President Biden's American Families Plan offers a long list of "social infrastructure" programs that will benefit a lot of people. Just as a sampling, the plan would provide free preschool and community college, more Pell Grants, scholarships for fut

Non-cash compensation might not sound like a very good deal for you as an employee — but depending on the type, it can actually provide quite a boost to your net worth over time. Equity compensation is a type of “non-cash” comp that your company may

Divorce rates overall are increasing but it is notable that the number of divorces for those over age 65 has tripled in the last 25 years. The term “gray divorce” was coined by the AARP to describe adults 50 and up who are going through a separation.

When a Kiplinger 25 fund closes to new investors, we replace it. That's because we believe the funds on our list should be available to all readers. So even though we still like Wasatch Small Cap Value (WMCVX), because it closed to new investors in m

Warren Buffett is headed to Los Angeles for the 2021 edition of the Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B, $277.60) annual meeting, which kicks off Saturday, May 1, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time. Shareholder questions – to which the chairman's responses are often t

Mount Rushmore features massive 60-foot-tall busts of celebrated presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, each chosen for their respective roles in preserving or expanding the Republic. But if you were t

Wall Street finished the week on a down note Friday, ignoring even more sterling first-quarter earnings reports. John Butters, senior earnings analyst for FactSet, says that 60% of the S&P 500's components have reported Q1 earnings, and, so far, 86%

Whenever Christy C. mentions the two grandchildren who live with her, she bursts with pride. Her 11-year-old granddaughter is a competitive cheerleader constantly tumbling around the house. Christy’s grandson, who is 12, is an “absolute baseball mani

President Joe Biden's first 100 days have effectively been several months of heaven for investors – especially those lucky enough or smart enough to have exposure to the 25 best stocks since the inauguration. Mind you, it hasn't exactly been necessar

Safe dividend stocks are like the equity investment world's version of having your cake and eating it, too: Not only do investors get a nice dividend payout every quarter, but they also participate in the stock's gains. If the stock price slides, the

“Office politics,” says Boston-based Karen Dillon, “is impossible to avoid. But it is manageable if you know what not to do. As the former editor of the Harvard Business Review magazine and author of the HBR Guide to Office Politics, Dillon provides

President Biden's latest economic "Build Back Better" package – the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan – isn't kind to America's upper crust. It would provide a host of perks and freebies for low- and middle-income Americans, such as guaranteed fam

Not very long ago, owning a personal computer was a novelty. Today we all interact personally and professionally using desktop or laptop computers and access the internet by way of cellphones. The constant presence of digital information in our lives

In March, the American Rescue Plan Act made several tax credits better. And, in one case, it requires the IRS to send monthly payments to families with children. However, the enhancements are only temporary – they only apply for the 2021 tax year. Th

Imagine you walked into a Las Vegas casino and you brought all the money you had, let’s say $1  million, and the casino gave you $154 million to gamble with. How smart do you think that would be for that casino?  Well, right now Goldman Sachs Bank US

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell gave investors reason for pause on Wednesday afternoon in a modestly lower day for stocks. The Fed itself, following its latest two-day policy meeting, announced it would keep its benchmark rate near zero, stating

Investing in stocks can seem like walking a tightrope without a safety net. A new breed of exchange-traded funds aims to change that. These funds, called buffered or defined-outcome ETFs, absorb a portion of stock market losses in exchange for cappin

Building a diversified portfolio is a snap with a world allocation fund. These funds, including T. Rowe Price Global Allocation (RPGAX), invest in a mix of stocks and bonds across the globe. "We view the fund as a core holding," says Charles Shriver,

If President Biden gets his way, many wealthy Americans will no longer be able to pass stocks, real estate, and other capital assets to their heirs when they die without paying capital gains tax. He wants to do this by changing the tax rules that all

A few weeks ago, I received two text messages from each of my children (ages 24 and 20) 15 minutes apart. One asked for my opinion on the stock market. The other asked what he was supposed to do with a tax document he received from Robinhood, the tra

Fretting over whether to "sell in May and go away" is one of Wall Street's most tiresome annual rituals. And over the next few days, investors and the financial media are sure to give this dubious old saw far more attention than it deserves. Here's o

Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) had its proverbial day in the sun for most of the past year, but lately some clouds have appeared as the fund has given back some gains. Even so, its triple-digit return over the past 12 months beat all but 16 diversified U.

As hard as it is to get some people to embrace estate planning, getting them to take seriously the need for a health care decision-making plan is even more difficult. At least, that was the case pre-pandemic. We are no longer in an era of hypothetica

Most estate planning attorneys do a fantastic job helping their clients set up the proper legal structures to transfer financial assets, but they often don’t consider the intangibles. That’s where legacy planning comes in. Legacy planning goes beyond

Families are getting a bigger and better child tax credit for 2021. And, if President Biden gets his way, most of the credit enhancements will continue to be available for several more years while full refundability of the credit will be permanent. T

While sometimes not the highest yielders, dividend growth stocks, known for steady dividend increases over time, can be valuable additions to your income portfolio. More than 40% of total stock returns among S&P 500 components have historically come

Tesla (TSLA), United Parcel Service (UPS) and a handful of other stocks got moving on earnings news Tuesday. But broadly speaking, stocks mostly treaded water, with some investors likely keeping a watchful eye fixed on tomorrow's Federal Reserve news

Most Americans believe they are financially literate, but surveys show few actually are. Increasing debt and a lack of retirement savings show there’s a need for financial education. April marks Financial Literacy Month, a time to remind ourselves of

You can feel it in the air — tax increases are coming. And it’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when. In the last few months, there have been a number of legislative proposals targeted toward high-net worth and ultra-high-net-worth taxpayers, ran

You know that sinking feeling: You reach for your wallet only to discover it’s not there. That’s when panic sets in. Is it on your car seat? At home? Did you drop it? Or were you the victim of a pickpocket? Following our advice on what not to keep in