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Use Life Hacks to Minimize Bad Decisions
By CARL RICHARDS
Set up some “guardrails” to keep you on the right path and avoid making money mistakes.
Damage to your home from a wildfire is covered by a standard homeowner’s insurance policy.
Many residents in drought-stricken California are being forced from their houses by fires. Here’s advice about preemptive measures you can take to understand, and possibly adjust, your policy.
Set up some “guardrails” to keep you on the right path and avoid making money mistakes.
Most employers with fewer than 100 workers don’t offer 401(k) plans, and when they do, they’re expensive. But the landscape is quickly changing.
Apple’s new “financing” plan — a lease in all but name — makes available for phones a payment structure that is more familiar in the auto market.
A rule in development for five years is meant to make sure financial professionals act in a client’s best interest on retirement accounts, which could prevent many abuses.
Costs per claim have risen, and drivers without comprehensive coverage are more likely to have to pay out of pocket.
Look at your past financial “accident reports” and those of others as a way to avoid future mistakes.
The increases in debt and default rates are concentrated among students at for-profit and community colleges, even though those students borrow less on average.
Not only does shame fail at changing behavior, it can also trigger the mistakes you are trying to avoid.
Federal loans for education often offer options to ease onerous repayment terms. Not so with private loans, as some borrowers have learned to their dismay.
There is no simple, universal road map for maximizing benefits because of the complexity of Social Security rules and the variations in individual circumstances, including age and work history.
Fannie Mae is overhauling its mortgage program for low- to moderate-income households to better accommodate today’s financial and familial realities.
The household income for widows declines 37 percent after a spouse dies. Experts say women need to prepare better financially for those years.
As insurers seek to curb losses, many states have been approving large increases in premiums for older policies, but there are ways to cope.
A policy requiring one parent to be designated as the “primary caregiver” can end up enforcing more traditional gender roles.
It is rare to meet actual orphans with stock portfolios, let alone ones who have hung on to investments for nearly 50 years.
Philanthropic advisers say there isn’t a great track record of charities working together, but the stars’ foundations hope to overcome the odds.
Before reacting to volatile markets, write down a financial plan to make sure your investment goals are aligned.
Special-purpose trusts can be used to provide children a semblance of the life they might have enjoyed without mental illness or addiction, but these trusts can be complicated to establish.
With help from accommodating employers, many would-be retirees are electing to “phase” themselves out of the work force with gradual departures.
A writer finds her e-book in Google Play with a different author’s name on the cover, revealing Google’s slow response to complaints of pirated works.
The plans, known as 529A or Able accounts, are being created in most states and could grow to $100,000 without jeopardizing federal benefits.
Two advisers in Nevada have learned that investors who try to pick stocks that will outperform the market will fail to do so over long periods.
Concentrating on the present can help goals become reality, a financial planner writes.
Insurers are putting greater emphasis on consumer credit in most states, which makes it increasingly important to pay your bills on time.
More employers are introducing flexibility into their schedules or allowing employees to step slowly out of the work force with phased retirement.
Despite problems in places like Puerto Rico, default levels remain very low and are not expected to rise much, experts say, largely because governments can raise taxes.
Travelers must protect themselves by investigating company policies and taking steps to ensure their own security.
The I.R.S. and state attorneys general pay extremely close attention to the compensation of family members who run private charities.
See how long it could take for your portfolio to return to its peak value.
What would happen to your savings balances if you saved just one percent more a year?
A customizable checklist to guide your own financial tuneup, providing tips, the time needed to achieve them and links to additional resources.
An interactive checklist to help navigate ways to prepare and secure your financial future at each stage of life.
With the Supreme Court’s ruling, gay spouses will benefit in terms of taxes, estate planning, federal benefits and medical decision making.
The Justice Department said the Social Security Administration would apply the Supreme Court’s June ruling declaring marriage a constitutional right retroactively.
Each year, we put out a call for college application essays about money, work and social class. This year, we picked seven — about pizza, parental sacrifice, prep school students, discrimination and deprivation.
This special section is a collection of essays about the turning points or moments when the writers’ feelings about money crystallized.
Evolving attitudes about pets and changing family structures are reshaping the relationship between retirees and their pets.
The choice between buying a home and renting one is among the biggest financial decisions that many adults make.
A guide to student loans at various universities, and what it takes after graduation to repay that debt.
Here are tips for paying off student loans.
Personal stories about student loans painted a picture of clueless teenagers, frazzled parents and college administrators who may not question students about their debt levels.
About 90 percent of borrowers of private educational loans who ask to have co-signers released from obligation are rejected, says the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Most college graduates earn enough to repay their student loans. The bigger problem is that they’re asked to do so when they are earning the least.
Student loans need reform. But recent gloomy reports obscure the key benefit of borrowing for college: a college education.
Readers have questions. Co-authors of a recent study from the Brookings Institution have answers.
Carl Richards, a financial planner, has been explaining the basics of money through simple graphs and diagrams.
These companies offer help picking and rebalancing index and exchange-traded funds or similar investments, and none charge more than about 0.5 percent of your assets each year for the privilege.
The share of mortgage holders who owe more than their homes are worth has dropped by more than half since peaking in early 2012.
One consumer’s attempt to collect a $60 rebate for his new router leads to a maddening odyssey through the fine print into the even finer print.
writes Wealth Matters, a column looking at strategies that the wealthy use to manage their money and their overall well-being.
Valuing knowledge and experience, some employers are making extra efforts to encourage longtime workers to stay.
Guide dog schools are considered charities that do work of great value, but they have commensurate expenses. Also, a step-by-step guide to choosing a charity wisely.
What Do the One Percent Do?
