As 2018 begins, it’s time to begin organizing your finances for the new year. To help you get started, we’ve put together a list of key planning topics to consider. Savings and investments Revisit your retirement contributions. Review how much you’re contributing to...

The New Year is symbolic in many respects. It gives you a chance to start fresh and set some goals that can improve your life in ways large and small. But if you’re like many people, familiar resolutions like “lose weight” or “go to the gym” slowly fade into darkness...

After years of dutiful payments, you find yourself in the enviable position of having enough accumulated savings or discretionary income that you could aggressively pay down—or completely pay off—your mortgage. But should you? Are there better ways to ensure your...

Have you ever used Dropbox or Box.com? How about web-based mail, like Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, or Hotmail? If you consider that all of these are clouds—as are most Google apps—it’s hard to find an Internet user who doesn’t have some information in the cloud. As cloud-based...

Texas, and Houston in particular, is the core of the U.S. petroleum industry. Several major refineries have been shut down; this has limited gasoline production, and prices have increased in response. The stock market, on the other hand, has moved up over recent days, and it’s now close to an all-time high. Despite the local damage, then, the market’s reaction suggests the effect on the country as a whole has not been severe.

The Internal Revenue Service has announced contribution limits for retirement plan participants for 2016. As expected, most of the contribution limitations for retirement plans have not changed from the 2015 limits. Some associated tax breaks and other items have...