In July 2006, 25-year-old Christopher Bryski died. His private student loans didn’t. Mr. Bryski’s family in Marlton, N.J., continues to make monthly payments on his loans—the result of a potentially costly loophole in the rules governing student lending. As the college season nears, throngs of parents and students still are applying [ Read More → ]

Think you can guess the direction of the market? Surely, any fool could have foreseen the market’s collapse after failed in September 2008. And by March 2009, stocks were so cheap that they had nowhere to go but up. Market timing seems so easy in hindsight. What’s more, plenty of [ Read More → ]

In suburban Toronto, a couple we’ll call Wayne, 34, and Julia, 35, are raising their two children, ages four and six. Julia hasn’t worked for years and doesn’t want to return to a job. They want to save for the kids’ education, move up from their $600,000 house to one [ Read More → ]

If we can’t convince a 35-year-old to save for retirement, why would someone 10 years younger contemplate it? It’s not that we don’t see the need to plan. A recent Bank of Montreal survey of 35-to-44-year-olds found 90% of respondents believe there is a need to plan before [ Read More → ]

Q We hold shares of in my son’s college account. How strongly do you see them performing? — M.R., via the Internet A In this, the summer of its new fruit-flavored yogurt smoothies, the world’s largest restaurant chain is having a smooth ride. The latest offering in its McCafe drink line represents [ Read More → ]

WASHINGTON - Consumer borrowing fell in June for a fifth straight month as households keep cutting back on credit card use. Borrowing dropped at an annual rate of $1.3 billion in June, the Federal Reserve reported Friday. That marked the 16th drop in overall credit in the past 17 months. Americans backed [ Read More → ]

NEW YORK - Lots of homeowners are frustrated these days that they can’t seem to get a mortgage refinance even though interest rates are at historic lows. It turns out they’re not alone. Plenty of people on Wall Street would also love to see a boom in refinancing activity, saying it [ Read More → ]

In the real estate world, there was one word that used to be the cardinal rule: location, location, location. Just about anybody — the informed and uninformed — could buy a house in a good location and easily make money by flipping, selling or refinancing the home, sometimes after just a [ Read More → ]

DRACUT — Midway through her first growing season, Rachael Potts, 31, pointed to long rows of thriving peppers, scallions, and Swiss chard. The tomatoes, however, have been “a challenge,’’ she admitted, adding “and the heat has had its way with my arugula.’’ Potts, who has a day job as an interior [ Read More → ]

CHICAGO—A sideways stock market has investors searching for other places to make a decent return on their money. And junk bonds, for better or worse, are starting to look like gems to many. The appeal is easy to understand. Junk bonds, known more politely as high-yield bonds, are bonds with very low [ Read More → ]