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A Fool Looks Back

Sun, 18/11/2007 - 16:22 by Rick Aristotle ...

Broke and broker

You don't need to be an investor in a particular company to feel the pain of a down day. Watching discount broker E*Trade (Nasdaq: ETFC) surrender more than half of its value in a single trading day had plenty of non-shareholders biting their nails.

Cancel That Wedding!

Wed, 14/11/2007 - 21:12 by Selena Maranjian

OK, OK. I didn't mean you shouldn't get married. If you've found the love of your life, by all means, go right ahead. But don't spend gobs of greenbacks on the wedding.

I recently read that the average wedding in America these days costs around $28,000. That's more than half of what many millions of Americans earn each year. And that's just the average. So plenty of folks are spending $40,000, or even $50,000 or more, on weddings.

The Millionaire in the Next Cubicle

Wed, 14/11/2007 - 21:04 by Motley Fool

By Allyson Cohen

For most of us, the biggest portion of our nest egg comes from the money we have socked away in our employer-sponsored retirement plan. But not enough people take maximum advantage of their plans. And even those who do might not be putting money to work in other investments that provide the same tax-favored earnings growth.

Another Path to a Billion

Mon, 12/11/2007 - 23:31 by Tim Beyers
Another year, another list of billionaires. But their wealth-making secret hasn't changed. Entrepreneurship remains the surest path to riches.

Protect Your Family When Disability Strikes

Sun, 11/11/2007 - 16:42 by Elizabeth Brokamp

Most of us know enough to draw up a will, especially if we have dependents to protect. But what a majority of folks fail to do is to secure disability insurance, something they are far more likely to need. Don't believe me? Then try these statistics on for size:

6 Steps to Salvaging Holiday Finances

Tue, 06/11/2007 - 15:06 by Dayana Yochim

There are two clear camps of consumers this time of year: them and the rest of us.

They are the people who take long naps the day after Thanksgiving instead of hitting the mall at the crack of dawn to catch the Black Friday sales. They save ribbons and gift bags and have an updated holiday card mailing list color-coded in Excel. They bring cookies decorated with red and green sugar sprinkles for the entire office to enjoy. In fact, they unfailingly bake those cookies from scratch.

Help Your Kids Become Millionaires

Tue, 06/11/2007 - 14:59 by Chuck Saletta
We all want better lives for our children, so I'm going to let you in on something that can help you get them started on the path to success. If you invest just $30 a month -- about a dollar a day -- for each child, you can help your kids become millionaires. There's no magic involved. It's just what happens when you let money compound in the stock market over decades. At a 10% annual return, about the market's historical average, it will take about 56 and a half years to get there, but it can be done.

A Fool Looks Back

Mon, 05/11/2007 - 15:56 by Rick Aristotle ...
Stocks can stink sometimes
 In a week that was loaded with a Fed rate cut and hundreds of telltale earnings reports, I couldn't help noticing that the IPO market tends to go more smoothly if you're a rapidly growing Chinese company.

If You Do Just One Thing Today

Sat, 03/11/2007 - 11:47 by Rex Moore
There are many, many things to consider as you build wealth for the future. The most important -- whether retirement is just around the corner or decades away -- is neatly summed up by my friend and fellow Fool Robert Brokamp: "Get your assets in gear."

The Crisis Is Over!

Fri, 02/11/2007 - 12:22 by Dan Caplinger
If you're looking for consistency in market opinion, expect disappointment. Sentiment turns on a dime these days. If you let that sentiment sway your investment decisions, you'll lose big over time.

I Saved How Much?!

Wed, 31/10/2007 - 10:00 by Selena Maranjian

Money-saving tips can be boring, especially since we often don't want to do them. Giving up smoking is a classic one. If you smoke a pack a day and each pack costs you $5, you're spending nearly $2,000 per year on tobacco. Invest that for 25 years and, if you earn an annual average return of 10%, you'll end up with nearly $20,000 at retirement -- just from that one year's worth of not smoking. Imagine how much you could accumulate if you gave it up for several years!

Fund Nightmare on Wall Street

Tue, 30/10/2007 - 10:52 by Dan Caplinger
Most mutual fund investors have smiled at their quarterly statements for years now. But new villains, scarier than any costume-clad Halloween tricksters, are coming soon to a mutual fund near you: Uncle Sam and the IRS.