DailyFinance

Walmart employees across the country are picketing their employer right now, asking to be paid living wages and to be given decent health care coverage. But here's a surprise: History shows that if Walmart gave them those things, it could be great for its bottom line. Just ask Henry Ford.

It started when they were newlyweds. Dawn and David Van Dyke, both teachers, accumulated a mountain of credit card debt during years of spending beyond their means. Here's how they got their family out from under it.

Nike is severing ties with famed cyclist Lance Armstrong, citing insurmountable evidence that he participated in doping and misled the company for more than a decade.

Inflation is low, earnings are high, investors are happy. Stocks shot higher Tuesday, giving the market its biggest gain in a month. Results at Mattel, Goldman Sachs, and Johnson & Johnson were all above expectations.

Higher gas costs drove up U.S. consumer prices in September for the second straight month. Outside energy, there was little sign of inflation. The Labor Department said Tuesday that the consumer price index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.6 percent last month.

More than 56 million Social Security recipients will see their monthly payments go up by 1.7% next year, one of the smallest increases since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975. The cost-of-living adjustment is linked to inflation, which has been relatively low over the past year.

Apple has sent out invitations to an event next week that is expected to be its unveiling of the much-anticipated iPad mini. The invitations didn't reveal details, of course, but hinted at something small with the words: "We've got a little more to show you."

Whether you dream of retiring to a big city, small town, resort area or college town, these great places offer reasonably priced homes, low crime and tax rates, quality health care, and more.

There are roughly 3 million millionaires in the U.S., and nearly everyone else has a plan to become the next one. But there are about 3% of Americans who may not even realize that they're already on the path to prosperity. What's giving their savings scenarios a leg up? They're vegetarians.

Morgan Stanley is being accused of discriminating against black homeowners and violating federal civil rights laws by providing strong incentives to a subprime lender to originate mortgages that were likely to go unrepaid.

Despite ultra-low mortgage and savings interest rates, the average credit card rate is still high, and has barely budged over the past year. That's not so lucky for you as a spender -- but it could guide you to a windfall as an investor.

In early October, Dwyane Wade, of the NBA Champion Miami Heat, left Jordan Brand, where he had been since 2009, and signed a contract with Chinese sportswear company Li-Ning. Now details about that deal have emerged: Wade will endorse his own brand for the company, creatively called Wade.

Robert Kiyosaki, author of the bestselling "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" series, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection after losing a nearly $24 million court judgment to The Learning Annex.