For the some 15 million Americans officially classified as unemployed right now, this is not much consolation, but the job market does seem to be inching toward a slightly better place.

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Holding on to matured bonds is like stashing money under the mattress. Just don’t be shy about getting help with redemptions, advises Andrea Coombes.

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I know, I know, we’re starting to sound like a broken record, or MP3 player. But researchers are once again sounding the alarm that Americans are not saving enough for retirement.

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Credit-card debt has been falling for 16 straight months but consumers aren’t paying off their financial obligations as much you might think. Instead, they’re walking away from the debt, forcing credit-card issuers to write off as much as 90% of that reported drop, according to a new report by CardHub. [...]

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The bright spot of the dreary 2009 economy: savings for everyone.

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The bright spot of the dreary 2009 economy: savings for everyone.

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Got credit card debt? If so, good news: the card issuer can no longer hike your interest rate without warning or raise rates on an existing balance. They have to send your bill at least 21 days before it’s due (up from 14 days). And each bill has to show how long it will take to pay off the balance if you make the minimum payment–and how much you’ll pay in interest if you do that. [...]

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New money coming to stock mutual funds has been negligible even as returns have been among the best on record. An influx into stocks in the coming months would suggest investors once again have waited too long.

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JIANSHAN VILLAGE, Zhejiang, China—Last November, when the Chinese government held a press conference to announce its most recent crackdown on illegal land use, it highlighted five investigations. Three involved heavy industry: a coking plant, a plastics factory, and a rare-earth metals mine. [...]

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There have been lots of absurdities in the debate—such as it is—about health care reform. There’s the hypocrisy of people dependent on government-run health care complaining about government-run health care. And now comes the Republican canard that the current health care reform proposal constitutes a government takeover of one-sixth of the economy. [...]

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