Excelle

If you could ask ten wise women for advice on what to do (and what not to do) with your money, what would they say? They might offer the ten financial tips below, culled from our wise and money-smart contributors. 1. Saving For Retirement Is a Must Unless you don’t mind eating cat food in your old age, you have to ...

Wealth: abundance of valuable material possessions or resources. —Merriam-Webster Dictionary While women can be very successful in creating abundance in other parts of our lives, most of us still have a long way to go when it comes to creating that particular abundance called wealth. Some of the reasons for this are external ones and thus harder for us to control. ...

It's always great to get a raise or bonus. But it's even better when you use the extra cash to make smart financial moves that can increase its value exponentially over time. "A bonus or raise is cause to celebrate, and the lucky recipient can certainly spend a small amount of that bonus or raise on a special meal or new ...

1: Medicare doesn't cover nursing home care. Nearly 60% of Americans think Medicare pays for nursing care, and 52% assume that it covers assisted living, according to a 2006 survey by AARP. Not so. Medicare's coverage of long-term care is extremely limited. It'll cover part of the cost of a skilled nursing facility while you recover from an injury or illness. ...

When we asked Monster readers what they’d be most likely to splurge on if they got a big salary bump — a new car, wardrobe or home entertainment technology — the car topped the list with 51 percent of the votes, followed by the wardrobe with 30 percent and the home entertainment center at 18 percent. But quite a few readers ...

Have questions about planning for retirement? Our Money Mentors have some answers. They aren't financial pros. They're ordinary folks who, as retirees, manage their own finances. Their nest eggs, excluding their homes, vary from a couple hundred thousand dollars to $2 million. The one thing they have in common is experience as retirees — and the desire to share the lessons ...

Investment losses, job loss or downsizing, an upward adjustment on your adjustable rate mortgage, and higher prices on everything from gas for your car to rice for the table are only some of the current factors that could derail your financial planning for your golden years. When your income is not covering all your expenses, it can be tempting to simply ...

The battle for a secure retirement is about to get even tougher. Several new surveys of company executives show that they plan to reduce or suspend their company's retirement-plan contributions this year. Dozens of employers in the past year have already slashed such costs. The trend means one important thing for workers: smaller nest eggs, unless they save enough to make ...

The Pension Protection Act, which both strengthens employers’ existing pension obligations and discourages them from undertaking new obligations, also makes a broader point to US workers: “The overall message of the bill is, you’re on your own,” says James Lange, a lawyer, CPA and author of Retire Secure. Even so, the 2006 law has also made it less daunting for workers ...

When times are tough, companies find cost savings wherever they can. Now some employers are doing away with the 401(k) match, a benefit once considered almost sacred. The list of companies that have suspended or cut back corporate matching in their defined-contribution retirement plans this year is not trivial. It includes General Motors (GM), Frontier Airlines (FRNTQ), car-rental company Dollar Thrifty ...

It's one of a heap of financial worries that come with a layoff: What happens to your company-sponsored retirement plan? The answer depends on how long you worked for the company, the amount you saved up and whether the money's in a 401(k) or a pension plan. For the most part, federal regulations protect retirement savings, even if a company goes ...