5 Ways to Boost a 401(k)
Since the advent of defined contribution plans 30 years ago, the responsibility of saving for retirement has fallen largely on employees’ shoulders. Many employers are freezing or terminating costly pension plans in favor of 401(k)s and similar plans, according to a Prudential Financial Inc. survey. If you’re looking to catch up or get ahead on saving for retirement, there are steps you can take to do that, including the five that...
Most Won’t Feel Fed Rate Increase
Washington — For anyone considering whether to buy a home or car, the Federal Reserve’s interest rate increase Wednesday shouldn’t make much difference. The rates that most people pay for mortgages, auto loans or college tuition aren’t expected to jump anytime soon. The Fed’s benchmark interest rate has limited influence on those things. Still, the Fed’s move to lift its key rate by a quarter-percentage point will raise short-term...
Residential Construction Increase Expected
In the early 2000s, some in the residential-construction industry predicted that, in the not-too-distant future, the United States would reach its new-home saturation point. The result would be a corresponding growth in the remodeling industry because the houses that had been built in the 1980s and 1990s would require major updating. Although some builders added remodeling components to their businesses, the bursting of the housing...
Bird Flu Worries Send Egg Prices Higher
Egg prices continued to rise in September, marking their biggest year-over-year increase in 2015, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday. The price for a dozen eggs last month rose to almost $2.97, up 3 cents from August and a 50.6 percent jump over the prices in September 2014. Prices made a record one-month jump of almost 32 percent in June, $2.57 a dozen, when worries surrounding bird flu peaked. They’ve risen 15 percent...
Fed Leaves Interest Rate Unchanged
Washington — The Federal Reserve ended weeks of speculation Thursday by keeping U.S. interest rates at record lows in the face of threats from a weak global economy, persistently low inflation and unstable financial markets. But at a news conference after a Fed policy meeting, Chairwoman Janet Yellen said a rate increase was still likely this year. A majority of Fed officials on the committee that sets the federal funds rate — which...
