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No one can guarantee you a healthy and prosperous retirement. Life is just too unpredictable. But you can increase your odds of enjoying your twilight years in comfort by pursuing a regimen of common-sense steps. Here are six top ones: h4. Decide carefully on health care You can do at least three things to help secure your health in retirement: Take ...

Our readers offer their own tips for what you can do now for a happy retirement: Spend less. Save more. Most of all, make sure you have someone to share your retirement with. Start by living below your means, says Gabe Renzo, 63, of Dearborn Heights, Mich. Young people today, he believes, don't save enough money, and the main reason they ...

During the worst economic crisis in a lifetime, the right financial decisions are crucial. BusinessWeek asked financial planners for some advice on what to do—or not to do—with your money in the New Year. As we bid farewell to a dreadful 2008, these "resolutions" may help keep your finances on the right track in 2009: h4. 1. Don't try to predict ...

In 2008, legislation was passed to help rescue US markets and the economy. But did you know that these bailout bills also included a bundle of income tax breaks? The biggest ones are known as "extenders" - popular tax breaks that might seem permanent to most taxpayers, but actually must be renewed every year or two. Stuffed inside the *Emergency Economic ...

Learn how one business saved this amount each month by cutting back on non-essentials. Your business can use these methods to decrease expenses, too. There's no escaping it: The economy is officially dismal. Many companies are being forced to increase sales and/or decrease costs in order to remain competitive or, in some cases, survive. That's why we decided to do ...

Every week you introduce more paper into your home, in the form of newspapers, magazines, flyers, coupons, schoolwork, correspondence, bills, and other documents. It may or may not be difficult for you to ensure that reading material and advertising is discarded when you are finished with it, but when it comes to financial documents, it can be much more challenging to ...

Commitment to your job sometimes requires digging into your own pocket to purchase a uniform or treat a client to 18 holes of golf. But such unreimbursed expenses can pinch financially, unless you learn IRS rules for deducting work-related costs from your taxable income. Fastidious record keeping and advice from a tax professional can also help mitigate the suffering. "Many of ...

If you’ve declared bankruptcy in the past, be prepared to defend that decision to a potential employer. It’s illegal for an employer not to hire or promote you because you filed bankruptcy, but it’s sometimes OK to consider bad credit, which usually precedes bankruptcy. Companies often check credit when a job involves finance, accounting, cash or valuable merchandise and when a ...

If you're 40 or younger, it's tough to predict how much money you might need when retirement is decades away. A few key calculations, however, can help you make sure your savings plan is on track. h4. Saving Depends on Life Stage Rebecca Pace, a Cincinnati-based financial planner and CPA, recommends putting aside at least 10 percent of your income when ...

Memo to Americans: As a group, for every $1,000 we bring in after taxes, we are saving $7, according to the Commerce Department. Why bring this up? Because if you're anticipating an annual bonus this year, you should probably skip the cruise. Considering salary increases are barely keeping pace with inflation, no wonder white-collar workers are coveting those bonuses to help ...

I keep hearing that I should do something or other to improve my tax situation before the year ends. Is there really anything I can do at this point? Whether you are having a good year, rebounding from recent losses, or still struggling to get off the ground, you may be able to save a bundle on your taxes if you ...

Happy New Year to you all and thank you for all you do to make our country great. You are all so appreciated. I’ve been asked write up a 2009 housing prediction, but this is nearly impossible to do with significant accuracy. But, I’ll take out the crystal ball and do my best so you can know what this housing expert ...

I once received a letter from a woman who had just gotten a job offer. She had been unemployed for three months and wanted to know if she should accept the offer or try to negotiate for more. She felt the offer was low - less than she had been making at her last job - but was afraid that if ...

The global credit crisis and flat-lining domestic economy could make this one of the most challenging times to be looking for a job in recent history. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of unemployed increased to 11,000, and the December 2008 unemployment rate hit 7.2 percent - the highest level in sixteen years. In the financial services industry ...

It's hard enough to job hunt in a thriving economy, but now, even the heartiest job seeker may be inclined to roll over and catch a few more z's rather than hit the streets. Don't quit looking before you start. Job hunting requires you to pull out all the stops and take the basics to a new level. You truly have ...

This article offers general information on legal and financial matters relating to employment. For specific information relating to your situation, please consult an attorney, financial planner or appropriate government agency. Now that you've lost your job, you need to hurry up and find a new one, right? Wrong. You've got to buck up and tie up loose ends with your ex-employer ...

No one is immune from layoffs. Whether you're 22 or 52, odds are that sooner or later you will find yourself, often through no fault of your own, out of work. So it makes sense to plan ahead. Most financial advisers suggest saving the equivalent of six months' salary to tide you over if you lose your job. You will probably ...

Did you spend substantial amounts of money looking for a new position last year? You may be able to succeed where Nelson Rockefeller failed and take a tax deduction for many of your job search-related costs. When New York Governor Rockefeller was appointed vice president in the '70s, he deducted expenses incurred in connection with his congressional confirmation hearings. Years later, ...

If you've just been laid off, your first questions probably involve unemployment insurance. How does it work? How much will you collect? Where do you sign up? The answers depend on where you live. Some unemployment insurance policies are set at the federal level, but states set most of the rules and run most of the programs, explains Rich Hobbie, executive ...

Is there something personal in your financial past that you'd rather not explain to a stranger -- say bad credit, bankruptcy or a proclivity for spending thousands of dollars on lingerie at Victoria's Secret? Then applying for a new job or going after a promotion could put you in a tricky spot, because an employer can easily find out about all ...