Your Money Adviser
Finding the Best Ways to Cut Utility Costs
By ANN CARRNS
A wide variety of alternative and “smart” gadgets, including advanced power strips and high-efficiency light bulbs, can help consumers conserve energy.
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Last year, OneMain Financial’s profit increased 31 percent from 2012.
Lawmakers in several states have voted to increase the fees or the interest rates that lenders can charge on personal loans used by millions of poor or financially struggling borrowers.
Machine Learning
Apple Pay: Seamless in Stores, but Quirky Online
By MOLLY WOOD
Integrating the new payment system with varied apps still has some flaws, but brick-and-mortar purchases are easy and fun.
DealBook
U.S. Regulators Approve Eased Mortgage Lending Rules
By PETER EAVIS
The new regulations aim to strengthen the vast market for bonds that are backed with mortgages and other loans.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Unveils Plan to Loosen Rules on Mortgages
By DIONNE SEARCEY and PETER EAVIS
Since credit remains tight for many borrowers, a federal regulator is trying to ease rules to put the housing market back on track.
Volatility Unlikely to Alter Fed’s Policy Course
By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM
The Federal Reserve still plans to wrap up its bond-buying campaign at the end of October and remains likely to raise interest rates in mid-2015, although it now seems less likely to act sooner, analysts say.
Economic Scene
A Retreat From Weather Disasters
By EDUARDO PORTER
As the damages wrought by increasingly disruptive weather patterns have climbed around the world, the insurance industry seems to have quietly engaged in what looks a lot like a retreat.
Sketch Guy
When the Markets Get Noisy, Invest $5
By CARL RICHARDS
I’ve started playing this game during market volatility: When someone tells me the market is scary, I increase my investments. It takes the desire to act and harnesses it for good.
Retiring
When Planning for Retirement, Consider Transportation
By HARRIET EDLESON
Few people think about the potential challenges of getting around town when their ability to drive declines with age.
Wealth Matters
At the Top of the World, a View of the New York Real Estate Market
By PAUL SULLIVAN
In the growing market for homes for the ultrarich, what is it like to make a deal?
Your Money
A College Financial Aid Guide for Families Who Have Saved Nothing
By RON LIEBER
Parents may panic when a child reaches senior year in high school and there’s little or no money for college available. Here are some options.
Before the Advice, Check Out the Adviser
By TARA SIEGEL BERNARD
When must investment advice be in a consumer’s best interest? It depends on whether an adviser is required to follow what’s known as the “fiduciary standard.”
Anthony Russo
Experts caution against overreacting to recent tremors in the markets. Investors may assess their portfolios and realize the mix is just right.
Wealth Matters
Giving Back to Your School in a Meaningful Way
By PAUL SULLIVAN
Donations to educational institutions are increasing. What to consider when your contribution is significant.
Retiring
Appeal of Writing Memoirs Grows, as Do Publishing Options
By ELIZABETH OLSON
Whether writing only for family and friends or for a broader audience, more retirees are looking to share compelling moments from their lives.
Shortcuts
The Downsides of Generous Workplace Perks
By ALINA TUGEND
Some high-tech companies offer top-shelf extras like gourmet meals and child care, but critics say this just keeps people at work longer.
Money Management
Calculate Your Financial Comeback
See how long it could take for your portfolio to return to its peak value.
The 1% More Savings Calculator
What would happen to your savings balances if you saved just one percent more a year?
Interactive Feature: 31 Steps to a Financial Tuneup
A customizable checklist to guide your own financial tuneup, providing tips, the time needed to achieve them and links to additional resources.
Interactive Feature: Managing Your Money Through the Ages
An interactive checklist to help navigate ways to prepare and secure your financial future at each stage of life.
Financial Calculators
The Upshot
Is It Better to Rent or Buy?
By MIKE BOSTOCK, SHAN CARTER and ARCHIE TSE
The choice between buying a home and renting one is among the biggest financial decisions that many adults make.
Student Loan Calculator
A guide to student loans at various universities, and what it takes after graduation to repay that debt.
INTERACTIVE FEATURE: Sketch Guy: Personal Finance on a Napkin
Carl Richards, a financial planner, has been explaining the basics of money through simple graphs and diagrams.
INTERACTIVE FEATURE: What Percent Are You?
See how your household income ranks in 344 zones across the United States.
What Do the One Percent Do?
