Imagine a person who always, in every circumstance, makes rational decisions with his money.  He saves when he ought to and spends exactly as he should spend, in order to maximize the “utility” of whatever wealth he happens to possess.  He defers gratification with ease.  When he invests, he has instant and total access to all possible information related to every ite

The urge to splurge is one of the toughest challenges to a monthly budget, and leads to unhappy encounters with the credit card statement.  But psychologists say there are solutions for the chronic "overspender".

The most common way to transfer assets to your heirs is also the messiest: to have a will that is so out of date that it doesn’t relate to your property or estate, to have your records scattered all over the place, to have social media, banking and email accounts whose passwords only you can find—and basically to leave a big mess for others to clean up.

What does it really cost to own a pet?  More than non-pet-owners probably realize, although if you do own a dog, cat or fish, you probably have a good idea that they’re not cheap. 

Inflation has been pretty benign over the last 20 years, right?  The U.S. Consumer Price Index has ranged from negative 0.4% in 2009 to a high of 3.8% in the awful 2008 economic year.  In 13 of those 20 years, the CPI was below 2.5%, which is hardly comparable to the double-digit inflation rates that people experienced in the 1970s and 1980s.

Each year, the Affordable Care Act—popularly known as Obamacare—creates a period when health insurance policyholders can buy or change their coverage through state exchanges or the government website.  This year, many locations will feature fewer carriers bidding for your business, but virtually every county in America still has coverage options. 

You probably didn’t notice, but Monday, September 11 marked a milestone: the S&P 500 index's bull market became the second-longest and the second-best performing in the modern economic era.  Stock prices are up 270% from their low point after the Great Recession in March 2009—up 340% if you include dividends.

Time is of the essence, whether your personal data has been compromised as part of a larger targeted cyberattack, or you are the victim of an individual cybercrime. You’ll need to take immediate action to minimize the impacts. These are steps you should take within specified timeframes after discovering your data has been breached.

By now, you’ve surely watched with sympathy and concern as hurricane Harvey flooded America’s fourth largest city.  You may remember seeing similar footage when Hurricane Katrina roared through New Orleans, and when superstorm Sandy roared through the most populous areas of New Jersey and New York.  As you see Houston sitting in six feet of water, you’re probably won

Companies tend to reward loyalty in their employees.  Right?

A recent article on the Forbes website uses simple math to suggest that loyal employees who stay employed at the same company for over two years at a time might be earning 50% less over 10 years, compared with less-dedicated workers who seek opportunity elsewhere.