In tough times, make your 401(k) a priority

July 6, 2008

Rising gas and food prices and a stock market slump are starting to prompt people to reduce or suspend contributions to their 401(k) retirement plans.

Recent columns

• Millions could lose tax rebate

  June 24, 2008

  You'd think by now that everyone has heard about the tax rebates being handed out to stimulate the economy.

• Stretching your dollars

  June 22, 2008

  To save a buck, would you separate two-ply toilet paper to create two rolls out of one?

• Easy solution: Hire your own kid

  June 17, 2008

  The job market for teenagers has been shrinking for a couple of years, but this summer it's looking exceptionally brutal.

• Some steps to take for surviving loss of job

  June 15, 2008

  Unemployment can strike anywhere, any time. And as we see right now, it's striking more often.

• Guided fund still needs a checkup

  May 27, 2008

  The development of retirement target-date funds has been a blessing to all of us who don't want to make investment decisions or adjust our portfolios on a regular basis.

• Now you can send e-mail after your death

  May 25, 2008

  We post details on Facebook and MySpace about our lives. It was only a matter of time before we turned to the Internet to spread the word about our deaths.

• Bear market no time to retire

  May 20, 2008

  Timing is everything.

• Peer-to-peer sites gaining as source of student loans

  May 18, 2008

  If your federal student loan doesn't cover all your expenses and banks are making it harder to get private loans, who can you turn to?

• College credit crunch eases

  May 13, 2008

  Finding the money for college during this widening credit crunch just got easier, thanks to emergency legislation signed by the president last week.

• Deciphering financial jargon

  May 11, 2008

  Are you confused when your broker says your stock is headed for "bagel land?"

• Auto insurance bound to rise

  May 6, 2008

  You've weathered rising gas prices and skyrocketing food and health care costs.

• Mortgage mess leads to cuts in dividends

  May 4, 2008

  Dividends might be in for their worst year ever.

• Time to buy an I bond has passed

  May 2, 2008

  Early this week, I recommended that you hurry up and buy inflation-linked U.S. savings bonds - I bonds - before the U.S. Treasury set the new interest rate on them. That was better advice than I could have possibly known.

• Price rise good for I bond investors

  April 29, 2008

  Gas and food prices are rising. Wallets are hurting. But it's not all bad news. Higher prices mean the interest rate on U.S. savings bonds tied to inflation will be going up, too.

• About-face on benefits could turn into boon

  April 27, 2008

  A couple of months ago, this column discussed a do-over option for retirees who regretted taking Social Security early and locking themselves into smaller benefit checks for life.

• About-face on benefits could turn into boon

  April 27, 2008

  A couple of months ago, this column discussed a do-over option for retirees who regretted taking Social Security early and locking themselves into smaller benefit checks for life.

• Consider merging college loans

  April 22, 2008

  Next month, we'll know the new variable interest rates for federal education loans, and those rates could be among the lowest we've seen in several years.

• Consider merging college loans

  April 22, 2008

  Next month, we'll know the new variable interest rates for federal education loans, and those rates could be among the lowest we've seen in several years.

• Going federal isn't possible for many on student loans

  April 20, 2008

  If you must borrow for college, your best bet is a federal student loan.

• Errors hover on deadline

  April 15, 2008

  You have less than 24 hours to make good with the Internal Revenue Service if you haven't already.

• Investment adviser title of 'senior' can mislead

  April 13, 2008

  You're looking for someone to help manage your life savings in retirement. Surely an adviser with a "senior" designation, like a registered super-duper senior consultant, must be up to the job, right?

• Beware of risks of co-signing a loan

  April 8, 2008

  College students usually don't have much of a financial track record, so to get a private loan for school they generally need a co-signer. And with lenders taking a harder look at borrowers during this credit crunch, the need for co-signers will only grow.

• Simplifying more complex tax forms

  March 13, 2006

  At some point, most of us graduate from the 1040EZ.

• Where's my pension?

  December 4, 2005

  Paul Horowitz has been on a five-year quest, searching for a union pension he was promised decades ago when he worked in New York delicatessens.

• Create your living will, then be sure to discuss it

  March 27, 2005

  MOST OF US might never have heard of Terri Schiavo if she had put her medical wishes in writing.