Free Financial Today

By Jeanne Fleming, Ph.D. and Leonard Schwarz

Question: My husband has negotiated a price for painting our house that’s significantly lower than a bid we got a while back from the same small business. I think he may be taking unfair advantage of people who are hurting in the recession. Is he?

Answer: Remember the good old days – you know, two years ago? As we recall, painters weren’t reluctant to push MORE

By Juan Lagorio NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. credit card defaults rose in March to new record highs, as more Americans lost their jobs, but American Express Co surprised investors with data suggesting the ability of cardholders to pay bills could be stabilizing, sending shares up across the industry. AmEx, the largest U.S. charge card [...]

The fact is that few investors can hope to build real wealth without investing in equity. Necessary as investment knowledge is, by itself, however, it is not sufficient to ensure investment success. In fact, many an expert holds that emotional maturity is the ultimate key to sustained profitable stock market investing. Overcoming bouts of panic [...]

By Nick Carey CHICAGO, April 8 (Reuters) – After months of bad economic news, Americans’ trust in the U.S. financial system is still falling, according to a survey released on Wednesday. The Chicago Booth/Kellogg School Financial Trust Index fell to 19 percent in March from 20 percent in an inaugural poll in December. Trust toward [...]

By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks rose slightly on Wednesday after news of government aid for some life insurers and a merger among homebuilders spurred optimism that offset a quarterly loss from Alcoa (AA.N). But the market came off its early highs after life insurers cut gains on comments from the U.S. Treasury [...]