Articles & Investor Resources

A COLLEGE freshman walked to a hospital emergency room at midnight and said she feared that she was going to harm herself.

HERE is a test. Suppose you had $100 in a savings account that paid an interest rate of 2% a year. If you leave the money in the account, how much would you have accumulated after five years: more than $102, exactly $102, or less than $102? And would an investor who received 1% interest when inflation was 2% see his spending power rise, fall or stay the same?

The federal estate tax is no longer the biggest concern for most affluent people who want to avoid taxes on wealth they leave to heirs. For much of the past decade, it was. In 2004, for example, the estates of people who died owning assets worth more than $1.5 million—or who made gifts above that limit while alive—were subject to federal tax at top rates approaching 50%, and married couples had to set up trusts to benefit from their...

Long-term-care insurance is a product that offers buyers some peace of mind. But it has also saddled some longtime holders with a different kind of financial worry.

The policies can ease the burden on families of paying for some types of extended care—in nursing homes and often also in assisted-living facilities or at home—that typically aren’t covered by standard medical insurance or Medicare.

When people think of their money and how it is managed, they often zoom in on one metric--