Rule 240: Don’t Leave Home Without It!: While you never want things to go wrong when you travel, sometimes things do. When that happens, it’s “Rule 240″ that determines what your rights are as a passenger:

If your flight is delayed or cancelled, or if you’ve missed your flight connection, these policies may give you free meal vouchers, hotel accommodations, phone calls, and other amenities. You may be booked on a substitute flight — even on another airline — and you may be compensated or given a full refund if the flight problems persist.

Rule 240s generally apply only to delays that are absolutely the airline’s fault, such as mechanical delays. They do not apply to what the airlines call “force majeure” events: weather, strikes, “acts of God,” or other occurrences that the airlines say they cannot control.

The Four-Letter Word of Personal Finance: According to this article, it’s RISK:

While he was focused on market risk, he was unaware of two more risks which could prove to be just as detrimental to his financial security: inflation; and longevity risk. Each of these is just as serious but occurs more gradually, and therefore is less dramatic on a daily or even annual basis.