Create Your Own Retirement 'Insurance'

 "It's been a decade, and my insurance still hasn't paid up."

When my Health & Wealth Bulletin senior editor got back from a trip to Louisiana in 2016, she told me she'd talked to many folks who were still recovering from Hurricane Katrina... 11 years later.

One cab driver in New Orleans shared the story of how he lost everything he owned. He barely escaped the city before the hurricane hit, unable to take many of his possessions with him.

He had hoped that – with all of the relief efforts aimed at helping survivors – he'd be able to get back to picking up the pieces. But getting his insurance company to pay out for his destroyed home became a battle he'd fight for years. It's one he said he'd lost hope of ever winning.

His story isn't unusual...

Even if you've paid your homeowner's insurance dutifully for years, getting paid for your claims isn't always easy.

Two years after Katrina, 6,600 cases of homeowners suing their insurers were awaiting judgment. Some of these were eventually settled for just pennies on the dollar. And as my team learned, other cases were still unresolved 11 years later.

In California, where wildfires razed entire neighborhoods, some insurance companies haven't gotten around to paying out claims – but they've found time to raise their customers' rates and send over a much higher bill.

We pay insurance for our homes, cars, and health on the chance that if the worst happens, our insurance will handle the cost. Clearly, that's not always the case.

In a similar vein, too many folks nowadays treat the government as their "insurance." They rely on it to rescue them when times are tough or expect it to provide for them during retirement. But doing so is a mistake...

Just look at President Donald Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill" – which passed the House of Representatives last month and is now waiting to get through the Senate. It makes major cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

On Wednesday, Elon Musk – former head of the Department of Government Efficiency – warned that the government's "massive deficit spending" could mean there's no money for programs like Social Security.

Whether or not you agree with Trump's agenda, it's a fact that the U.S. government has trained U.S. citizens for decades to rely almost exclusively on what were only meant to be social safety nets. And now it's becoming clear that these safety nets might not last forever...

I don't know about you, but I don't want to rely on the government to take care of my well-being.

And I'm not the only one...

My longtime friend Porter Stansberry – the man famous for predicting the fall of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and General Motors in 2008 – says a massive financial reckoning is on the horizon.

Yesterday, he detailed why one of America's biggest institutions is about to go broke. He also shared the No. 1 most dangerous investment in America today, which you must avoid at all costs.

If you missed it, click here to learn what moves you need to make to protect your wealth.

Now, let's get into this week's Q&A... And as always, keep sending your comments, questions, and topic suggestions to feedback@healthandwealthbulletin.com. My team and I read every e-mail.

Electric Toothbrush Radiation

Q: I really like my electric toothbrush. My teeth feel cleaner than with a standard manual brush. I read recently that there are risks similar to standing close to a microwave oven when using the electric brushes. Can you advise? – M.V.

A: Thanks for your question, M.V. The science behind your question is a little complicated, so we'll start with the simple answer: You can keep using your electric toothbrush without worrying about radiation.

Now, let's take a look at why...

There are two main types of radiation: ionizing and nonionizing. Ionizing radiation is often used in medicine for things like X-rays and CT scans. A lot of research shows the dangers of ionizing radiation. It's strong enough to rip electrons off of atoms or molecules and create unstable free radicals that can damage DNA.

Depending on how hefty the dose is, it can even directly break the bonds (or electron sharing) in your DNA. If it's too much for the cell's built-in DNA repair to handle, permanent changes (or mutations) in the DNA can happen.

And since DNA contains instructions for making important proteins needed for cell function, a faulty "blueprint" can cause cells to malfunction. This is how radiation can lead to cell-mutation diseases like cancer.

Nonionizing radiation, on the other hand, doesn't have the same DNA-altering ability. But it can still harm you in other ways... Consider that nonionizing radiation includes ultraviolet ("UV"), infrared, visible light, microwave, radio frequency, and extremely low-frequency radiation. So, for example, the UV light of a tanning bed can damage your eyes or burn your skin, which can increase your risk of skin cancer with enough exposure.

Now, what about your microwave and toothbrush?

Microwaves have long been villainized. I even agreed with this point of view once.

When I was a short-order cook at Howard Johnson (more decades ago than I care to admit), one of the microwave doors wouldn't completely close. I reported the hotel to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration – certain that we were all being exposed to dangerous levels of radiation.

It turned out that, even with a broken door, there was nothing to worry about. And today’s more stringent safety standards make it even more unlikely that there would be a radiation leak in your microwave.

But a 2022 study from the University of Texas at Austin made the claim that not only are microwaves potentially dangerous, but electric toothbrushes are even riskier because they have a significantly higher magnetic field.

This study is making the rounds on social media, where health "influencers" are telling folks to stop using electric toothbrushes. Unfortunately, it's clear many folks have confused the strength of a magnetic field and the amount of electromagnetic radiation.

It's true that if you stick your hand in a microwave and turn it on, it could do damage since it's using radiation to heat food. But your toothbrush is using low-frequency or ultrasonic energy to make it vibrate. As the study even admitted, no study has proved a link between electric toothbrushes and harm from radiation. Plus, the magnetic-field values in tested toothbrushes were found to be about 18% below safety limits.

So go ahead and keep using your electric toothbrush. Your oral health is much more important than the sensationalized concerns about radiation risk.

What We're Reading...

• Did you miss it? The next move for home prices.

• Something different: Say goodbye to lead aprons.

Here's to our health, wealth, and a great retirement,

Dr. David Eifrig and the Health & Wealth Bulletin Research Team
June 6, 2025