Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine back issues from March 2008:
Advice for Rough Times.
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: FRED W. FRAILEY Not to jump to conclusions, but those cracking sounds you hear outside the window are the bones of the nation's financial powerhouses being broken. Oh, what a mess their greed has gotten us into! As I write this, the stock market is perilously close to ...
Letters.(Letter to the editor)
Mar 01, 2008 ... A bestselling author invites us to join his crusade. A broker asks investors to think twice before putting a blot on his permanent record. A reader warns against second-guessing the market. And a subscriber likens our new look to moving from our house to Bauhaus. The scourge of ...
A New Mortgage Mess on the Way?
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: ANNE KATES SMITH EASILY THE BIGGEST FINANCIAL fear of elderly Americans is that they'll outlive their money. So it's easy to see why the $4 trillion of home equity that's wrapped up in the houses of America's senior citizens seems like an attractive solution to an ...
Magellan's Boss: Big is Best.(Fidelity Magellan's Harry Lange )(Interview)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Harry Lange has run Fidelity Magellan since 2005. The storied $45-billion mutual fund just reopened to new investors. LAST YEAR, THE MARKET FINALLY FAVORED COMPANIES WITH FAST-GROWING EARNINGS OVER THOSE SELLING AT BARGAIN PRICES. WILL GROWTH STOCKS LEAD FOR A WHILE NOW? Growth ...
Should I Tip If the Service is Lousy?(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: KNIGHT KIPLINGER SHOULD I TIP IF THE SERVICE IS LOUSY? Q: Is it okay to leave a restaurant server a stingy tip for bad service? Yes, indeed, if the bad service is really the server's fault--rudeness, botched orders, a bored manner. But don't ...
Track Your Cash.(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... ABOUT NOW YOUR NEW YEAR'S resolve to stay on top of your spending may be flagging. Don't quit yet, because it's easier than ever to track your income, outgo and everything in between. In January, Intuit unveiled its $2.99-a-month Quicken Online, a service geared toward twenty- ...
No Relief at the Pump.(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... A slower economy doesn't spell much relief on fuel costs in 2008. The average price of gasoline will go up a dime from 2007, to about $2.90 a gallon. Diesel will gain a nickel, to $2.95 a ...
Health-Care Shock in Retirement.(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... PEOPLE THINKING ABOUT moving after retirement are more concerned with the weather than they are about changes in health-care costs, according to a recent survey. But a comparison of insurance prices shows that failing to compare Medicare premiums could lead to surprises. That's because ...
Pick Your Refund.(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Byline: JOAN GOLDWASSER IF YOU USED A CREDIT CARD OVERSEAS BETWEEN FEBRUARY 1, 1996, and November 8, 2006, you may be eligible for at least a $25 rebate check from your credit-card issuer. A class-action suit against MasterCard, Visa, Diners Club and Bank of America, Bank ...
Healthy Prospects.(WellPoint Inc. )(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... WellPoint Inc. is the nation's largest health-benefits company. Brands, including Blue Cross Blue Shield, give it a marketing edge. Market dominance keeps its hospital and doctor costs low. Jitters about health-care reform ...
Setting Our Priorities.
Mar 01, 2008 ... Byline: KNIGHT KIPLINGER If you really want to know what people value most, look at how they spend their money. This is true of individuals, households and whole nations. In this national election year, you'll hear a lot of talk about reordering our priorities--spending more tax ...
Sell the House and Invest the Profits?
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: JEFFREY R. KOSNETT THE HOUSING SLUMP IS starting to unnerve people with oodles of home equity. John and Michelle Potocko are sitting on as much as $500,000 of it in their large home in Clarksville, Md. They have good jobs--Michelle, 46, works in telecommunications ...
Exotic Blue Chips.
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: JAMES K. GLASSMAN The ranks of the largest and most dynamic businesses in the world are being bolstered by companies in the developing world. Last year, for instance, the Fortune Global 500, a list of the publicly traded firms with the highest revenues, included 35 ...
Make More, Keep More.
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: JEFFREY KOSNETT AND DAVID LANDIS STEPHANIE DIANI TWO YEARS AGO, JOHN AND MICHELLE LAUS HAD $300,000 BURNING A HOLE IN THEIR pockets. They got it tax-free from the sale of their house, thanks to maybe the richest tax break ever enacted. Even if you don't have ...
Hands Off This Simple Strategy.(on investing)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: FRED W. FRAILEY JOEL GREENBLATT TRIED TO strike a bargain with readers of his bestseller, The Little Book That Beats the Market. Just do what I tell you, said the author and hedge-fund manager, be patient, and over time your investment return could be twice that of the ...
The Great Global Building Boom.
Mar 01, 2008 ... Byline: ROBERT FRICK INVESTORS ARE WAKING UP to the sound of jackhammers worldwide. In the next 20 years, the tab to build and maintain roads and bridges, and to create and maintain systems that deliver electricity, water, sanitation and telecom services, will swell to $30 ...
A Bargain-Priced Biotech.(Amgen)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: ANNE KATES SMITH IT TAKES GUTS TO BUY A stock when it's down and the bad news shows little sign of abating. But such bottom-fishing can be enormously profitable if you're right about the long-term prospects of a company that the here-and-now crowd on Wall Street can't ...
A Smart Speculation.(Column)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Byline: ANDREW FEINBERG I was going to call this column "Taking a Smart Flier" until I started reading definitions of flier. Among the nicer entries was one suggesting that it was the investment equivalent of a Hail Mary pass. So forget fliers--even though my top pick for 2008 ...
