529 Plans

A host of websites exist to steer parents toward private- and government-sponsored student loans, grants and scholarships. Here are five notable sites to help cut through college aid information overload.

After long careers, members of the leading edge of the baby boom generation have gotten to the age where many would like to retire. But more boomers have chosen to put off their retirement plans -- and the latest impediment may surprise you.

Although the Senate has blocked action on Obama's $447 billion jobs bill, parts of it may yet get enacted, including an extension and expansion of a payroll tax cut that would put hundreds of dollars more a year in the pockets of ordinary American workers. Here are three smart ways for you to earmark that cash for your future.

A pair of soon-to-be parents wrote DailyFinance's Laura Rowley looking for "a good technique for budgeting with a newborn or just budgeting period." With the cost of raising a child just to 17 estimated at more than $250,000, they're smart to be thinking about those money issues early.

It's been a week of dreadful financial news in the U.S. Many people's instincts will tell them not to make any moves until the trouble blows over. But the best opportunity to significantly improve your financial footing often comes during the worst of the turmoil. Here are four areas in which even small steps, taken now, will help.

With graduation season around the corner, what better time to review your 529 college-savings plans? Here's why you'll definitely want to check the status of those funds now.

Your holiday shopping days are numbered, and if you're still stumped, I'm here to make a suggestion: How about giving the gift of savings? Let me preface this by saying that I'm not a fan of cash gifts, or even gift certificates. I think both are a bit of a cop-out. But I'm actually liking the...

Ho, ho, ho! Talk about holiday spirit. After the initial excitement of scheduling a booth at a holiday bazaar or picking up my super-special heritage breed turkey for Thanksgiving, I realize how expensive this is all going to be, and my holiday spirits drop considerably. Especially my financial...

Looks like the on-again, off-again romance between Bristol Palin and her child's father is definitely back on -- and more serious than ever. Palin, the 19-year-old daughter of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, tells the celebrity magazine US Weekly that she and Levi Johnston plan to tie the...

They're like IRAs for college: You contribute after-tax dollars and invest the money as you see fit. Most plans offer age-based options that work like target-date retirement mutual funds. Here's what you need to know.