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If you have booked a holiday to Egypt or another Middle Eastern country, then what are your travel rights? Is your travel insurance valid?

What has the foreign office said about travel to the region?

The foreign office has advised against all but essential travel to Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor and Suez. However, this advice does not currently extend to resorts in the Red Sea such as Sharm el-Sheikh, where hundreds of British holidaymakers tend to go. The FCO says these areas are “a very considerable distance from the affected areas and these resorts remain unaffected”.

I’m already in Egypt on holiday, what should I do?

Anyone who is already in Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor or Suez should speak to their tour operator or airline regarding their arrangements. Many

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House-swapping as an alternative to the traditional family holiday looks set to take off this year, according to new research from Lloyds TSB Insurance.

A recent study suggests that 1.6 million Britons have arranged a house swap in 2011, twice the number estimated for 2010.

However, Lloyd’s suggests that proper planning is needed, particularly in the area of potential damage to property or possessions by the incomers.

Almost two-thirds of house-swappers questioned had run the risk of invalidating their home insurance policy by failing to tell their insurer about the exchange. <

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Aon Risk Solutions, the global risk management business of Aon Corporation, provides comment on the situation unfolding in Egypt:

Beverley Marsden, Director of Aon Political Risks:

“From a Political Risk point of view it is too early to say whether the events in Egypt will lead to losses in the insurance market. Global confiscation policies may include Political Violence cover and rioting and looting may impact assets covered under such policies.

“We cannot advise at this stage on the extent to which this has happened. Shu

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Your college student came home for the holidays, and wanted to take the car back to campus. Before you send you agree, here are a few things to consider.

Away at school auto insurance discount

If your child’s school is a significant distance from home, you could save money by keeping the car at home. Many auto insurance companies offer an “away at school” discount if a child rated on your policy is away at college. There are some distance restrictions; with my current insurance carrier the college has to be at least 120 miles away from home.

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Understanding how to buy health insurance

There’s no one-size-fits-all health insurance plan. Your needs should dictate your coverage. Here are a few questions you should ask yourself when shopping for health insurance:

• Do you want it to cover the cost of an office visit every time someone in the family needs care?
• Do you just want a safety net to protect you in case of something catastrophic?
• How much money do you typically spend on health care in a year?

If you usually don’t spend much on health care, you might be best served by a high-deductible plan with a health savings account, or HSA, for out-of-pocket costs.

A plan that offers special features, such as a flexible spending account, or FSA, or health savings account may be enticing.

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High smoking rates in the past, combined with widespread obesity, continue to chip away at US life expectancy compared to other wealthy nations, a study released Tuesday said.

Over the past 25 years, life expectancy after 50 has risen in the United States, but at a slower rate than in countries like Japan and Australia, said the National Academy of Sciences report.

The gap sounded the alarm among government researchers because the United States spends more on health care than any other country, said the study which examined mortality records in 21 countries.

Men in the US showed an increase in life expectancy of 5.5 five years between 1980 and 2006 for an average lifespan of 75.64 years, while US women’s lifespans expanded from 77.5 to 80.7 years.

“Three to five decades ago, smoking was much more widespread in the US than in Europe or Japan, and the health consequences are still playing out in today’s mortality rates,” said the report.

“Smoking appears to be responsible for a good deal of the differences in life expectancy, especially for women.”

Cigarette smoking also appears to have dented life expectancy in Denmark and the Netherlands, the report said, noting those two nations showed “lower life expectancy trends than comparable high-income countries.”

Globally, women tended to pick up smoking later than men, and started quitting later than men, too.

In 1980, average US life expectancy for women at age 50 was 30.6 years, similar to women in nine other industrialized countries.

But in 2007, women in America gained just 2.5 years for a 33.1 year life expectancy at age 50, compared to gains of 6.4 years in Japan, 5.2 years in Italy and 3.9 years on average among the nine other rich countries.

“Similarly, life expectancy in Japan is expected to improve less rapidly than it otherwise would, because of more-recent high smoking rates,” said the study.

In a country where one in three people are overweight, obesity could also be to blame for “a fifth to a third of the shortfall in longevity in the US compared to other nations,” said the researchers.

“And if the obesity trend in the US continues, it may offset the longevity improvements expected from reductions in smoking.”

Women in Japan had the highest life expectancy — 85.98 years — just edging out France (84.39) and Italy (84.09) based on the most recent data, while men in Australia are living the longest — 79.27 years — followed by Sweden (78.92) and Canada (78.35).