As a reader, the level of interaction has gone up with your votes to Topple, that is voting down a story, becoming more important. Toppling is a way for readers to communicate their distaste for a particular story and lets readers police the site.

There are a few other features of note such as the addition of two new categories - Business and Entrepreneurship, plus some usability features like the how long a story has been popular.

It’s clear the Tipd team is working hard to try to provide the best service possible so I try to use it daily. If you aren’t on the site, please consider checking it out as it has a lot of fantastic investing and personal finance news posted daily.

In summary, unit investment trusts (UIT) are a type of investment company, similar to mutual funds and closed-end funds. They act like mutual funds in that they offer “units” (like shares) and the UIT will buy those units back from investors if they choose to sell at the net asset value. Some ETFs are actually structured as UITs.

Like mutual funds, UITs can hold stocks or bonds as their holdings and they usually have a focus. Some look for growth, others look for income generation; again, much like mutual funds. The key difference between the two is that mutual funds will change their holdings whereas UITs typically establish the portfolio and never change it.

The reason these get little press is because there isn’t much profit in them. Since there is no active management, there aren’t high expense ratios. ON the flip side, because there is no active management and no share turnover, they’re remarkably tax efficient.

Give them a look.

You’re probably familiar with emergency funds - the pot of money you set aside to cover short term emergencies like unexpected medical bills, car breakdowns, home repairs, etc. The health-care fund is an extension of that concept but applicable to what will likely be one of the biggest challenges of your entire retirement - your health. The idea behind the fund is that you should have enough in that fund to pay for all your medical needs from monthly health insurance premiums to co-pays to any potential medical problems you may encounter.

Another important piece of advice is to get a physical to learn whether you are an at-risk individual. You don’t want to cancel your current insurance only to find out you can’t get insurance!

Ready to Retire? First Plan Your Exit Strategy [The Wall Street Journal]

In these tough economic times, guarding your nest egg is more important than ever. What could be the greatest threat to your retirement plans? Hint: It’s not the stock market. Unanticipated long-term-care costs.

Whether you are already thinking about planning for long-term care or realize you’d better start, it is vital to begin the process with some expert advice. How about free expert advice?

Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine and the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI) are partnering for the first time to offer two Long-Term Care Phone-In Days. On Thursday, November 13th and Friday, November 21st from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern Time, AALTCI members will be standing by, ready to field your inquiries about long-term care insurance and long-term care planning. You don’t pay a cent—not even for the call. Just dial toll-free 877-KIPTIP1 (877-547-8471).

If you have any long term care questions, it seems like a great opportunity to talk to an expert absolutely free.

1. Carpool: Fuel prices have come down a lot lately but carpooling is still one of the easiest ways to save money. By not driving, you both reduce the impact of gas on your wallet but also on the environment as well.
2. Comparison Shop for Insurance: Every year, you should take a look at your insurance coverages to see if you can save some money on the coverages you have. One prime example is if your situation has changed and isn’t reflected in your coverages. Maybe you got rid of your car, did you remember to let the insurer know?
3. Senior Discounts: Plenty of stores and restaurants offer a senior discount, just ask! Don’t assume that they will automatically give you a discount that you’re due. Look at it this way, if they don’t, it just means you look young. If they do, take that money to the bank!

What worried Dr. Palanisamy, however, was a rerun of his experience in the bear market of 2000 to 2002, when his then-financial manager encouraged him to invest big amounts of money in a few high-technology areas.

“I took a big beating,” he recalls. “I knew I couldn’t afford to have that happen again.”

Today, even with the stock market in the midst of another wrenching period of losses and volatility, the 55-year-old Dr. Palanisamy is calm. Thanks to a new financial adviser, his portfolio is a blend of U.S. Treasurys, high-quality corporate bonds, high-yield debt securities, diversified blue-chip stocks and customized contracts that promise him at least part of the increases in specified stock-market indexes while limiting the losses he will have to absorb.

The lesson to learn? If you’re a retiree nowadays, follow the path of Dr. Palanisamy and manage the risk in your portfolio and learn from past mistakes.

1. A tip for retirees: Buy TIPs.

For households who are retired or close to it and relying on the stock market to finance their retirements, moving their funds to inflation-protected long-term Treasury bonds (TIPs), makes good sense. So does using their regular financial assets to pay off their mortgages. There is no guarantee the stock market will rebound any time soon. And it could get worse before it gets better.

2. Another tip for retirees: See if Uncle Sam will give you a better deal on Social Security.

Retired or soon-to-be retired households should also ensure they are getting the best possible deal from Social Security. This includes considering repaying the Social Security benefits received in the past and reapplying for higher benefits. It also includes deciding when to take Social Security, integrating that decision with the timing of retirement account withdrawals, and deciding which account to tap first. Most important of all is determining how much one can safely spend. Spend ‘Til the End focuses on making sure households have enough funds to maintain their living standard all the way to the end — to their maximum ages of life. It also has a strong message for retirees who invest aggressively, namely spend defensively.

The Social Security “tax (which is OASI and disability) is only 6.2% so those 11 million are only taxed an additional $297.60 if they earned more than $106,800. Not a big deal.

So why Tipd instead of the larger more generic social sites? Signal to noise ratio. Digg and reddit and those have a lot of general news that might not specifically be business related. With greater focus comes greater opportunity to find financial news, which is what you are probably looking for anyway.

Check it out and let me know what you think!