If you have young children, the end of another school year means you are now one year closer to the day when you send them to college — and one year closer to dealing with the high costs of higher education. However, you still have time to save and invest — and one of the best investment choices you can make is a Section 529 college savings plan.
In fact, a 529 plan contains, in just one account, some of the key advantages found in other attractive investment vehicles, such as a 401(k) or IRA. Consider the following:

The national celebration of Arbor Day happens on the last Friday of April, although some states have designated different dates for their own Arbor Day observances. Over the years, Americans have planted millions of trees on this day, improving the environment, reducing erosion and leaving an invaluable gift to future generations. But the concepts behind Arbor Day can also be transferred to other realms — such as investing. So, this year, why not take steps to establish your own Financial Arbor Day?

It’s been about a year since stock prices hit their low point during the long bear market. Since then, of course, we’ve seen a big rally, but some of the decisions you made when the market was at its lowest point may still be affecting your portfolio’s performance and prospects. So now that we’ve reached the one-year anniversary of the market bottom, it’s a good time to see where you are today and how you can prepare for tomorrow.

If you’re like many people, you may pay a lot of attention to the day-to-day price movements of your investments. But to create and maintain an effective investment strategy, you also need to look at the “big picture” — specifically, the economic and market forces that can affect your investments’ performance. And one of those factors is inflation.
Of course, inflation has been fairly tame lately. In fact, some consumer prices fell through much of 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Will the mild inflation environment continue?