Posts filed as “guardian.co.uk”
Unemployment is killing America’s economically vulnerable women early
Americans are living longer than ever but average lifespan of white, female high school drop-outs has plunged dramatically
Is a lack of jobs killing some of America's most economically vulnerable women?
That's one of the provocative conclusions of Jennifer Karas Montez, a researcher at Harvard University, and author with Anna Zajacova, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Wyoming, who set out to explain why the average lifespan of a...Read more.
Penny Pritzker not a hit with the 99% | Helaine Olen
Hyatt heiress worth $1.8bn with checkered past dealings is top pick for secretary of commerce. What was that about change?
Here's why Americans get cynical about politics: they think they are voting for hope and change and, instead, they find themselves confronted by Wednesday morning's congressional hearings starring Hyatt heiress and Chicago businesswoman Penny Pritzker, President Barack Obama's pick to be the next secretary of commerce.
Pritzker has appeared Zelig-like...Read more.
Saving for retirement: the key is to start small
If the powers that be want people to save more, they first need to encourage them to save for smaller splurges
When it comes to convincing people of the need to save money, it might be time to downplay the pressure to set aside retirement savings and the need to fund a 401(k).
What? We know we're in terrible fiscal shape for our retirements, and the younger we are, the worse...Read more.
Occupy hedge funds: when private investment funds and the public collide
In a dangerous move, the SEC is expected to soon allow hedge funds to advertise themselves directly to the general public
I'm sure you've all heard Groucho Marx's famous explanation for why he resigned from a club that solicited his membership: "I don't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member."
It's looking likely that many investors are soon going to have reason to remember Marx's...Read more.
Student loan debt is stealing our future
The current student loan set-up is not good for our long-term financial health, as a generation in debt weakens our economy
Last week, Senator Elizabeth Warren debuted her inaugural legislative effort, a bill intended to stop the cost of federally subsidized student loans from doubling from 3.4% to just under 7% on 1 July. Warren's solution? A one-year temporary fix that would allow students and their parents to borrow money for...Read more.
Hormones don’t hurt female investors – inequality does
Thoughts about sex and stocks have a long lineage on Wall Street, and they're not meant to be helpful to women
If a gaffe, in the famous formulation of journalist Michael Kinsley, can be best described as when someone accidentally admits the truth, then hedge fund star Paul Tudor Jones made a doozy of one at an off-the-record chat hosted by the University of Virginia last month.
"You will never see...Read more.
Homeward bound: why leaning into the past is not what women need
Generation Y's retreat into domestic bliss is all well and good – but it's only an individual solution to a systemic problem
It's a truth universally acknowledged that most women will eventually find the work world overwhelming. Perhaps the final straw will come when the boss is less than understanding when the kid is sick and needs to stay home from school. Maybe it will come when you realize everyone in...Read more.
Payday loans: Washington needs to step in and regulate the industry
A bill to reduce Alabama's 456%-high interest rate failed this week, further proof that Washington needs to step in now
The latest evidence that we need Washington to step in and provide comprehensive reform of the payday loan industry came this weekend courtesy of the state of Alabama, where legislation that would have capped such loans at a 36% interest rate died in the final hours of the state legislative session.
Even...Read more.
Boston highlights healthcare’s lost promise: it’s charity now, policy later
Charitable donations have been rolling in fast for Boston victims – but wouldn't better healthcare policies help them more?
It's a little more than a week since the bombing of the Boston Marathon, and the charitable donations are rolling in fast.
"Our hearts are broken, we are outraged, and we are looking for connection and meaning," says Richard Audsley, a former United Way official who has worked with fundraising efforts to assist victims...Read more.
Social security payments: grandma and grandpa need a raise
Traditional retirement savings strategies are fast becoming a thing of the past – social security is just about all we've got
It's time to discuss raising social security payments.
What? Aren't the talking heads in Washington trying to cut social security?
Right you are. Their idea is that social security is running out of money, and that unless we raise the age of eligibility, cut benefits, or preferably both, the system will collapse on...Read more.
About Helaine Olen
I am the voice of The Bills, a column about the intersection of money and life, at Slate. At Inc., I contribute to the Spread the Wealth personal finance column. My work on politics, economics, workplace culture and women’s issues has been published in numerous other print and on-line publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Salon, Pacific Standard, and The Los Angeles Times, where I wrote and edited the popular “Money Makeover” feature.
I'm the author of the critically acclaimed book Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry, and The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn’t Have to be so Complicated, which I co-wrote with Harold Pollack.
What else? I’m a passionate bibliophile, a fan of 1970s pop music and a lover of rummage sales. I live in New York City.
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