Healthy Investing: Avoiding Gamestop Fever
| 2/17/2021Big swings in the stock market are supposed to drive investors away. But great volatility in stock prices can be attractive to certain types of daredevil investors, who see short-term opportunity in a particular stock’s plunging and soaring roller-coaster ride. The recent frenzy over the GameStop “short squeeze,” during which hedge funds were shorting the video game retailer’s stock, betting it would go down in value, while hordes of amateur investors drove the stock to unsustainable highs, leading to a loud crash, is just the latest example of how perilous the ride can be.
» Blog
Fighting The Culture of Distracted Driving
| 2/10/2021As a driver, one of the most important steps you can take to make your journey a safe one is also one of the simplest: Put down your phone before you start your car, and don’t look at it until you’re no longer in traffic.
» Blog
How To Find Out What Your 401(k) Is Really Costing You
| 2/3/2021More than half of all U.S. workers participate in some form of retirement savings plan provided by their employers. For many of us, a 401(k) plan or other deferred contribution plan represents the most significant investment we’ll ever make, the nest egg we’ll be relying on for needed income in years to come. Yet most Americans have no idea what fees are being charged by the companies that manage their plans or how those fees can stunt the growth of their investment over time.
» Blog
What Car Buyers Need to Know About Gap Insurance
| 1/07/2021The process of shopping for a new car is full of challenges — and, more often than not, a few unpleasant surprises. You may think you’ve settled on a make, model, color, and price, only to find out about a range of costs, fees, and financial issues that have to be addressed before you can seal the deal.
» Blog
Working Class Blues: Jobs That Don't Pay Minimum Wage
| July 19, 2018The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor is responsible for enforcing the minimum wage. However, the law that governs wage requirements, carves out exceptions for certain kinds of employment. Some of the exemptions apply to specific classes of workers, such as young trainees, who are arguably getting other benefits from the work besides a paycheck. What can be done about wage and hour violations?
» Blog
Understanding The How and Why of a Class Action Lawsuit
| June 21, 2018A class action is a type of lawsuit in which one or several plaintiffs represent a larger group (or “class”) of people who’ve suffered similar damages. The number of claims involving common damages makes it more efficient to combine them into a single cause of action. Filing a class action lawsuit, instead of numerous individual lawsuits, can benefit a large number of plaintiffs through a single legal action, which saves on costs and court time, prevents inconsistent verdicts, and allows individuals to combine their resources to make their case exponentially stronger. But to get started can be daunting – just the filing of a class action claim can be highly expensive and highly complex.
» Blog
401K Lawsuits Fight High Fees, Mismanagement Lawsuit
| May 17, 2018Almost 100 million Americans participate in a retirement contribution plan at work — and are counting on the savings in those plans to provide needed income in years to come. But many of these 401(k) and 403(b) plans charge high fees or present inappropriate investment options, leading to lawsuits over mismanagement and excessive costs.
» Blog
Takata Airbags: The Scandal Behind The Biggest Auto Recall Ever
| March 30, 2018In the annals of corporate misconduct, few schemes can compare in sheer magnitude to the one that led to the downfall of the Japanese auto parts supplier Takata. Over more than a decade, the company sold a dangerously defective product to auto makers around the world. And when reports of the problem began to surface, Takata executives engaged in a lengthy cover-up, despite increasing reports of injuries and deaths linked to malfunctioning Takata airbags...
» Blog
Wells Fargo Auto Loans Debacle: Corporate Culture Gone Wrong?
| February 23, 2018Executives at Wells Fargo have done a lot of apologizing lately. A series of missteps by the company over the past two years has resulted in a flood of customer complaints, harsh criticism from lawmakers, and rebukes from regulators over alleged “widespread consumer abuses.” The situation has also prompted considerable head-scratching and commentary from business journalists and other observers trying to figure out “what went wrong” inside one of the world’s biggest banks. Explaining the misfires at Wells Fargo isn’t easy. The company was fined $185 million by federal banking regulators for creating millions of bank and credit card accounts...
» Blog
