The coronavirus threat to Americans is massive, and so will be the resulting economic hit. You’re going to need enough cash to cover monthly living expenses for the next year, at least. To help millions of Americans weather this crisis, Congress should immediately waive early withdrawal penalties and income taxes for all 401(k) retirement plans, for amounts up to $25,000 over the next 12 months, after which the waiver would sunset or be renewed. Early withdrawal penalties and income taxes for...

Peter Grundy Early in 2019, 100 randomly selected lower-income residents of Stockton, Calif., will start to receive $500 a month. In exchange, they’ll need to do, well, absolutely nothing, and can spend the money on absolutely anything. This is free money, in every sense — and quite possibly a model for a not-so-distant-future U.S. economy, where a big share of Americans are retired and robots handle more jobs. In this America, men, women and children receive a government-guaranteed regular...

Bloomberg Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge-fund firm, lives by a set of rules that, he’d be first to admit, aren’t for everyone. That’s perfectly OK with him. All Dalio wants is for people to try them on and see what fits, which led to his writing more than 550 pages of business, investing and life lessons in a book titled, simply, “Principles: Life and Work.” Part record, part reckoning, “Principles” landed with a splash a year ago, not surprisingly,...