If your 401(k) was down in 2011, don’t hang your head. You have plenty of company. Many of Wall Street’s most successful investors were losers in 2011 as well.
One of the most widely dispensed and universally accepted pieces of financial advice is that you should contribute at least enough to your 401(k) to get the full match from your company. If you don’t, so the wisdom goes, you will be giving up free money. Well, it turns out that money isn’t exactly “free.” [...]
Companies are hiring again. That’s the good news. The bad news is those hires might not be coming fast enough.
Just when we were expecting the economy to go boom it went zoom. The unemployment rate in November dropped faster than it has in more than 11 years.
With 14 million people unable to find work and job prospects seemingly bleak, why are more employees calling it quits?
The good news is the economy is regaining its health. The bad news is it’s happening slowly. The worse news: That slow pace is here to stay.
In September, consumers spent more but made less than expected. As a result, the national savings rate dropped to 3.6%, which is the lowest level it has been since the beginning of the recession. And that has some people nervous.
The recovery is back! Or maybe not. On Thursday morning, the U.S. Commerce Department said the nation’s gross domestic product rose 2.5% in the third quarter, nearly double the 1.3% rate it had risen in the quarter before. And the growth was far better than many economists thought it would be just a few months ago. [...]
When Goldman Sachs can’t make money you know times are tough in the banking business. In mid-September I wrote a feature story for TIME magazine about how our nation’s banks, despite the bailout, were far from fixed, and how that was dragging down the economy. This week’s earnings reports from the big banks are new evidence of [...]
Back in 2007, America was experiencing a mini-baby boom. The recession brought that to a quick halt. As early as 2008, the country saw a significant drop in birth rates. Baby booms and busts do tend to follow economic cycles. But what was surprising was how quickly birth rates cratered, dropping even before it was [...]
Hip, hip hooray. We have jobs. But the fact that that’s the economic cheer of the day is a bit depressing.
