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Retirement planning no longer is just about money, Smart Money says. "The truth is, the (post-World War II) boomer generation is going to live longer and be far more active in retirement than their parents, and doing it right will take more than just financial planning," the magazine says. The new retirement may look more like a second career, which needs to be planned for.
Investment clubs ought to be good stock pickers, since these small groups of investors spend a lot of time researching what to buy. And Pfizer leads the list of the top 100 stocks held by clubs, according to Better Investing, the magazine of the club-sponsoring National Association of Investors Corp. Others in the top five are General Electric, Home Depot, Intel and Cisco Systems. The most widely held stock among individual NAIC members is insurance company AFLAC.
Your goal may be to keep your credit good, but don't be tempted to avoid all debt. No credit history is nearly as harmful as a poor history, says Money Management International, a counseling nonprofit in Houston. When lenders have no way to judge how you'd handle a loan, they're leery.
A growing number of empty nesters are taking to the road in RVs. Forbes spotlights Thor Industries, the world's biggest maker of RVs, which rules the road at the lower end of the market but is trying to gain market share on high-enders Winnebago, Fleetwood and Monaco. Thanks to baby boomers and sports fans, RV sales have risen from about 125,000 in 1980 to almost 300,000 in 2003.
Consumers long have been told not to grocery shop when they're hungry. Now researchers say people shouldn't shop when they're sad. Research from Carnegie Mellon University shows shoppers seem willing to pay more when they're sad.
- Compiled from Times wires and Web sites