Personal Finance

Recent government reports confirm that Social Security's finances are still falling apart, and apparently they're getting worse at an ever-faster pace. That shouldn't come as a surprise, and you need to prepare.

"Staged elopements" -- weddings where the couple escapes with little more than an officiant, a photographer and a dream wedding dress -- are becoming increasingly popular. The nuptials may be extravagant, but without the big guest list, they're still cheaper than traditional weddings.

As Gen-Xers hit middle age and start thinking more seriously about retirement planning, the warnings they're hearing about how far behind they are may make their situation sound more dire than it is.

Generations of Americans are facing threadbare finances in retirement: Judging by what people say they expect to spend versus what they expect to take in, the disparity between income and expenses will be severe.

On Tuesday morning, my wife and I discovered our Chase Bank account had been hacked. By that afternoon, I realized we were part of something much bigger. But even a data breach that affected up to 1.5 million accounts is only the tip of the bank fraud iceberg.

If you lack money smarts, you're not alone. But the ranks of the financially inept might shrink a bit over the next seven days, thanks to the Money Smart Week program, a partnership between the American Library Association and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Gift cards have made holiday shopping a whole lot easier for millions of people. But they also raise a big question: Who should profit when people don't use up their gift card balances?