Pay raise

Wall Street's bad bonus year did not extend to Citigroup's c-suite. CEO Vikram Pandit, who said he'd take a salary of $1 until Citi returned to profitability, pulled in nearly $14.9 million this year, and his fellow top officers took home big raises too.

Workers who got less of a raise than they anticipated this year aren't alone. A new Hewitt survey of large companies finds the nation's slack recovery has prompted many employers to rein in expenses, thereby reducing planned raises and bonuses.

That adage "One hand giveth, the other taketh away" can apply to California's state and city government agencies, particularly the people in them who determine pay increases. As the state plunges further into a double-billion-digit deficit and holds a special election next week for voters to...

Ken and Daria Dolan are widely known as America's First Family of Personal Finance. Every time Ken and I hear someone brag about how they got a big, fat tax refund, it's all I can do not to scream. A tax refund is NOT a gift...it's NOT something to celebrate! A tax refund means you let Uncle Sam...