Making Sen$e

Column: Need to unload family heirlooms? Prepare for disappointment

By Richard Eisenberg

Next Avenue columnist Richard Eisenberg has advice for boomers desperate to unload family heirlooms.

What happened at DC’s restaurants when immigrant workers stayed home

By Elizabeth Flock, Kristen Doerer

Across the country Thursday, workers staged a “Day Without Immigrants,” a protest of President Donald Trump’s policies on immigration.

‘Deaths of despair’ are cutting life short for some white Americans

By PBS News Hour

In spite of decades of advancements in health care, diet and safety, white Americans are now living shorter lives, a trend that has surprised experts. Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports out of Maysville, Kentucky, an area struggling with an increase…

Continue watching

How does Social Security’s cost of living adjustment affect Medicare?

By Philip Moeller

As predicted, people are confused about how Social Security’s meager 2017 cost of living adjustment, or COLA, is affecting their Part B premiums for Medicare.

Column: Do you know how much your financial planner really costs?

By Teresa Ghilarducci

What really chips away at your savings when you invest in an actively managed fund is how much your manager charges.

Column: Why does the Fed keep lowering its unemployment threshold instead of raising rates?

By Benn Steil, Emma Smith

We're nearing the threshold used to estimate how low unemployment can get before inflation rises. Will the Fed raise interest rates?…

Upset with Trump the president, consumers boycott Trump the brand

By Kristen Doerer

People are using their wallets to protest by boycotting companies associated with President Donald Trump.

How should companies navigate polarized politics in the Trump era?

By PBS News Hour

How should companies navigate the new political climate under President Trump? From political Super Bowl ads to Trump-brand boycotts, we seem to be seeing the rise of a new partisan consumerism. Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports.

Continue watching

My employer health insurance is unaffordable. Should I get Medicare?

By Philip Moeller

While you do not have to get Medicare, because you’re covered by an employer plan, you always are free to drop your employer plan and get Medicare instead.

How the housing crisis boxed in some job seekers

By Making Sen$e Editor

When job searchers were constrained geographically due to the "lock in" effect of lower home values, they were more likely to apply for lower-level and lower-paying positions within their commuting zone.