Tips for Beating Inflation.
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: ANDREW TANZER THE ROLE THAT TREASURY inflation-protected securities (TIPS) play in a diversified bond portfolio got a big boost in 2007. As many investors labored to eke out gains amid crumbling credit markets, the stars aligned for inflation-indexed bonds, and the ...
Dare to Buck the Trend.
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: RUSSEL KINNEL Large-cap growth is back. After years of hibernation, the investing style characterized by large, growing companies whipped the other styles in 2007. Given the length of its slump and the still-modest valuations of large growth stocks, I wouldn't be ...
4 Foreign Funds Reopen.
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: AMY BICKERS IT'S AN OLD STORY: A FUND does great, finds itself inundated with cash, closes to new investors, doesn't do as well and gets hit by redemptions. Four well-regarded foreign-stock funds that just went through that cycle have reopened to new accounts. All ...
The Kiplinger 25: Julius Baer Tilts Toward Emerging Markets.(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... JULIUS BAER INTERNATIONAL EQUITY II has changed its benchmark to the MSCI All Country World ex-US index--which, unlike the better-known MSCI EAFE index, includes emerging markets and Canada. The change reflects co-manager Rudolph-Riad Younes's thinking about where the best prospects are ....
Should You Come Back to Magellan?(Fidelity Magellan)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: ANNE KATES SMITH INVESTORS CAN NOW DO SOMETHING they haven't been able to do for a decade, except through some select retirement plans: They can buy into Fidelity Magellan, one of the most famous mutual funds ever. Magellan, which reopened to all new investors ...
Get the Tax Refund You Deserve.
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: MARY BETH FRANKLIN BY MARY BETH FRANKLIN PROCRASTINATORS, REJOICE! YOU DON'T HAVE TO FEEL QUITE SO GUILTY IF YOU GET A late start on your income taxes this year. Thanks to Congress's tardiness in passing tax legislation, the IRS couldn't begin to process some ...
How to Spot a Health Scam.
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: KIMBERLY LANKFORD WHEN MEDICARE INTRODUCED PART D COVERAGE to pay for prescription drugs in 2006, it gave seniors a golden opportunity to save money--and crooks a golden opportunity to steal it. // The law offers Medicare beneficiaries a bewildering array of new ...
Home Equity Taps Out.
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: ELIZABETH ODY WHEN BANKERS USE SUCH catchphrases as "liquidity crisis" and "tightened lending standards," what they really mean is that it's tougher to get a loan. That's certainly true for home-equity lending. Until recently, borrowing against soaring home values was ...
Rent Your Way to Good Credit.
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: URJA DAVE LATE-NIGHT COMMERCIALS for used cars promise "no credit, no problem." But for the 50 million Americans who have little or no credit--among them young people, recently widowed or divorced individuals, immigrants and those who proudly operate on a cash-only ...
A Run for Their Money.(credit unions)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: JOAN GOLDWASSER Dissatisfied with the interest you're earning on your savings account or the interest you're paying to your credit-card issuer? Then consider joining a credit union. In a recent interest-rate survey conducted by financial-services firm ...
Pay for Grades? Bad Idea.
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: JANET BODNAR JANET BODNAR A few months ago I was asked in an interview what I thought of New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to pay fourth- and seventh-graders for high scores on standardized tests. Not much, I replied. Once you start down the ...
Pension Payouts Are Shrinking.
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: MARY BETH FRANKLIN RETIREES WHO PLANNED TO take the money and run may find themselves with less than they expected. New rules that take effect in 2008 change the way pension plans calculate lump-sum distributions. The impact will be relatively small this year. But the ...
Ask Kim: Breaks for the Military.
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: KIMBERLY LANKFORD PETER ROSS Last year my unit was on a 15-month deployment to Iraq. I had contacted T-Mobile before I left and was assured that there would be no problems with my account while I was deployed. But then I learned that an unpaid ...
Not-So-Simple College Savings.
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: THOMAS M. ANDERSON IT SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT PERK. YOU INVEST IN A COLLEGE-SAVINGS plan selected by your employer, and contributions are automatically deducted from your paycheck. Result: a no-sweat college kitty. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. More than ...
Credit Cards: Should I Activate New Credit Cards?
Mar 01, 2008 ... Byline: JOAN GOLDWASSER SHOULD I ACTIVATE NEW CREDIT CARDS? Q. I have a balance of about $10,800 on an American Express card that has a limit of $11,500. I also have three other accounts that I haven't used in a while, with a total credit limit of $6,800. When those ...
Bargains in Condos.(condominiums)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: PATRICIA MERTZ ESSWEIN OVER THE PAST SEVERAL years, condos--both newly built towers and converted apartments--sprang up like mushrooms after a spring rain. Now, the market is glutted and buyers are scarce. The National Association of Realtors reports that in ...
What You Need to Know About Your Cell-Phone Contract.
Mar 01, 2008 ... Byline: THOMAS M. ANDERSON 1. CHANGED YOUR MIND? ACT FAST. With the big four carriers--AT&T Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless--you may cancel a contract without penalty within 30 days of signing. Miss the deadline and you face an early-termination fee of up ...
Investing, One Day at a Time.(Interview)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Byline: PAT HARRINGTON AND MARC A. WOJNO WHEN DID YOU FIRST START INVESTING? When I was working on One Day at a Time, which aired from 1975 to 1984. In the last three years of that show I was making an enormous income. So I got together with a big investing firm and put my money ...