John Wasik is the personal finance columnist for Bloomberg News. His columns are sent to 400 newspapers on five continents and have been translated into Spanish, Italian, German, Japanese and Portugese

Dividend Payers Buoy Portfolios in Sinking Market
As fears of energy price increases, paltry job growth and terrorism roil the markets, is there a safer harbor?

Should You Be Selling Your Vacation Home Right Now?
Does owning a vacation home make sense, or does it make your financial future less than summery?

Four Key Questions for Your 401(k) Plan Chief
When you peruse your 401(k) plan statements, do you feel like you're reading a voluminous restaurant menu and have no idea what's good?

`Merrill Rule' a Bad Deal for Individual Investors
How do you know if an investment adviser or broker is working in your best interest?

Is U.S. Housing Bubble Fact or Fiction?
Is a U.S. residential housing bubble a fact or strange fiction?

SEC Hedge Fund Proposal Doesn't Go Far Enough
As Orwellian as registering U.S. hedge fund managers sounds to the industry, effective regulation needs to go several steps beyond the paperwork.

Middlemen Have Hands in Your U.S. Retirement Funds
What's your retirement plan really costing you when all the fees and commissions are subtracted from your returns?

Beating Inflation Possible With Stock Index Funds
As expected, the Federal Reserve has tried to curb that mongrel called inflation with a quarter-point interest rate increase.

How to Boost Returns in Overpriced Retirement Plans
It's amazing that people will spend months researching and pricing a new appliance -- something they'll only use for a few years -- yet neglect to check the costs of their retirement plan, something they'll need for rest of their life.

Three Funds That Can Green Your Growth Portfolio
There's a direct relationship between measurable economic benefits and energy efficiency, resource conservation and pollution control. So it makes financial sense to direct capital to environmental solutions. Green investing is one way to make that connection.

Can Your Tax Refund Help Seed an Early Retirement?
If you've had a chance to digest your taxes and recover from the indigestion, you probably have a good idea whether you're on track for retirement.

Is Your Retirement Plan Gouging You?
If lawmakers and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission want to know how mutual fund costs are hurting future retirees, they should talk to Adrian Nenu.

How Does a Harvard Professor Invest for College?
Even if you are a Harvard professor, an economist and an authority on financing a college education, finding the right college savings program is still a nettlesome process.

Malkiel Agrees With Buffett on at Least One Thing
Are you looking for the next Warren Buffett, the extraordinary investor and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.?

The Tax Washington Isn't Going to Fix
You know you are hitting the wall on a tax issue when a financial planner throws up her hands and says, ``I honestly don't have a thing to say about it.''

Fannie and Freddie Need a Tougher Cop Watching Them
When Federal Reserve Chairman and free-market savant Alan Greenspan mentions ``systemic risk'' and the need for more regulation in one breath, millions of investors and legislators should be paying rapt attention.

Who Offers the Best 529 College Savings Plans?
If you are like most college savers in the U.S., the temptation is to buy a 529 savings plan from your broker. Yet that could be the most expensive route.

Pension Consultants Need to Come Clean on Conflicts
If pension consultants -- gatekeepers who match money managers with pension funds -- are receiving money from managers as compensation that's not openly disclosed, does it hurt the performance of the pension funds? If so, how much?

Real Estate Bubbles Still a Worry in NY, California
While most mainstream economists argue that a rising economic tide will buoy U.S. home prices further, that doesn't eliminate the likelihood that bubbles are forming in certain local markets.

Greenspan's Confidence Should Be Cause for Concern
The dollar's slide against the euro doesn't seem to worry Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Yet it should bother you as an investor.

You Can Stop Brokers Skimming Your Retirement Funds
A few years ago, I was troubled that mutual funds within my 401(k) were lagging during one of the headiest bull markets in history. So I started asking questions.

Home Protection Cost Is Going Through the Roof
For most U.S. homeowners, the possibility of a cut in property taxes resembles a supermarket tabloid headline: hard to believe.

Japan Post Insurance Sparking New Trade Tensions
A financial tsunami rolling from Japan to Europe is threatening to touch off a new trade battle.

Morgan Settlement Opens New Front in Fund Probes
Regulators have opened a new front in the continuing probe of the $7 trillion mutual fund industry that could easily eclipse the market-timing and late-trading abuses currently being investigated.

Stiglitz Says Disclosure Paramount in Scandals
There's a funny scene in the movie ``Lost in Translation'' in which a character played by Bill Murray is receiving long-winded instructions from a Japanese director while filming a whiskey commercial.

401(k) Cost-Shifting Could Imperil Your Retirement
A legal though costly practice that shifts certain 401(k) expenses from your employer to you bears scrutiny because it may be depleting your retirement funds.

College Can Be Funded by Cash-Value Insurance Plans
With college tuition rising at six times the rate of consumer inflation -- 14 percent for public schools alone -- most parents are looking for any creative college-funding vehicle they can find.

Real Estate Market May Show `Irrational Exuberance'
Is ``irrational exuberance'' inflating U.S. residential real estate markets?

Spitzer Probe Illuminates Murky Turnover Expenses
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has turned over a much bigger rock this time.

Sept. 11 Awakens Need for Thorough Life Planning
I recently flew with my family from Chicago to Ireland with a gnawing feeling in my gut.

Your Retirement Is Part of a Looming Global Crisis
I was struck on a recent trip to the U.K. and Ireland by how little interest there is in the continuing conflict in Iraq, taxes and smoldering Western economies.

Why Variable Annuities No Longer Make Sense
Every time new U.S. tax legislation rolls around, certain investments get the honey-pot tax treatment while others end up smelling like rotten eggs.

`Hot Hands' Investing Profits Require Discipline
When you have a hot hand, you tend to keep playing to maintain a winning streak. Athletes from cyclist Lance Armstrong to golfer Annika Sorenstam know this.

529 College Savings Plans Are Hobbled by Expenses
Among the crowded field of financial vehicles, 529 college savings plans are superstars.

You Can Take Back Your 401(k) Plan
Chances are that you've finally digested the good news from your retirement statement that nearly every stock and bond fund made money in the first half of the year.

Real Estate Bubble Theory Shows More Evidence
When it's sweltering, you seek a cool place. When it comes to hot residential real estate, it may be time to cool your ardor.

Greenspan's Bond Bubble Has Popped; Time to Move On
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan hasn't used ``bubble'' and ``bond'' in the same sentence, although he has noted that ``yields and maturities across risk classes have posted marked declines.''