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Byline: Jane Bryant QuinnAs a financial columnist, I get asked the same heartfelt question over and over: 'How do I make sure I don't outlive my money?' And that makes [...]

Byline: Jane Bryant Quinn If there's no change in Social Security, it will pay only 77 percent of everyone's promised retirement benefits starting 16 years from now. Should I claim [...]

Byline: Jane Bryant Quinn Almost everyone dies owing at least some debt. Sometimes it's only last month's ordinary bills plus final medical expenses. But there can be shocking surprises for [...]

Byline: Jane Bryant Quinn Help! You wrote that people my age, 66, can get spousal Social Security benefits and, later, switch to their own retirement benefit. My Social Security office [...]

Byline: Jane Bryant Quinn Most of us think about retirement as the last big plan we'll ever have to make. But there's one more thing that's perhaps even more important. [...]

Byline: Jane Bryant Quinn My mother is 93, and her husband is in poor health. They live on Social Security and have no savings. If anything happens to him, she [...]

Byline: Jane Bryant Quinn How do you know if your financial adviser has your best interests at heart? They all say they do. Then some of them turn around and [...]

Byline: Jane Bryant Quinn My wife and I are receiving Social Security. I've heard the SSA will provide an advance on our Social Security income for up to one year. [...]

Mutual funds are convenient investments that carry variable risks. Investors can manage the placement of their money. Factors to consider when investing in mutual funds are described., Sound, simple and flexible--that's why mutual funds are every investor's bedrock buy I love mutual funds because they're so easy as well as so smart. Anyone can learn enough to [...]

The more simply investments are made, the more confident investors should be. Advice for stock market investment and mixed fund investment that provides a safe and high return with the current economic trends is included.

HOW TO TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR MONEY--ONCE AND FOR ALL It seems like only yesterday that savers were corks. They kept piggy banks. They drove last year's cars. They fished […]

Byline: Jane Bryant Quinn Yep, that's me, in my midlife-crisis car. The crisis was that I wanted a Mercedes sports car and--as you see--I handled that emergency pretty well. As [...]

Byline: Jane Bryant Quinn Q: In October 1999, just before I retired, I switched my mutual funds and various stocks to an account with a new stockbroker. I don't know [...]

For Americans with significant sums of money to manage, the next few years are going to feel like a roll of the dice. Those most vexed will be the older [...]

Buying a car versus leasing: the new math If you're planning to get a new car, here's an inside-the-industry tip: Leasing companies are losing big money these days. When customers […]

Are you ready for the slowdown? Remember that cash reserve you're supposed to have for an emergency? The money you always meant to save but never did? For tens of […]

Tax update There are virtually no new IRS rules to worry about this year (whew!), so it's a good time to look at what you've done in the past and […]

What's That Old Stock Worth? A reader recently wrote to tell me that she'd come across some old stock certificates while cleaning out her father's desk after he died. She […]

Q: After my husband died, I called Charles Schwab for the forms I needed to liquidate his $33,600 IRA and roll the proceeds into an IRA at a bank. But [...]

I always wrote as a kid--a family newsletter featuring, naturally, views and opinions by grade-school me. The letters started with a flourish: big headlines in colored pencil, then handwritten pages, [...]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Did you charge your holiday gifts and vacation? That means crunch time when the dreaded bills arrive this month. But how much your splurges will cost--in interest and […]

Do you wish you could squeeze extra savings from your budget--without making any big sacrifices? Here's an idea you may not have thought of: Slash the premiums you pay to […]

When it comes to being a good citizen, July 4 is definitely more fun than April 15. You'll pay up, of course, but you won't want to miss a dime […]

do you put off making money decisions? If so, you're like most of us (including me). Sometimes we delay because we're too busy. But often it's that dealing with money […]

how did you get to be in your 40s (or beyond!) all of a sudden? Age sneaks up on us, and so does reality: If you're going to retire well, […]

I have a love-hate relationship with my credit cards. While they're a marvelous convenience, they're also a crafty money trap. I'm not talking about the way plastic tempts you to […]

When I feel the primal urge to get organized, I know it must be January. Like everyone else, I have a to-do pile that's flowing out of its basket. But […]

Techniques for managing household expenses without a paycheck are offered., At first, you may panic--especially if you've never lost a job before. You're spending every penny you make. How can you live on a nickel less? This very month, the [...]

There are several ways to invest in foreign countries. Mutual funds are good because they do not require the investor to study foreign markets. There are global, international, and regional funds as well as single-country funds.