Special to USA TODAY Dear Pete, Other than the stock market and the occasional reemployment surge, it doesn’t feel like our economy is heading in the right direction. I’ve been through a recession or two, and this one seems as bad, if not worse than all of the other ones. Is it possible we’re looking at years, as opposed to months, to get this thing back on track? I don’t think the stock market and its swift recovery is telling the real story. Kris, Philadelphia Peter Dunn: With so many...

Your Money Line Dear Pete, My wife and I were watching a show on a financial network the other day, and a guest said he was so confident in the market that he recommended people take out home equity loans to invest in the market right now, due to discount prices. That seemed very risky to us. What do you think? Timothy Raleigh, North Carolina Believe it or not, I saw that exact same show. I listened to that guest make that claim, and my jaw nearly hit the floor. Not because it was so...

If you don’t automatically think of a booming housing market when you think of Boise, Idaho, think again. USA TODAY If you want to retire successfully but are starting from scratch at age 50, you need a plan. This is the last installment of a four-part series on how to make it happen. When we last met, the retirement redemption plan we had outlined was coming up just a little short of success. It had taken you from having no retirement assets at age 50 to a projected monthly shortage of only...

Some uncomfortable habits will pay off in the end. Keri Lumm shares 5 that will help you be better off. Buzz60 If you want to retire successfully but are starting from scratch at age 50, you need a plan. This is the third of a four-part series on how to make it happen. Finding yourself at age 50 and broke isn’t exactly what you had in mind when you graduated high school. And, to be fair, you may not even be bothered by your asset-less current reality. Not having money isn’t indicative of a...

Who says you can't kick off a new venture as a senior? Here's why retirement is a great time to get a business off the ground. The Motley Fool If you want to retire successfully but are starting from scratch at age 50, you need a plan. This is the second of a four-part series on how to make it happen. As the story goes, a young woman prepared the same holiday meal for her family every year. As always, she followed her grandmother’s recipe to a T. She’d buy a 5-pound ham, cut off 4 inches from...