Global aging threatens to lay waste to your retirement plan. Here’s why you need to stay healthy and write your congressman.
Planning
6 Common Misconceptions About Financial Aid
So, you’ve gotten into college (congrats!), filled out your FAFSA (great!) and are now staring at a financial-aid award letter, wondering what to do next (uh-oh). As the May 1 deadline to accept financial-aid offers approaches, …
Feeling Old? 6 Simple Ways to Stay Healthy
Here are six low-tech healthcare services readily available to seniors and which will vastly improve their quality of life, according to the Hartford Foundation. Did you know that Medicare pays the full cost of one wellness checkup each year?
Dying Is Expensive: The FTC Funeral Home Abuses
Consumers are at a big disadvantage when conducting business in unfamiliar venues. For most of us, happily, that includes shopping for funerals. As a result, the funeral home business is rife with exploitative practices, despite …
Retirement Income: 5 Steps to Fill the Gaps
It’s never too late to start planning your retirement security. Here’s a one-size-fits-all strategy that will help secure an adequate stream of income in your later years.
Financial Literacy: U.S. Trails … Brazil and Mexico?
A new survey from Visa ranks 28 nations by their commitment to financial education. The U.S. finishes fourth. But everyone fails.
More Americans ‘Flunk’ Themselves in Personal Finance
Financial advisers have a saying: When the stock market is going up, everyone looks like a genius. These days, folks aren’t feeling so smart—and not just about their investments, but about many aspects of their personal finances.
Is Forgiving Student Loan Debt a Good Idea?
Every few weeks now a petition pops up in my Facebook newsfeed urging the government to forgive all student debt. The comment from the person posting the petition usually goes something like this, “Guessing this will never …
16 Easy Ways to Save on Groceries
Why $50,000 May Be the (New) Happiness Tipping Point
A landmark 2010 Princeton University study showed that money really can buy happiness — up to a very specific point. The researchers (including Nobelist Daniel Kahneman) found that up to about $75,000, annual income closely …
The Crazy Way We Think About Taxes
Taxpayers like to say one thing and do another. They also have some interesting requests as the filing deadline hits. Here’s how crazy we are.
Here We Go Again: Is College Worth It?
A new report shows that Americans are investing like crazy in college savings plans. But the financial value of a four-year degree remains difficult to assess and is often disappointing.