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How often do you repeat the sentence, “Social Security won’t be there by the time I retire”, or something along the same line? I know that it’s popular to say such a thing—after all, the media is almost saturated with the prospect of a program failure here—but the better and more constructive way to approach the question is to consider if an out-and-out failure is even possible. I think it isn’t. That isn’t to say that Social Security won’t undergo significant changes, and we’ll get to that in a bit, but the complete disappearance of the program is extremely unlikely.

It's too late to make a significant impact on your financial situation in 2011. (However, you can still contribute to a Roth IRA for 2011 up until April 15, 2012.) Today is the start of a new year. Will it be the year you change your situation for good?

For many investors, a Roth IRA is a better investment than contributing to your employer’s 401k retirement plan. A Roth IRA is cut from much of the same cloth as a 401k retirement plan, but there are several characteristics that make a Roth IRA a better investment option for many Americans. While this is obviously not true in all circumstances, the tax advantages of a Roth IRA often make it an incredible investment vehicle for to help you accomplish your financial goals for retirement.

By my calculations you have less than 24 hours to run out to the mall or your favorite discount retailer to grab that gift, wrap it up quickly, and get it under the tree. Don't worry, you aren't alone; there will be many other people out doing the same thing as you. Hopefully you've been smart and got all your shopping done long ago.

Can how you handle the Christmas season be an indicator of how well you handle your finances? Did you plan everything out, knew where you were shopping and how much you were spending, and finished early?

While a Roth IRA was designed primarily as a retirement plan for American citizens, the account’s flexibility allows it to be used for other financial goals besides retirement. The United States government has set up Roth IRAs to allow individuals to withdrawal funds from the account early and allow the proceeds to be used to pay for other things besides retirement. Typically investors cannot withdrawal their earnings, interest, and income from a Roth IRA until you reach 59 ½ years-old.

Congress has been unable to decide on whether or not to extend the payroll tax cuts that have been in place for quite some time. With the government still trillions of dollars in the red you would think they would let the cuts expire to recoup some of that loss revenue. But allowing previously enacted tax cuts to expire is politically unpopular. Instead of truly addressing the problem Congress decided to kick the can down the road a little bit further. Not too far, just enough to get us into 2012.

The number one asset that young investors have on their side is time. They have a lot of it, and they have enough time to both weather the stock market’s ups and downs and also to benefit from compounding interest in their retirement accounts. But, have older investors missed out if they have waiting to start investing until later in life?

HP spent $1.2 billion purchasing Palm in order to get webOS in April 2010. They sunk additional resources, developed a tablet, launched the tablet, and promptly decided to kill off webOS. A $3 billion adventure has now taken an interesting turn: webOS will go open source, and HP may provide additional hardware at some point in the future. On the whole it looks like a great investment gone bad due to poor leadership from HP, but it may end up working out okay for webOS enthusiasts.

Not many of us have made $3 billion mistakes, thankfully.

There are many options for members of the United States military and federal government civilian employees to save for retirement. Not only do they have a generous pension plan, but the federal Thrift Savings Plan offers government workers a chance to save even more with a retirement plan that is similar to a 401k. But, how does the Thrift Savings Plan compare with a Roth IRA? Which retirement plan is the best option for people saving for retirement?