Gail MarksJarvis

I was just finishing up the Page 2 note for Wednesday and wanted to fill you in on details about the Printers Row Lit Fest and the Trib Nation tent where you can hang out and talk with us that weekend. First off, the Chicago Tribune’s Printers...

We try to follow advice that's supposed to be good for us. Parents tell children to eat their vegetables. So the children do. Wall Street tells adults to be long-term investors--to "buy and hold" stocks and mutual funds for the long term. So investors...

In major stock market sell-offs, investors often can look at what held up during the storm and figure what sectors will be the leaders as the stock market recovers in the future. Frequently, times of upheaval are turning points in the market. What worked...

Investors who lost close to half their money in the stock market between 2000 and 2002 are still scarred by the experience. And as the stock market has sunk from its mid-July highs, they have been wrestling with themselves, trying to figure out their...

Bonds are supposed to give investors comfort when the stock market is falling. But not this time. Stocks have fallen since mid-July because of concerns that overextended homeowners and businesses won't be able to repay the loans they have taken out....

There was a time when investors popped champagne corks to celebrate record-breaking levels in the stock market. But that was in the late 90s, before the technology bubble exploded in March 2000, drenching portfolios with red ink and scaring people into...

It's called "playing the bounce," a stock trading strategy that sounds like light entertainment, but isn't. This time of year, traders try to take advantage of the tendency by fund managers to dump some of their ugliest stocks. The fund managers cleanse...

Q: You recently warned a parent not to let his son open a Roth IRA because it could keep him from getting financial aid for college. We opened an UTMA account for our niece some time ago, and wonder if that would reduce the amount of financial aid she...

Saving for educational expenses in an economic downturn is a daunting task. It's scary enough to face a price tag of $80,000 to $200,000 for four years of college under any circumstances, but with the economy growing weaker and people losing jobs, it's...

This is what you call "contagion." With revelations throughout the past week that the housing recession is intensifying and infecting stock and bond investments, as well as lending practices, investors have focused on what could go wrong. "Recession...

Q: My wife and I are thinking about opening a Roth IRA [individual retirement account] for our 16-year-old son. I've paid attention, as you have suggested that small savings early in life can turn into million-dollar nest eggs. Is there any reason why...

The Federal Reserve gave the economy another teaspoonful of tonic last week, and investors gulped it down. The hope is that it will cure what could ail the economy and keep the doctor away. But it's too early to expect a clean bill of health. The...