Steps 2 and 4 are good advice for anyone, even employees whose only exposure to investing is their quarterly retirement plan report.

What it is about finance that invites these terrible, vapid pronouncements?

Teaching financial literacy shouldn't just be the burden of schools, but also the private sector, and specifically the financial industry.

For many 403(b) account holders, the plan sponsor and the employer are 2 different entities -- a distinction with huge repercussions.

Consider for a moment what the market would be like if all of the declines and emotional turmoil didn't occur.

It wasn't smart to dump a dovish Fed chief, run up the deficit, and start a trade war. Trump did all three.

Here are some plausible reasons why markets have given up most or all of their gains for the year.

Despite huge increases in output and productivity over 60 years, workers' share of those gains are shrinking.