Investment Instruments

The maker of Twinkies said late Tuesday that it failed to reach an agreement with its second-biggest union on pension issues. It now heads to bankruptcy court.

Now that employees must fend for themselves when it comes to retirement savings, Social Securitys guaranteed income is becoming even more important.

Charles Schwab has launched Compliance Solutions to help financial services firms and industry providers meet increasingly complex employee compliance and regulatory requirements.

Employees must pay a larger share of their own benefits costs and make benefits decisions that they never had to make before, according to Prudential Group Insurance.

Retirement plan private-equity investments end up consuming workers' prospects, and their pension benefits. How ironic.

Investors seized on hope that Washington will reach a deal on the federal budget and drove stocks Monday to their biggest gain in two months. A pair of strong corporate earnings reports also helped.