Personal Finance: Investor protection is back to square one
Last week, an appeals court based in New Orleans struck down an important investor protection measure intended to reduce conflicts of interest in providing financial advice.
Personal Finance: IRS and fraudsters both want your money at tax time
Albert Einstein said that the hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax. But Einstein didn't have to run the gauntlet of scammers and fraudsters that make tax time even more complex and potentially treacherous. Here's our annual look at common scams aimed at taxpayers and how to defeat them.
Personal Finance: Steel tariffs are economic suicide
Suppose you wished to conduct an experiment in perpetrating economic mischief. Your goal is to slow the economy, increase unemployment, retard wage growth and drive up inflation.
Personal Finance: It’s important to remain alert to threat of unchecked inflation
Last week we looked at how inflation is measured. This week, we discuss why it is so important to remain vigilant to the threat it poses if left unchecked.
Personal Finance: As inflation fears return, here’s a primer on the economic ogre
An entire generation has never experienced the relentless destruction of purchasing power wrought by systemic inflation.
Personal Finance: Recent market decline points to a new culprit
Dow plunges. Biggest one-day point drop ever. These were the two most common financial headlines Feb. 5, the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,175 points.
Personal Finance: Forget OPEC – America is the new energy boss
Readers of a certain vintage may recall cooling their heels in long lines at the filling station, queued up to receive the meager produce of American refineries during the Arab oil embargo of 1973 and the energy crisis of 1979.
Personal Finance: Demystifying required minimum distributions
More than 3 million American baby boomers this year will attain an important milestone: three score years and 10. And while 70 may be the new 60, Uncle Sam says that 70 is still 70, and he wants to start taxing your retirement savings.
Personal Finance: Interest rates are finally rising. Are you ready?
Interest rates are finally rising: are you ready? Flashback to 1981. The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds topped out at 15.8 percent, consumer prices were doubling every five years, and 30-year mortgage rates hit 18.5 percent. Good times.
Personal Finance: What happens if the government shuts down?
It's mid-January. Do you know where your government is?