Personal Finance | featured news

At a Forbes editorial meeting earlier this year, I was pitching a story about a little-known industry responsible for keeping hedge funds’ books and records in check. After my schpiel about the false comfort these hedge fund administrators were offering investors, Lewis DVorkin flatly asked me, “Can you easily explain what a hedge fund is?” I couldn’t. Not easily.

There are few things less romantic than talking about money. Money is, in some ways, a bigger cultural taboo than sex. You might tell your girlfriends about your hot date Saturday night, but you probably don’t tell anyone your exact salary or expenses.

According to David Bach, personal finance expert and author of bestsellers like Debt Free For Life, the biggest mistake parents make is not saying "no." They grant their children's every wish or cave in after they've already established rules or budgets.

TODAY Money experts David Bach, Jean Chatzky, Carmen Wong-Ulrich and Allison Linn offer strategies, some from personal experience, on how to reduce tension over money in your life and avoid fighting over finances.

Cash advances are one of the sneakiest ways a bank can trap you into a cycle of debt. But there are a handful of other debt traps you should avoid at all costs. "You may think you can get in and get out, but it's financial quicksand. ...

Since 1974, Americans have had the ability to use IRA assets to buy investment property. Yet the means to do that -- called a self-directed IRA -- remains one of the least known and unheralded investment vehicles in the vast financial marketplace.