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ON the one hand, the newspaper headlines feature mordant layoff news. On the other, most American companies say that they still can't find enough workers. So if you ever have [...]

Here are some suggestions to keep you from being caught flat-footed. * Prepare, prepare. Go to trade shows and conventions, collect business cards, make more business friends, do favors for [...]

Some 2.4 million married couples got a warning letter from the IRS last year. It said Social that your spouse's Social Security number looked wrong on your 1999 returns. They [...]

WHAT do investing women want? If you read the investment books aimed at women and follow the brokers' girly ads, it would seem that we want to be treated as [...]

Were you dropped from your Medicare HMO this year? Any seniors losing their managed-care coverage had until Jan. 1 to switch to another managed-care plan without taking a health exam. [...]

E-TRADE, the online brokerage firm, is running some pretty aggressive ads to attract accounts. They're aimed directly at the tens of thousands of people who are currently leaving their jobs. [...]

Congress wants to end the federal estate tax. That's the tax paid when children and others inherit a large amount of money. President Clinton vetoed repeal, saying it was merely [...]

If you took a fixed-rate mortgage anytime in the past year, you ought to look at rates again. You might get a new loan for 1 percent to 1.5 percent [...]

No one can predict exactly what President Bush will do. But you can get a hint, based on what the Congress couldn't gel through during President Clinton's time. Many Republican [...]

There's a bad business going around. People who advertise themselves as "registered CD brokers" are mis-selling certificates of deposit to trusting savers. CDs are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance [...]

WHAT'S your best strategy for financial investments today? Some of your stocks are on life support (techs, dotcoms, telecoms). Some stocks shot up while you weren't looking (natural gas, HMOs). [...]

WHEN you see an ad for unusually high rate certificates of deposit, get out your skunk detector. So-called "CD brokers" are setting up near areas where a lot of retired [...]

OK, investors, what now? Has the Fed ignited a new bull market, despite its shaky start? Or are we being head-faked? Maybe the market is wickedly sucking us in, so [...]

Access to mortgages continues to improve. That's true both for first-time buyers seeking modest homes and for buyers of bigger houses with larger loans. Two changes take effect this month. [...]

IT'S over, like a bad romance. Your mother told you dot-coms were no good and would let you down hard, but you didn't believe her. Now you're singing the blues, [...]

Is this the bottom of the market? Is it time to step in and buy stocks? No one knows, so commentators cheerfully fill the void with guesses of their own. [...]

Americans are returning to energy conservation. Or at least they're thinking about it Gas and electric utilities report a growing interest in money-saving audits of home-energy use. In recent years, [...]

IF you're one of an estimated 50,000 trusting investors misled by the get-rich-quick guru, Wade Cook, you might be able to get some money back. If you're paying big bucks [...]

My mailboxes, both e- and snail, bring me every turn of the demographic wheel. These days, I'm hearing from those of you who woke up at 50 and said, "Wow, [...]

Is the Web the gift that keeps on giving, or are you kidding yourself when you Christmas shop on a "charity mall"? There's no clear answer, but I can think [...]

I've just filed an appeal with the Florida Supreme Court. I demand a recount of my age. Surely, someone can tape up a few hanging chads and put me back [...]

So you're dying with your dot-com stocks? They're down 80 percent and some cheesy analyst says they're still overpriced? You can salvage something from the mess by selling now and [...]

HAVE you ever owned a "tracking stock"? Odds are, you don't even know what it is. Yet some 5 million shareholders of AT&T Corp. will get tracking stock, like it [...]

It's still the economy, stupid. That's the reason Al Gore apparently won the popular vote, though by just an eyelash. The question is why he didn't immediately waltz into the [...]

IN recent years, "value" investors have been beaten into the ground. The kids all laughed at them on the playground. "Growth" investors kicked sand in their eyes. Now, those tattered [...]

