Recently added articles from Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine:

My Take on Greed.

Apr 01, 2008; Frailey, Fred W. ... Byline: FRED W. FRAILEY Lately, I've been thinking about greed. In our capitalist system, it does a lot of good by prodding us to become successful financially. But it can also do a lot of harm. People break laws under the influence of greed-or they do only what's best for ...

Letters.(Letter to the editor)

Apr 01, 2008 ... A reader offers cold comfort to a victim of the California wildfires. A veteran suggests a solution to the home-loan dilemma. The dean of a New York City commuter school points out the benefits of an urban campus. And one reader says a bathroom remodel left her flush with cash. ...

Recession at the Gates.

Apr 01, 2008; Smith, Anne Kates ... Byline: ANNE KATES SMITH THE DEBATE IS THE SAME, whether at the boardroom table or the kitchen table: Are we headed for a recession? Already in one? And if not, is there anything we can do to avoid one? The answers to the first two questions depend on how successfully ...

She Called the Morgage Mess.(Susan Troll )(Interview)

Apr 01, 2008 ... Analyst Susan Troll spotted problems in the subprime credit market early. WHAT TIPPED YOU OFF TO THE PROBLEMS IN THE SUBPRIME MARKET? There were a lot of red flags. Underwriters dramatically lowered standards while lenders struggled to maintain loan volume and market share. The ...

Money & Ethics: What to Do When Your Client Acts Erratically.

Apr 01, 2008; Kiplinger, Knight ... Byline: KNIGHT KIPLINGER WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR CLIENT ACTS ERRATICALLY Q: I am a stockbroker, and I have an elderly, wealthy client who has always managed his account pretty conservatively, with my help. But now I see signs of mental impairment--fuzzy thinking, ...

Basic and Cheap.(personal computers)(Brief article)

Apr 01, 2008 ... SEVERAL NEW COMPUTERS unveiled in recent months have something in common besides their budget-minded price tag: All come preloaded with the Linux operating system instead of Microsoft's Windows. Until recently, Linux catered to techie do-it-yourselfers, who loaded the free system ...

Job Outlook for Grads.(Brief article)

Apr 01, 2008 ... The job market for college graduates should be decent this spring, even with the faltering economy. Employers will exercise caution, but won't shut doors ...

The Race is On to Refinance.(Brief article)

Apr 01, 2008; Esswein, Patricia Mertz ... Byline: PATRICIA MERTZ ESSWEIN RATES WELL UNDER 6% FOR a 30-year fixed mortgage have many homeowners racing to their lenders--none faster than homeowners whose adjustable rates reset soon. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported in mid January that refinance applications were ...

Pay Less for Power.(Brief article)

Apr 01, 2008 ... THE MARYNOWSKIS COOK DINNER A DAY AHEAD, SO AT 5 P.M., a meal can be warmed in the microwave and on the table in two shakes. They're efficient working parents, yes, but they also do it to save money on their electric bill--some $250 in savings last year. The Marynowskis are among the first ...

Chugging Along.(Kansas City Southern)(Brief article)

Apr 01, 2008 ... Kansas City Southern, with more than 6,000 miles of track in the southern U.S. and Mexico, will benefit from a new port in Mexico and auto plants that are opening or expanding along its routes. New locomotives will make ...

How to Move Back Into the Market.

Apr 01, 2008; Kosnett, Jeffrey S. ... Byline: JEFFREY R. KOSNETT A FEW MONTHS AGO, CHRIS Hinners, a computer-network engineer, decided that the spate of negative headlines about the economy required drastic action. He switched all the money in his 401(k) plan to stuff he figures will hold its value "if the American ...

Continuing Education.

Apr 01, 2008; Glassman, James K. ... Byline: JAMES K. GLASSMAN When markets are falling, writes Dianne F. Lob, of Bernstein Global Wealth Management, in a recent letter to clients, "it's only natural to want to 'do something.' But while trying to time markets may sound like an alluring strategy, it is almost ...

Retire to Your Dream Job.

Apr 01, 2008; Franklin, Mary Beth ... Byline: MARY BETH FRANKLIN AND ROBERT FRICK BABY-BOOMERS ASKED TO DEFINE R&R ARE MORE LIKELY TO SAY "ROCK 'N' ROLL" THAN "rest and relaxation." That's a good thing, given that the old-fashioned definition of retirement as 25 years of leisure is built on two misconceptions, says ...

How to Protect Your Money Now.

Apr 01, 2008; Kosnett, Jeffrey ... Byline: JEFFREY R. KOSNETT A BLOODTHIRSTY BEAR WILL SHRED SHARE PRICES FOR ANOTHER YEAR, MAYBE LONGER. Or perhaps the Federal Reserve's rapid interest-rate reductions will quickly calm the financial world and set the stage for the next rally. You can argue either case. But ...

Bond Funds Reduce Risk.

Apr 01, 2008 ... Byline: DAVID LANDIS IF YOU WERE TEMPTED TO KICK YOURSELF DURING THE bull market for keeping those stodgy bond funds in your portfolio, you're probably patting yourself on the back today. Bonds issued in the U.S. have returned 8% over the past year through mid February, taking ...

Economy Blame Game.

Apr 01, 2008; Siegel, Jeremy J. ... Byline: JEREMY J. SIEGEL Who's to blame for the sorry mess the economy finds itself in? Is it former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan, who failed to sound an alarm about "no doc-no income" loans and kept short-term interest rates too low for too long in an attempt to ...

Insider Interview: Bill Gross.(Interview)

Apr 01, 2008; Schiffres, Manuel ... Byline: Manuel Schiffres WHEN BILL GROSS TALKS ABOUT THE economy and the bond market, investors listen. Gross, arguably the nation's best-known bond-fund manager, is chief investment officer of Pimco, a Newport Beach, Cal., firm that manages fixed-income assets totaling $747 ...

The Wal-Mart of Food Service.(Sysco Corp.)

Apr 01, 2008; Tanzer, Andrew ... Byline: ANDREW TANZER AT FIRST GLANCE, SYSCO Corp. would seem like a stock to avoid in a weakening economy. The largest distributor in the food-away-from-home industry books nearly all of its sales in North America, currently a weak link in the global economy. Food inflation ...

A Pitcher Tries to Sell Stock in His Future.(Randy Newsom)(Brief article)

Apr 01, 2008; Landis, David ... Byline: DAVID LANDIS TO SUPPLEMENT HIS MEAGER salary as a minor league baseball player, Randy Newsom, a pitcher in the Cleveland Indians organization, put up a Web site and offered to sell shares in his future major league earnings to investors. Unfortunately, he failed to ...

You're Smarter Than They Thought.(stock funds)

Apr 01, 2008; Anderson, Thomas M. ... Byline: THOMAS M. ANDERSON YOU'VE PROBABLY HEARD this grim fairy tale: Plunging stocks provoke jittery investors to yank money out of mutual funds. In their rush to the exits, these saps miss the first wave of the next bull market. Eventually, as the sting of their losses wears ...