar money-saving tips.

1. Call before booking online. Making travel arrangements through the Internet may be convenient, but it doesn't always guarantee you the best deal. Nicole Lapin, editor-in-chief of Recessionista.com, recommends calling a hotel around 4 p.m. local time on Sunday afternoon and asking to speak with a manager or supervisor. The person answering calls at the hotel's toll-free number may not have the power to cut you a deal, but the hotel's local manager or supervisor often does. Mention you're celebrating a birthday or anniversary, or use Lapin's strategy: "I've seen the rate of $199 per night in the past. I was wondering if you could match that? Maybe there's a room in the back that isn't as coveted?"

This strategy can work with airline tickets, too. "It's a myth that all the available inventory is available on the Internet," says Peter Greenberg, travel editor at CBS News. "We go online because it's easy, but we do so at our own peril if we're looking for a deal."

 

This is a post by Quentin Fotrrell from partner site Marketwatch.

In an effort to boost the popularity of its mobile payment system, Google this week announced that it is integrating Google Wallet with Gmail. Customers who’ve linked Google Wallet to their bank account or maintain a balance with Google Wallet can simply click the dollar icon on their Gmail to make a payment.

It’s not the first time Google Wallet introduced new features. Last year, it launched a pilot Google AdWords business credit card for small businesses in the U.K. and flirted with the idea of a Google Wallet card for consumers too.

But there are signs that there is untapped demand for mobile payments. Just one-fifth of young Americans ages 18 to 30 always carry cash, according to a new survey by CouponCodes4U, a discount code website. Nearly half said cash would not be used in the future.

“It’s a generational trend,” says Brent Shelton, a spokesman for deal site FatWallet.com. And some 72% of Gmail users are under the age of 34, according to a survey by Hunch.com, a personalized recommendation site. 

 

This post comes from Stacy Johnson at partner site Money Talks News. 

We've all been there: either asking for a loan from family or friends, or being on the receiving end of a loan request.

These days it wouldn't be surprising to find the practice even more widespread. With banks paying basically nothing, lending money to a trusted friend or relative isn't just a nice thing to do. It could be a smart thing to do.

And that leads us to this week's question:

At dinner the other night, friends were talking about their daughter in law school. She was complaining that interest on the money she needed to borrow for the coming year would be 7%. Her dad said, "Talk to Grandpa. He'll lend you the money for 3%." My spouse piped up with "For 3%, I'll lend her the money." I can think of some pros (we are getting no return on our cash) and a lot of cons (we're not a bank). What does Stacy think?

Is lending money to family, friends or anyone else a good idea?

If I had to give a one-word answer to this question, I'd simply say "no," for the reason offered by Shakespeare: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for loan oft loses both itself and friend . . . ."

 

This post comes from Cindy Waxer at partner site Insure.com.

Standard home insurance policies include coverage for tornado damage. But there are steps homeowners can take to minimize the damage and get back on track.

 

For a lot of families, renting a vacation home makes more sense than booking multiple rooms at a hotel. But unlike booking a hotel room, where the brands are known and reviews abound, renting a vacation home can leave a consumer exposed.

You can get taken in a variety of ways, and they all involve making you believe you're getting something you're not. And with summer vacations fast approaching, scammers are just waiting for you to pounce on their "deals."

In the recent case of a group from Texas that paid $6,200 to rent a home in Hawaii, the house was there, but it was unusable. When they showed up, they found the pool was filled with green sludge. The toilets were smashed. Not what you'd expect for more than $6,000.

Others, often responding to online classifieds, pay money only to find there's no rental waiting for them when they arrive.

But the experience of renting a vacation home need not be a nightmare.
 

An estimated 1.66 million people will be diagnosed with cancer in 2013, according to the National Cancer Institute. Just 2.6% will be between the ages of 20 and 34.

That group will take a huge financial hit, however. A study from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle indicates that millennials are more than twice as likely to declare bankruptcy after a cancer diagnosis.

The actual figure is 2.65 times as likely, and the reasons are pretty obvious.

Millennials often have considerable debt (student loans, mortgages), fewer assets, more young children and less supplemental income from other members of their households (e.g., a partner or spouse who's home with those young children). This age group hasn't been working as long, and could have been underemployed or unemployed for months or years. Millennials may not have good health insurance, or any insurance at all.

The study found that about 0.52% of patients filed for bankruptcy within one year of diagnosis, versus 0.16% in the comparison group. Within five years, the rate rose to 1.7% versus 0.7%.

In all, about six of every 1,000 patients went bankrupt -- which may be "just the tip of the iceberg," according to CBS News.