Students and Money, in Their Own Words
The college-application essays that four students submitted this year on emerging stronger from economic challenges.
Inexpensive Advice for Index and Exchange-Traded Fund Investments
These companies offer help picking and rebalancing index and exchange-traded funds or similar investments, and none charge more than about 0.5 percent of your assets each year for the privilege.
Sunday Business
The Upshot
When a Stock Market Theory Is Contagious
By ROBERT J. SHILLER
Is the world economy suffering from “secular stagnation”? True or false, the idea alone could keep hurting stock prices.
The Haggler
When a Company Doesn’t Sound Like a Broken Record
By DAVID SEGAL
After asking Comcast about a customer’s billing issue, the Haggler got a quick answer — and a rare look at a corporate attempt, called Einstein, to fix a systemic problem.
The Upshot
Why the Economic Gender Gap Will Eventually Close
By TYLER COWEN
Research shows real differences in men’s and women’s economic behavior, but suggests more equitable times to come.
Applied Science
Your 401(k) Is Healthy. So Maybe You Are, Too.
By MATT RICHTEL
A study finds that people who are good at planning their financial future are more likely to take steps to improve their physical health.
Student Loans
Number of Student Loans in Default Declines
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
It was the first drop in the default rate in years, but 21 schools still have rates so high that they could be barred from federal loan and grant programs.
The Upshot
What We Mean When We Say Student Debt Is Bad
By SUSAN DYNARSKI
Student loans need reform. But recent gloomy reports obscure the key benefit of borrowing for college: a college education.
The Upshot
Q. and A. About Student Debt
By DAVID LEONHARDT
Readers have questions. Co-authors of a recent study from the Brookings Institution have answers.
The Upshot
The Reality of Student Debt Is Different From the Clichés
By DAVID LEONHARDT
A new research paper finds that typical debt burdens have not risen significantly over the last two decades.
Your Money
A Beginner’s Guide to Repaying Student Loans
By RON LIEBER
A road map to help those with student loans steer clear of common repayment mistakes and protect their credit scores.
-
The Upshot: A Closer Look at Simplifying Financial Aid Applications
-
Your Money: High Cost to Focusing on Student Loans Over Saving
-
The Upshot: Remember the Problems With Mortgage Defaults? They’re Coming Back With Student Loans
-
The Upshot: Finding Shock Absorbers for Student Debt
-
High & Low Finance: The Hefty Yoke of Student Loan Debt
From Sunday Business
The Haggler
When a Company Doesn’t Sound Like a Broken Record
By DAVID SEGAL
After asking Comcast about a customer’s billing issue, the Haggler got a quick answer — and a rare look at a corporate attempt, called Einstein, to fix a systemic problem.
Your Money Contributors
Paul Sullivan
writes Wealth Matters, a column looking at strategies that the wealthy use to manage their money and their overall well-being.
Special Sections
Retirement
Valuing knowledge and experience, some employers are making extra efforts to encourage longtime workers to stay.
Giving
Guide dog schools are considered charities that do work of great value, but they have commensurate expenses. Also, a step-by-step guide to choosing a charity wisely.
MOST POPULAR - YOUR MONEY
- Your Money: A College Financial Aid Guide for Families Who Have Saved Nothing
- Retiring: When Planning for Retirement, Consider Transportation
- Your Money Adviser: Tax Credits for College Can Help Ease Costs
- Ways to Protect Yourself After the JPMorgan Hacking
- Retiring: Appeal of Writing Memoirs Grows, as Do Publishing Options
- Your Money: Beware of Shifting Options Within Medicare Plans
- Sketch Guy: When the Markets Get Noisy, Invest $5
- Sketch Guy: Being Mindful Can Help Guide a Decision
- Wealth Matters: The Weighty Responsibility of Inheriting a Collection
- Your Money Adviser: Finding the Best Ways to Cut Utility Costs
- Your Money: A College Financial Aid Guide for Families Who Have Saved Nothing
- Sketch Guy: When the Markets Get Noisy, Invest $5
- Retiring: When Planning for Retirement, Consider Transportation
- Shortcuts: The Downsides of Generous Workplace Perks
- Ways to Protect Yourself After the JPMorgan Hacking
- Wealth Matters: At the Top of the World, a View of the New York Real Estate Market
- Your Money: Beware of Shifting Options Within Medicare Plans
- Your Money Adviser: Tax Credits for College Can Help Ease Costs
