If financial misery loves company, you've got a surprising amount of it among wealthy folks--the people who you'd think would feel comfortably insulated from the current economic crisis.
That's a key takeaway from a survey just released by the Phoenix Companies, a financial services firm which conducts an annual poll of well-off Americans--those whose net worth, excluding the value of their primary home, amounts to at least $1 million.
In the survey, MORE
George Mannes - Apr 30, 2009 1:43 PM ET
Given everything that's rattling our nerves these days -- from our familiar economic woes to Swine Flu to low-flying 747s over lower Manhattan -- you might not have expected this: consumer confidence actually rose in April to its highest point since the halcyon days of last November.
But there's one group of consumers that isn't feeling quite so confident these days: teenagers. A new report from investment bank Piper Jaffray reports MORE
Pat Regnier - Apr 29, 2009 2:49 PM ET
When the going gets tough apparently the tough seek furloughs. From a prestigious New York City law firm to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), to state and municipal governments, employers facing budget pressure are sending employees packing, without pay, if only for a limited time. Unlike a permanent layoff a furlough is a forced unpaid leave for distinct period of time; typically days, though it can be imposed for MORE
Pat Regnier - Apr 29, 2009 9:00 AM ET
Last Thursday executives of the nation's leading credit card companies were summonsed to the principal's office and told to clean up their act. Actually, what President Obama told them was that he intended for Congress to come up with some new consumer-friendly legislation to address what the President referred to as abusive practices.
From the President's post-meeting remarks:
"…we want to preserve the credit card market. But we also want to do MORE
Pat Regnier - Apr 27, 2009 9:45 AM ET
Just a couple of years ago putting away enough money to pay your kids's college bills seemed, well, not easy but possible. You were plowing money into your 529 college savings plan, and it was growing steadily. Next stop, Ivy League—or at least a flagship public college.
We all know what happened next. Your 529 plunged in the market meltdown, just like your 401(k). And now you are trying to minimize MORE
Penelope Wang - Apr 24, 2009 1:34 PM ET
Debt Ski's pig collects money, purchases and debt.
Some of the lamest books for kids are designed to teach them financial responsibility. Their approach: With a spoonful of sugar--Hey, kids! Look at the pretty pictures! Listen to the rhymes!--you can make the medicine go down: Savings good! Debt bad! But kids (like adults) resist being preached to. And good intentions can make for lousy art, which is why you're not MORE
George Mannes - Apr 23, 2009 11:00 AM ET
A spoonful of sugar might help it go down
I had no idea that my post about the "Tea Parties" last week would throw me into the middle of a civil war. Well, a not-so-civil war, I guess, given the number of people calling me "dipstick" and worse in the 143 (and counting) comments on the piece. (Just for the record: I'm a contributing writer for Money magazine who contributes, MORE
Pat Regnier - Apr 23, 2009 9:28 AM ET
Thanks to the journos at ProPublica.org we now have a completely sortable list of the federal bailout money trail. You can now easily slice and dice to your heart's content to see how your tax dollars are being spent:
By Size of Handout: Sure you can name the big three bailout recipients. (Okay if you've chosen to block it out: AIG $70 billion, Bank of America $52.5 billion, Citigroup $50 MORE
Pat Regnier - Apr 22, 2009 11:16 AM ET
By Jeanne Fleming, Ph.D. and Leonard Schwarz
Question: My husband has negotiated a price for painting our house that's significantly lower than a bid we got a while back from the same small business. I think he may be taking unfair advantage of people who are hurting in the recession. Is he?
Answer: Remember the good old days - you know, two years ago? As we recall, painters weren't reluctant to push MORE
Jeanne Fleming, Ph.D., and Leonard Schwarz - Apr 21, 2009 5:21 PM ET
It all started with an innocent "tweet"--a post to the micro-blogging site Twitter. Connor Riley, a 22-year-old pursuing her master's degree in information management and systems at University of California, Berkeley, wrote:
Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.
Cisco employee Tim Levad saw the post and responded with his own MORE
Ismat Sarah Mangla - Apr 21, 2009 4:46 PM ET
About a month ago Bank of America sent me a new Quantum Visa Credit card to replace my soon-expiring card. In the boilerplate letter that accompanied the note they reaffirmed what a good camper I was and that my credit limit would remain at $35,000.
Fast forward to this week. It seems Bank of America changed their mind. They ever so politely told me in another letter: "We periodically review our MORE
Pat Regnier - Apr 21, 2009 9:40 AM ET
David Dreman
Could it be the beginning of the end of the market meltdown? If history is any guide, just possibly. One of the few remaining star fund managers, famed value investor David Dreman, 72, was recently fired from $2.4 billion DWS High Return Equity. Dreman had guided High Return for more than two decades, a period that encompassed numerous market cycles and as well as a series of corporate MORE
Penelope Wang - Apr 17, 2009 10:42 AM ET
Those watching a certain cable news channel yesterday (hint: it rhymes with "pox") might have gotten the impression that the entire nation had risen up as one to slay the dragons of fat taxes and big government. Actually, as Gallup reported earlier this week, more than half of Americans think the amount they pay in taxes is "about right" or even too low. Sure, that leaves 46 percent saying MORE
Pat Regnier - Apr 16, 2009 4:00 PM ET
Most investors are licking their wounds from the bear market, but in Oregon's 529 college savings plan, investment pain has turned into legal action.
On Monday, Oregon's state attorney general filed a suit against OppenheimerFunds, alleging that savers in the state's 529 plan lost at least $36.2 million as a result of the fund company's negligence. You can read the legal complaint here. Specifically, the suit centers around Oppenheimer Core Bond MORE
Carolyn Bigda - Apr 16, 2009 2:51 PM ET
For me, doing my family's taxes is like solving a crossword puzzle. The process of entering the right answers in the right spots is challenging and sometimes frustrating. But when the forms are all filled out, when all the numbers and data are in the right spot, I get the same feeling of satisfaction that I get from completing an intricately designed brainteaser.
Taxes are like crossword puzzles
Which is why MORE
George Mannes - Apr 15, 2009 12:50 PM ET
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