Personal Finance News

ARTICLE–To help reduce your tax burden once you retire, and free up more money for expenses and fun, give income planning a try. Here are four ways to adjust your income and get a better grip on your tax bill.

ARTICLE–Between Oct. 15 and Dec. 7, Medicare participants can make changes to their plan(s). Here are a few reasons you may want to take advantage of this open enrollment period.

SLIDE SHOW–American Funds is the third-largest fund family in the country, with $1.6 trillion in mutual fund assets. Many of its mutual funds are among the biggest in the land, too. So it should come as no surprise that fund company's portfolios are popular in 401(k) plans. In fact, eight actively managed American Funds portfolios and five of the firm's target-date funds rank among the top 100 funds with the most 401(k) assets - a list prepared by financial data company BrightScope. You don't read much about American Funds on Kiplinger.com or in Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine because until recently the firm's funds were sold only through advisers, and with a hefty sales charge, too. At Kiplinger, we favor funds you can buy for no transaction fee. But American Funds recently launched a no-load F1-share class that do-it-yourself investors can buy through a handful of online brokers, including Fidelity and Schwab. (In your 401(k) plan, of course, you don't pay a sales charge to buy shares in any American Funds portfolio.) American Funds runs its portfolios in a unique way called the Capital System. Managers are encouraged to invest their own money in the funds they run, and most do. Every fund is run by multiple managers - each gets a slice of the fund's assets and applies his or her own style and investment philosophy to choose stocks or bonds. The thinking is, a multimanager approach can enhance diversification, lower overall volatility and drive returns. But as assets have grown, the impact each manager is able to make appears to have diminished, at least in recent years. Here is our look at the best American Funds options for your 401(k), as well as its other popular offerings that don't quite hit the mark. We analyzed the eight American Funds portfolios, as well as its target-date series, that rank among the top 100 401(k) funds, rating each Buy, Sell or Hold. SEE ALSO: The 25 Best Low-Fee Mutual Funds to Buy Now

SLIDE SHOW–U.S. job growth in 2019 is likely to average 170,000 jobs per month, down from 223,000 in 2018. The decline is partly attributable to fewer available workers to hire with the low unemployment rate. Also, businesses are reluctant to aggressively pursue growth, given increasing economic uncertainty from the intensifying trade war with China. Hiring in some sectors --particularly health care-- remains robust. Services associated with a growing economy, such as computers, restaurants, and temporary help, are also up. The weak spots? Retail is shedding workers as stores continue to close. The telecom sector also continues its long decline. The drop in oil prices has led to job cuts in the oil and gas sector. The trade war has hurt demand for agricultural products in farm states. Finally, low population growth is holding job gains in check for some states. As a result, some states are struggling to add jobs. Every year, The Kiplinger Letterforecasts economic growth in all 50 states (plus the District of Columbia). Check out the 10 states with the slowest projected rates of job growth in 2020. SEE ALSO: 11 States Most Unprepared for the Next Recession

SLIDE SHOW–Low jobless rates and rising incomes are helping to fatten state coffers across the U.S. Revenue from sales, personal and corporate taxes is on the rise --the best growth since before the Great Recession. States can expect healthy tax revenues for at least the next several quarters as low unemployment continues, incomes slowly rise, inflation increases modestly and higher energy prices generate more income for states with severance taxes. But the outlook for individual states is varied, with several regions facing big challenges. The trade war with China is battering the agriculture industry in the Midwest and the prairie states and crimping activity at Southern ports. Manufacturing is slowing down because slowing global growth is hurting exports. New England's economy is slowing as employers struggle to find the workers they need. Although construction spending is up markedly this year, most states won't boost spending much. As they prepare for 2020, governors and legislatures are eyeing modest spending increases --perhaps reversing cuts made after the Great Recession. They also intend to sock away some of the newfound revenues in rainy-day funds. (See our list of States Most Unprepared for the Next Recession.) Read on for Kiplinger's exclusive economic outlook --including projected job-growth rates-- for every state, listed alphabetically. SEE ALSO: 18 States With Scary Death Taxes

SLIDE SHOW–There's something to be said about following the "smart money's" lead into adventurous, high-potential growth plays. But billionaires also see plenty of potential in stable blue chips like the Dow Jones Industrial Average's components. Indeed, Dow stocks make up considerable portions of some high-profile managers' portfolios. Billionaire investors often are viewed as more sophisticated, better informed and more likely to enter what would be considered more esoteric trades than the average investor. In some cases, those assumptions are true. But there's something to be said about safety, as well as the ability of some well-known large-cap stocks to deliver surprisingly outsize returns. Big-time money managers know that - and have put their money where their brains are. Investors of every ilk would be wise to take the hint and consider following that lead. Here are seven Dow stocks that make up a large chunk of at least one billionaire investor's holdings. We'll examine how much they hold, as well as which qualities each billionaire investor likely appreciates most about their pick. SEE ALSO: All 30 Dow Stocks Ranked: The Analysts Weigh In

ARTICLE–CEOs have some specific skills and habits that make them successful business leaders. The rest of us can take a few pages from their playbooks to make our retirement plans a success as well.

ARTICLE–Having a trust is just one important piece of the puzzle when planning for your financial legacy. Another piece: your trustee.

SLIDE SHOW–Companies with outsize growth prospects aren't hard to find. High-growth stocks that also are high on quality are another matter. Seemingly every other week, a so-called unicorn files for an initial public offering. And yet more often than not, the stocks of these red-hot companies quickly disappoint investors. There's no point in betting on companies with high growth prospects if they don't have the quality to churn out such returns year after year. When it comes to looking for high-quality companies, a good place to start is with return on equity. ROE measures how adept a company is at squeezing a return out of its net assets. It's often used as a shorthand for quality. Although ROE differs from industry to industry, a rule of thumb is that ROE should come to at least 15%. Quality stocks can't be found by applying just a single measure, however. Balance sheets, fundamental performance and cash flow are critical too. As such, we scoured the Russell 1000 Growth Index of large- and midsize companies to find stocks with returns on equity of at least 15%. Additionally, these companies had to have positive free cash flow (FCF), healthy balance sheets and long-term growth rates of at least 20%. Lastly, they had to have an average analyst score of less than 2.0 from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Any score below 2.0 equals a Buy recommendation on the part of Wall Street, and the lower the score, the better. Here, then, are the 10 best-rated high-quality, high-growth stocks to buy. SEE ALSO: 101 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy for 2019 and Beyond