Essential Retirement Planning Knowledge
Each age has its own benefits and hurdles on the road to retirement. Here are some simple steps to achieve those goals - at every stage of life.

Fears were raised about the giant money market mutual fund industry earlier this week when Primary Fund announced that the value of its fund's assets had dropped to 97 cents for each $1 put in by investors, exposing them to losses.

How many financial stocks do your mutual funds own? Could be none. Could be more.

How telling are mutual fund investment trends? Updated for August 2008

The Investment Company Institute has recently published a look at where we are retirement-wise. You can download the pdf here.

Q How about mortgage rates?

Q What about bank and credit union accounts?

Q What about credit cards?

Q What about the stock market?

Q What about my taxes?

401(k) participation grew despite market volatility. See what auto enrollment has done

According to Pensions and Investments, At least seven pension funds lost their private equity investments in Washington Mutual, following its failure and subsequent purchase by JPMorgan Chase, according to a source.

Falling housing prices can make it almost impossible to get out from under a mortgage you can no longer afford. A new AARP Public Policy Institute analysis says depressed home values are hitting baby boomers and seniors harder than other age groups. Emily Brandon reports.
Work the Numbers on our new 20 in 1 mortgage calculator.

Is your retirement plan nothing but Risky Business?

Working After Retirement? That's not a Plan!

Thinking about borrowing from your retirement plan? Think again.

It's a question many parents struggle to answer: Should savings if there are any go toward retirement or the kids' college expenses? Laura Palmer with US News and World Report wonders if it is because parents lack a retirement/financial plan of their own. The full article here.

The Investment Company Institute has recently published a look at where we are retirement-wise. You can download the pdf here.

Laura Stern wonders, Putting hard-earned money into a 401(k) account may seem ridiculous to a young person who's barely scraping in enough cash to pay for groceries and the cell phone bill. Maybe that's why a new generation of workers are skimping on their retirement plans.

And speaking of pensions: Owners of these types of retirement plans can feel a little smug. According to Rik Frehen, a Dutch finance scholar, pensions are doing better for their participants than mutual funds (the mainstay of defined contribution plans such as 401(k)s).

"Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's stocks are down about 80 percent so far this year, with losses accelerating in recent weeks." Should you be worried about your mutual funds?John Detrixhe reports.

There is a growing concern about the money you have saved. Where it is matters.

As is common in a bear market, even the best and brightest investing professionals are hard-pressed to read the near-term tea leaves for either the economy or stock market. Gail MarksJarvis shares her thoughts.

A vastly different Congress is not likely, so understanding how to prepare your investments for an inflationary future is essential. Unlike the 1970s, today's situation is more complex. Frank Beck reports.

Investors battle the bear as thestock-market sag spilled into the second quarter, leaving little to be gained.
By Martin Skala

How to Green a BlueCollarollar Investor

Nobel prize winning economics professor offers this for your consideration. Annuities: A New Idea?

The downside risks in annuities are something to consider and if you don't, the attraction these instruments have can be problematic.

Taxes and Retirement Planning
Ian Salisbury, Dow Jones Newswires
June 04, 2008:

Index funds are boring intellectually, and it's temping to go active. If you're going to go active, you really have to make a commitment, because there are so many ways to get burned.

Bogle speaks: His advice for investors seems to square with a popular marketing pitch: Set it and forget it.

ICI: Consumer retirement assets rise to $17.6 trillion
By EILEEN ALT POWELL
The retirement assets of Americans grew 7 percent to $17.6 trillion last year, with the strongest growth coming from worker contributions to 401(k) accounts and other company-sponsored plans and to Individual Retirement Accounts.

Mutual fund expenses held steady in '07
By Sue Asci
April 14, 2008
The era of declining mutual fund expenses is over, and in fact, the cost of investing in a fund may soon be headed back up.

Can mutual fund managers pick stocks?
According to our measures of skill, certain funds perform persistently better than others, and the best performers tend to have a growth objective, large size, high turnover, and use incentive fees to motivate managers.

Top Performers

Picking the Forest or the Trees
THE ability to find top-performing industries is a crucial factor in determining mutual funds that are likely to perform best in the future.

How Well Do You Know... Funds and Taxes?
By WILLIAM POWER AND LESLIE SCISM
Tax time is here, a reminder for investors in mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that knowing how tax issues work can make a difference in your returns.

Ouch, That Hurt and Experts Disagree on When Healing Will Begin
By Tomoeh Murakami Tse
Washington Post Staff Writer

Use this guide to help you determine when and how to sell your fund shares

Inside each of us, hidden away and waiting to be tapped, is a Financial Planner. All you need do is ask the right questions.

Many mutual fund companies don't mention soft money.

Is there a way you can benefit from herd mentality?

Are you looking for a mutual fund? Screen it here.

How to fix the mutual fund industry once and for all.

How will your survivors invest their inheritance?
I am often asked this question: At what point do I hire a financial planner?

You are a mutual fund investor. So why should you worry about Hedge Funds?

Created in 1974 as a way to supplement company sponsored pension plans, these plans have grown in size and popularity. Do you IRA?

Baby Boomers need is a new retirement strategy.

Is it a using the Stock Market game the best way to teach young investors?

Your fund manager will be worried about the Valuation of Your Mutual Fund

In other fund news that will be good for all investors concerned, the S.E.C. has made the practice of directed trading illegal.

What is a hard close?

Soft money is back Let's take a look at this hidden and often needed cost of doing business in mutual funds.

Is the price you pay for a share of a mutual fund the best one.

The average investor now has the opportunity to speculate by purchasing Exchange Traded Funds or ETFs .