While many people take their 401(k) for granted, according to Bloomberg, only half of U.S. employees have access to a company-sponsored retirement plan. However, not having a 401(k) is no excuse for neglecting retirement planning.

"What’s mine is yours” sounds like a universally wonderful idea until it isn’t. When that idea and other financial expectations are not met, couples often struggle to find healthy ways to discuss them. So how can you talk about money without it ending in an argument? 

Divorces happen for many reasons, and the financial aftermath is almost always confusing. In particular, many people wonder how their new status will affect social security. So here's what you need to know about social security if you’re going through a divorce.  

Retirement may give you the freedom to write a novel or exercise your green thumb, but it does not mean you have to stop working altogether. While you can collect social security at the full retirement age (67 if you were born after 1960), many people continue their career or start a side project for extra income. However, freelance, contract or sideline work will affect your social security benefits. Here’s what you need to know. 

When planning for retirement, most people wonder what role, if any, Social Security will have in their financial future. Many doubt the program will even exist when they are finally eligible for benefits. While the fear is understandable, financial freedom is not possible if anxiety dominates your finances.   

Setting a clear, defined budget for your household is critical for keeping expenses in check. But what if your spouse is a big spender?

If you’ve ever looked for a job on Craigslist, you’ve seen those work-from-home scams far too many times. “Work from home for 4 hours a day! $2500 per week!”. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. 

Achieving your long-term financial goals takes discipline and focus. It takes identifying a strategy and sticking to it. It takes ignoring the distractions and market buzz swirling around you and keeping your eye on the horizon.

When there are all kinds of advice and predictions hitting you from every direction, it can be difficult to stay the course and keep your investment strategy in place.

However, wealth creation always has been and still is a process grounded in sound principles and practices that, when applied with discipline and patience, is possible for most people who can understand and embrace the keys to building wealth.

While there’s little you can do to prevent a major data breach that might expose your sensitive records, there’s plenty you can do to fortify your own records and reduce or eliminate the opportunities for identity thieves to turn your life upside down.  Your own vigilance is your first and last line of defense, and it can be heightened by incorporating very specific identity theft prevention measures into your daily routines.

You should expect your financial advisor to have in place a clearly defined process for working with you to develop and implement your investment strategy. You know you’ve found the right financial advisor when that process includes, at a minimum, these five elements...

When it comes to finances and investment decisions, many people are not wired to be able to make decisions dispassionately, without emotions clouding their reasoning; and that’s when people tend to make the most behavioral mistakes with their financial decisions. Understanding these behavioral mistakes and how to avoid them is crucial to achieving financial security.

A recent survey indicates that an increasing number of high net worth investors are willing to pay for solid, unbiased, fee-only investment advice, which is not surprising considering the challenges of today’s markets. What is surprising is that there are still some investors who would rather go it alone, thinking they can do better on their own, or that investment advice is not worth the cost, or both.

Young families with an eye to the future are faced with a daunting choice – to save earnestly for a secure retirement or to save for their children’s education. Can you do both?

For many people, who have yet to clearly define their financial destination, it probably doesn’t matter to them which path they choose, if they choose a path at all. That may be one way to explain why many Americans are not on track to meeting their retirement goals, or worse, why most couldn’t tell you where they stand today in relation to their goals.

Of the managers who did outperform the market, only a few did so with any significant edge. Of greater consequence to investors, over the five year period, less than one percent of the managers were able to return to the top quartile of funds for five consecutive years.