New York's top financial regulator is drafting new regulations designed to crack down on private-equity firms that own insurance companies, a move tha...

I've always encouraged people to put the maximum amount into a 401(k) plan. Few do. Many put in little or nothing at all. Now they are looking at a bleak retirement. Or no retirement at all.

Because the money is harder to access, people who take structured settlements are more likely to "get rich slowly" than my professional clients who can cash in a mutual fund or stock whenever they want.

Economic decisions shouldn't be ignored. Some severance packages are lucrative and offered on a one time basis. Financial considerations are one part of the package, not the whole package.

Why give your family a lump sum and have them blow it? Most insurance policies have options to pay out over time, but few people use them. It limits them to the terms of the insurance company. Thus, I came up with a simple system.

Your relationship with your money compares to a dieters relationship to food.

I've found that people leaving old line companies, even with a severance package, were more bitter than those where companies treated employees like interchangeable parts.

Companies offering severance packages have generally sold the concept of lifetime employment concept. They are not places that fire employees without warning.

"Funny how falling feels like flying, for a little while." - Academy Award Winner Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart I've been making the final edits on ...

If the people on Wall Street knew that no one would ever be there to bail them out, ever again, they would be less inclined to gamble with instruments they don't really understand.