Investors who rely on a broker to recommend an index mutual fund could be paying a whole lot more that they have to, according to a study released Thursday.

How to beat hedge funds
For the past several years, the hottest thing on Wall Street has been mostly off-limits to Main Street: hedge funds.

Retirement Planning on the Cheap
Fund companies have rolled out inexpensive services. But do you get what you pay for?

The Marchbanks
If the idea of saving away 25 percent of your paycheck makes you think of a severely cramped lifestyle, meet the Marchbanks of Dallas, Texas.

The CVS-Caremark deal didn’t trade as planned. That’s an opportunity.

12,000 Reasons to Sell
Another milestone for the Dow provides more incentive to take profits.

Rethinking Your Finances
Experts predicted that money habits would change after 9/11. But did they really?

The Claudios: Plan for all seasons
“No one looks after your money like you do,” says Jeff Claudio of Crestview, Fla. And few have been so successful at looking after their money as Jeff and wife Leonora.

The political shift won’t keep me from investing in drug-sector ETFs and mutual funds.

What Now for Real Estate?
The events of 9/11 fueled America’s greatest real estate boom. Five years later, it may be over.

Holiday travel: Higher costs, more hassles
If you’re among the Americans traveling this holiday season, good luck. You’ll need it, along with a bit more cash.

Are you better off than your parents?
When it comes to housing, education and income, you have it easier than your parents in some ways. But Mom and Dad trump you in others.

Question: You are a big fan of annuities. I recently rejected that course for my mother in favor of a bond ladder. She receives a somewhat lower payout, but she does not give up her principal.

Drowning in debt; what about retirement?
Question: My wife and I are self-employed. In addition to a mortgage of just under $400,000, we have a home equity line of credit on which we’ve borrowed $41,000, credit-card debt of $25,000, plus two car loans.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) For most of us retirement comes at the end of our career. But for Jeff Martin, 34, retirement from the Army is just over the horizon. Martin is five years away from being able to leave the Army with a pension of half his current $5940 monthly income.

Holiday travel: Higher costs, more hassles
If you’re among the Americans traveling this holiday season, good luck. You’ll need it, along with a bit more cash.

The retirement plan Uncle Sam has right
Considering the mess that Social Security and Medicare are in, the federal government is probably the last place you’d look for insights about retirement planning.

Steep default rates are the credit-card industry’s dirty little secret.

The Martins: Millionaires in the Making
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) For most of us retirement comes at the end of our career. But for Jeff Martin, 34, retirement from the Army is just over the horizon. Martin is five years away from being able to leave the Army with a pension of half his current $5940 monthly income.

Extreme Savers: Greg and Tara Black
No cell phones. Dial-up Internet. Before Greg and Tara Black spend a buck for something, they make sure they really need it.

Credit cards are now the norms every one uses it. They are the safest way to make payments to the sellers this method carries no risk of theft or anything else.

However one must realize that with credit card shopping that you have to make your payments on time and with the due amounts you cannot afford to miss one thing in this. One thing that can make payments of credit card debts easier that is credit card Debt Consolidation.

Like many other California renters in early 2005, Nick Basile and his fianc e, Jackie Neuffer, felt the pressure of ballooning home prices.

$15k to get into Harvard - 5 ways to stop the madness
Plenty of parents fantasize about their child going to Harvard. But Paula and Gary Goldberg of Boca Raton, Fla. aspire instead to get their daughter Rachael, a high school junior, interested in schools other than Harvard.

Millionaires, luv that 401(k)
Most people move into a bigger house when they have kids.

QUESTION: We have some money set aside for our 18-month old son which we would like to invest for him. Other than a 529 plan, what other investments would you suggest? - Lynn, CA

Planning your financial future
Question: I’m a divorced 51-year-old woman who needs advice about how to improve my financial future. The only advice I’ve gotten so far is from an adviser at my bank who has put $45,000 into some sort of annuity. I also have about $25,000 in a money-market account there and $55,000 in a managed portfolio of funds.

Debt consolidation is a very common thing in the western countries. It basically means getting a loan to pay off any other loans or debts. Usually, when people get a debt consolidation loan, they look for the lowest interest rate they can find and for something that can make their financial life easier to handle. This means they are interested in uniting all their loans into one and paying their debts faster and easier.