New Year resolutions aren’t just about losing weight and quitting smoking. Money habits have crept to the top of many lists.
Financial Planning
Beware Panic Shopping! How to Make a Last-Minute Gift Count
With just days until Christmas three-quarters of adults still have shopping to do. History tells us they will waste their money. Here’s how to make a last-minute gift matter.
7 Ways Taxpayers are Readying for Fiscal Cliff
Time is running short for year-end tax moves, and it now seems clear that any money-saving maneuvers must be based on what’s likely—not what’s certain.
Why Your 401(k) Match Will Get Cut
Trendsetter IBM chisels away at its employees’ retirement security. Is your company next?
How Debt-Ravaged Greece Aced a Financial-Literacy Survey
In a poll, Greeks tested highest in all of Europe for mastery of personal financial issues. Here’s what this impossible finding means
Why Limiting the Charity Tax Deduction Won’t Destroy Charities
Democrats worry that a GOP proposal to curb deductions for charitable giving would crush the finances of key nonprofits. It wouldn’t. People give for dozens of reasons that have nothing to do with tax savings.
Birth Rate Plunges During Recession
Birth rates hit an historic low in America last year. This small number of newborns will hit the workforce in 20 years, just as the last baby boomer reaches full retirement age. The pension math is not pretty.
Kids and Allowance: The Debate that Divides Us
To heck with the fiscal cliff. The financial debate that won’t go away is among parents who just want to know if their kids should work for the allowance they receive. The answer isn’t always as easy as it may seem.
Fiscal Cliff: Why Congress Might Have to Mess with the 401(k)
Everything is on the table as Congress wrestles with the fiscal cliff, heightening long-held fears about the tax-free and tax-deferred growth embedded in retirement accounts.
5 Career Paths to the Millionaire’s Club
Wealthy Americans cite five paths to wealth. Here they are.
5 Tax Moves to Make by Yearend
There’s a reason that Wal-Mart, Wynn Resorts and hundreds of other companies are accelerating dividend payments into this year: Tax rates are going up. Individuals should be looking at similar steps. Here are five that make sense now.
Is Dollar-Cost Averaging Dumb?
Investing all at once beats trickling money into the market two-thirds of the time, says a report from Vanguard. But let’s not throw dollar-cost averaging under the bus just yet. What’s piece of mind worth?