Retiring
Of the Right Age, but Can’t Seem to Stay Retired
By ELIZABETH OLSON
Some of retirement age need an income; others crave a challenge. The number of people in the work force who are past retirement age is growing.
Robert Neubecker
The home-sharing business now has secondary coverage, which kicks in after a homeowner’s primary insurance.
Wealth Matters
The Ins and Outs of Trusts That Last Forever
By PAUL SULLIVAN
States have begun competing with one another for the business of perpetual trusts, and people have been putting their millions and billions into them.
Officials Say Price Comparison Is Crucial to Choosing Health Plans
By ROBERT PEAR
Officials said that millions of people with health insurance purchased in the federal marketplace would need to switch plans to avoid increases in premiums or reductions in subsidies.
Unsteady Incomes Keep Millions Behind on Bills
By PATRICIA COHEN
The Federal Reserve says that more than 30 percent of Americans report irregular incomes that sabotage efforts to budget and save. Unreliable work hours are cited most often.
High & Low Finance
A Strategy for Pensions at Risk of Extinction
By FLOYD NORRIS
Multiemployer pension plans, often involving unionized workers, were once common in industries like coal mining, trucking and construction. But they’re running out of money.
Your Money Adviser
Avoiding Costly Home Damage From Winter’s Cold
By ANN CARRNS
Severe winter weather ranks right behind hurricanes and tornadoes for insured catastrophic losses, but precautions can help limit headaches and costs.
Sketch Guy
Controlling Your Emotions When Deciding What’s Affordable
By CARL RICHARDS
Consumers need to get better at looking past both the monthly payment and the total price. What you can afford doesn’t just depend on the amount of money sitting in the bank.
Fair Game
Slamming the Window on Investors
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
A bylaw change by JDS Uniphase squeezed a money manager’s campaign for change at the company.
Corner Office
Roger Ferguson of TIAA-CREF: Always Act as if You’re an Owner
By ADAM BRYANT
A C.E.O. says he emphasizes personal accountability: “One of the phrases I use is that if you owned this company, what would you do? And if your colleagues were owners, what would you want them to do?”
Wealth Matters
Matching the Way You Give to the Cause You Give To
By PAUL SULLIVAN
Writing a check to a favorite cause works fine, but there are other methods of giving that may be more convenient and effective.
Shortcuts
Trickier Time-Off Policies as Employers Test New Ideas
By ALINA TUGEND
More companies are replacing traditional leave plans with alternative approaches. While some employees like the shift, others are bewildered or angry.
In First Week, More Than a Million Apply for Health Insurance on Federal Website
By ROBERT PEAR
The applications at the start of the three-month enrollment period showed that in contrast to initial problems last year, HealthCare.gov was working.
Falling Wages at Factories Squeeze the Middle Class
By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ and PATRICIA COHEN
A new study from the National Employment Law Project shows that real wages for manufacturing workers declined three times as much as for workers as a whole.
The Haggler
A Memorial to Her Son, Until the Bank Got in the Way
By DAVID SEGAL
A mother’s wish to donate her late son’s savings to a scholarship fund proved harder than she anticipated.
Motherlode Blog
Conversation Starters for Beyond the Thanksgiving Table
By RON LIEBER
Talking about gratitude and giving around the Thanksgiving table is a great time to start a new family tradition: jump starting better conversations every night.
DealBook
Debts Canceled by Bankruptcy Still Mar Consumer Credit Scores
By JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG
Officials suspect that big banks ignore bankruptcy court discharges, keeping debts alive on credit reports and impairing borrowers’ ability to secure housing and jobs.
Inside Wealth
Another Widening Gap: The Haves vs. the Have-Mores
By ROBERT FRANK
Whether they are buying yachts, diamonds or art, the extremely rich are often leaving the merely rich in the dust.
Sam Hodgson for The New York Times
Amanda Brown’s film “Black Heirlooms” chronicles her family’s dispute over dividing her grandmother's estate.
The documentary “Black Heirlooms” dives into the intergenerational conversations about care and assets that one family did not have until too late.
Wealth Matters
Private Banking Firms Turn to Niche Marketing for Clients
By PAUL SULLIVAN
Firms are creating units to serve a variety of ethnic groups, races, genders and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.
Retiring
Retirees Turn to Virtual Villages for Mutual Support
By CONSTANCE GUSTKE
An offshoot of the sharing economy, virtual villages are popping up all over the country to offer older adults access to resources and social connections that help them age in place.
Shortcuts
Deciding Whether to Disclose Mental Disorders to the Boss
By ALINA TUGEND
Telling an employer or supervisor about a mental disability carries potential risks and benefits, so it merits careful consideration.
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Your Money Adviser: Some Drawbacks in Tapping the Phone to Deposit a Check
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Common Sense: Steep Slide in Oil Prices Is Blessing for Most
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Power Savings of Smart Meters Prove Slow to Materialize
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Your Money Adviser: Protect Yourself While Shopping on Black Friday, and Beyond
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Sketch Guy: If Giving Feels So Good, Why Don’t We Do It?
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.
Your Money Special Section
James Yang
The Thrill of the Hunt for Discount Prices
By SALLY W. HERSHIPS
Why don’t aggregators compare prices of retail items like clothing? Because neither retailers nor shoppers really want them to.
In Sales of Luxuries, Geography Matters
By PAUL SULLIVAN
A market research firm also discovered that those who bought luxury goods often spent a disproportionate amount of their income on them.
The Under-the-Tray-Table Upgrade
By DAVID WEINBERG
As airlines expand first-class service and crowd coach passengers into tighter spaces, a reporter tries bribing airline and airport employees, as well as passengers, to get an upgrade.
Giving Special Section
Doing Good in Harm’s Way
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
Those who go abroad to scenes of disaster or conflict already take considerable personal risks — and those who go where Ebola is prevalent can face misunderstanding at home as well.
Special Section: Wealth
Learn more about time management, limiting risk in your retirement portfolio, the new Gotham funds and luxurious health spas that cater to affluent executives.
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
Conspicuous Consumption? Yes, but It’s Not Crazy
By ROBERT H. FRANK
Clearly, many rich people like to display their incredible wealth. Yet, generally, they think they know value when they see it.
Student Loans
The Upshot
Student Debt: A Calculator Focused on College Majors
By DAVID LEONHARDT
Most college graduates earn enough to repay their student loans. The bigger problem is that they’re asked to do so when they are earning the least.
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.
From Sunday Business
Strategies
Does Wall Street Like Gridlock? It Depends on the Grid
By JEFF SOMMER
Historically, shared political power in Washington seems to have little connection to stock market returns — until you slice and dice how the power has been divided.
The Haggler
A Memorial to Her Son, Until the Bank Got in the Way
By DAVID SEGAL
A mother’s wish to donate her late son’s savings to a scholarship fund proved harder than she anticipated.
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.
