Dialing back on a 401(k)
09.01.09
So your 401(k) plan is down. A lot. Should you scale back your contributions and put the money elsewhere?
Happy new year and welcome to your new job. One that pays 30%, 50%, 70% less than your old one. The number of people who have created entirely new categories in retailing can probably be counted on one hand.
Constant news of layoffs, pay cuts, and stock declines has all of us tightening our belts: A recent Money poll found that in light of the financial crisis, 89% of us are changing the way we manage our finances, and 88% plan to be more frugal.
If 84-year-old Bob Sievers of Pacific Palisades, Calif., had his way, Congress would scrap the estate tax altogether when it considers an Obama administration proposal on the future of the controversial tax. As co-owner of a lumber business for 40 years, Sievers built his wealth from scratch and paid taxes on his earnings every step of the way. Last year it looked as if the era of the celebrity fund manager was finally, definitively over. The best and brightest had not only failed to avoid the financial meltdown but did worse than the market as a whole. Now some are staging a comeback.
During a recent speech, money manager Van Hoisington, president of Hoisington Investment Management, asked his audience of sophisticated investors to raise a hand if they thought inflation was going to be a problem sooner or later.
Getting old brings a host of changes. Achy knees. Way more time to play bridge. And, occasionally, the tendency to make unwise money decisions.
The credit card reform bill tries to help cash-strapped customers, but companies are just coming up with new ways to boost profits. The iPhone is no longer the only touchscreen 'smart phone' in town. But are the challengers a better value?
1. The book that explains how Wall Street really works
Louisville, Colo., may rank first on Money's 2009 list of the Best Places to Live, but Westerville, Ohio, is tops among Facebook fans.
As yet another bank faces collapse, consumers are worried about their cash.
Ira and Hope Moskowitz, both 44, have lived within a 10-mile radius of Philadelphia their whole lives. City kids, they met in junior high, got married in Philly in 1989, and settled in nearby Cherry Hill, N.J., where Hope manages a hair salon and Ira headed up software administration for a mortgage-servicing firm. Bankruptcy filings by American consumers increased nearly a third in 2008, according to a new report.
As the 10th anniversary of the bursting of the tech bubble is upon us, you've probably read a slew of stories about what an awful decade this has been for stocks.
The secret lives of America's debtors
08.03.10
Americans are loaded up with credit card debt. What's worse is that some husbands, wives and even children hide those money woes from their families. The results are often devastating.
The price you pay for frothy assets
08.03.10
As the 10th anniversary of the bursting of the tech bubble is upon us, you've probably read a slew of stories about what an awful decade this has been for stocks.
Should I fire my financial adviser?
08.03.10
Question: Last year I put my money with an adviser for an annual fee of 1% of assets and told him my only criteria for evaluating him will be whether he beats the market. I have refrained from telling him where to invest, when to invest, etc. as I view that as his job. He "got into the rally late" last year and underperformed the broad indexes by 10% to 12%, although we did have a decent fourth quarter. This year he's off to a horrid start, however, and we are already 3% worse than the broad indices. I try not to be a knee-jerk investor and know that every adviser has his ups and downs, but I'm wondering....Is it time to pull the plug? --Mike, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania
Don't get angry at the markets
08.03.10
Get out your calendars, folks. It's time to celebrate -- or perhaps mourn -- the 10th anniversary of one of the epic financial events of our time: the peak of the great stock market bubble, in March 2000. That's the month the Nasdaq, Standard & Poor's 500, and Wilshire 5000 all reached new highs, then headed south, big-time. (The Dow industrials peaked that January, but who cares? It's just a crummy 30 stocks.)
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Rat out a tax cheat, collect a reward
08.03.10
If you knew coworkers, former bosses or exes who cheated on their taxes, would you turn them in? The Internal Revenue Service can make it worth your while.
Spending a school fund
08.03.10
If your child skips college, is he entitled to the money you've saved for him? Money's ethicists weigh in.
Student loan provider offers online savings
08.03.10
Students can now pay their college loans and save with Sallie Mae.
The 60-plus set can't afford to retire
08.03.10
More people say they just don't have the money to retire these days.
Why diversification will work again
08.03.10
Diversification, the notion of spreading your investments among different baskets of assets that don't rise and fall in unison, has long been considered one of the safest and surest moves you can make with your portfolio. After all, if any one basket falls apart, most of your brood should remain intact.
The retired couple's guide to livin' the dream
08.03.10
Question: My husband and I have been happily married for 28 years. Careful spending and sound planning over time has provided us with a very comfortable financial future. Although we're compatible in many ways, our outlook differs when it comes to enjoying our money. I'm more of a saver and I hate to shop. I'm already retired, and when my husband retires in a year we'll begin drawing on our retirement savings. Can you suggest some tips on how we can communicate effectively about spending our money? How do we assure that we'll both have the independence to decide how we want to spend "our share" without judgment? --Margaret M.