Byline: Jane Bryant Quinn Q: I turned 50 in 1998 and finally opened an IRA. My insurance agent recommended an equity-indexed tax-deferred annuity--American Eagle. It's tied to Standard & Poor's [...]

IN general, Americans get poor financial advice. We take our cues from "advisers" who have something to sell, or we muddle through alone. Most quality, independent advisers target wealthier people, [...]

Phone Rage Does your telephone bill make you furious? You're not alone. As long-distance calling plans get more complex and total costs go up, phone rage is sweeping the country. […]

It's now legal in all states to sign contracts online. You'll be able to open bank and brokerage accounts, buy insurance, buy mutual funds and get a new mortgage without [...]

What's the next chapter for the "religion stocks" of 1999? That coinage comes from Steve Leuthold of the Leuthold Group in Minneapolis. A religion stock inspires (or used to inspire) [...]

One of my gripes with insurance companies is disclosure. Take the case of the late Deward Doub, who died at 90 in April 1999. After a series of unsatisfactory exchanges [...]

So you want a big tax cut, because the government surplus is ours and we should get it back? That's nice. But who do you think the government debt belongs [...]

YOU'VE read plenty about the dueling Bush and Gore plans for adding prescription drugs to Medicare. What you've heard less about is the candidates' view of Medicare itself, and how [...]

Two thoughts struck me, when I read about young Jonathan Lebed. He's the stock scammer from Cedar Grove, N.J. who started his crooked career at 14 and was nabbed at [...]

REALTORS have had amazing success in keeping their commissions up. Whether you sell your house through a chain operation or an independent office, everyone in a given city will probably [...]

You may have been approached to buy a "viatical" -- supposedly a safe investment with a high return. "Profits guaranteed!" "Your principal safe," the Web sites scream. But viaticals are [...]

Is the average American going to be helped if Congress lets them contribute more money to a retirement plan? Naturally, Congress says yes. In July, the House overwhelmingly passed a [...]

As promised, President Clinton vetoed the bill that would have phased out the federal estate tax over the next 10 years. Congress tried and failed to override the veto. So [...]

MARY Howard, 61, a reader on the Atlantic Coast, tells me she couldn't believe her eyes. She was staring at a tax notice. She owed income taxes on $47,300 in [...]

Do you wish a genie could make you save by secretly slipping money out of your paycheck every week? For some lucky employees, a genie is hard at work. I'm [...]

Q I have some money I want to keep safe. But I'd like to earn a higher interest rate than the bank pays. Is there an alternative? a Do I […]

Most Americans believe that they'll always have access to medical care. The word have access to medical care. The word "uninsured" conjures up the image of people er, not quite [...]

PARENTS need to have a frank talk with their children, as the kids approach puberty. No, it's not what you're thinking. I'm talking plastic. Children are getting credit cards at [...]

BEWARE, beware, of financial firms selling high-rate certificates of deposit. I don't mean banks, I mean brokers. They're advertising terrific deals, on what seem to be one-year CDs. In fact, [...]

I'M trying really hard to feel sorry for the rich. When they die, their estates have to pay a "death" tax, which means less for their heirs. Poor kids. All [...]

IF you want to start an angry conversation, just bring up the subject of long-distance telephone bills. The companies have all but squandered their public trust. The attorneys general of [...]

Q I've been reading that there's no privacy on the Internet. What exactly can people find out about me? And can it do me any harm? A Welcome to today's […]

Today's tale concerns Loretta and Lucas Yastrebov of Ambler, Pa., and First North American National Bank (FNANB) head-quartered in Georgia. Last October, the Yastrebovs bought a set of library shelves [...]

HERE'S one of prosperity's interesting side effects. A higher proportion of young women -- especially higher-earning women -- appear to be choosing motherhood over career. It's a basic budget rule. [...]

YOU'VE probably read that you can be tracked like an animal through the Internet. Wherever you go, you leave a trail that clever cybersleuths can follow. But it isn't as [...]