When it comes to money and family, is there ever a "right" answer?

A widow with a toddler child recently confided that her late husband's family contacted her right before this month's tax-filing deadline.

In a confusing phone call, the relative told her the family wanted to include her son's Social Security survivor benefits in a tax return ...Read more

Steve Horaney has two kids in college, a home in South Lyon, Mich., and every other excuse people can roll out for not saving for retirement.

Except he's still one of the country's 401(k) millionaires.

Horaney, 50, says he's learned to sock away money with every paycheck going back to his early 20s when he started a good job at Guardian ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- The most expensive home for sale in America is still found in Los Angeles, but it's no longer the larger-than-life mansion that debuted a year ago in Bel-Air at $250 million.

That speculative wonder of owner-developer Bruce Makowsky has returned to the Multiple Listing Service at $188 million. That's a price cut of $62 million ...Read more

Q: How many price quotes should I get in refinancing my mortgage?

A: Get as many valid quotes as possible. Two or three valid ones help; 10 phony ones are worthless, or worse. Valid price quotes must meet three major conditions:

--Same market timing: All quotes must be as of the same day, since mortgage lenders reset their prices every morning...Read more

Q: How many price quotes should I get in refinancing my mortgage?

A: Get as many valid quotes as possible. Two or three valid ones help; 10 phony ones are worthless, or worse. Valid price quotes must meet three major conditions:

--Same market timing: All quotes must be as of the same day, since mortgage lenders reset their prices every morning...Read more

Q: If a member of a social club (dance, tennis, karate, etc.) within our Condo Association gets hurt or does something that causes an injury to one of its members or guests, can the Condo be held responsible? -- Bob

A: Your association can be held responsible for the injuries to the extent that it was negligent in reasonably keeping the area ...Read more

ST. LOUIS -- With an estimated 7,100 abandoned structures today, vacancy is a bigger problem than the city can handle on its own.

But a formal working relationship between the city, legal clinics, community development organizations and neighborhood nonprofits is close, those working on city vacancy issues say. They're working to create a "...Read more

ATLANTA -- A suit filed in federal court against Home Depot charges that the hardware giant permitted mismanagement of retirement funds affecting more than 200,000 people and costing their accounts at least $140 million.

The complaint against the $100 billion-a-year, Atlanta-based company was filed last week in U.S. District Court in Atlanta by...Read more

CHICAGO -- Developers on Monday unveiled plans for Chicago's second-tallest skyscraper, a tapering shaft of metal and glass that would soar above historic Tribune Tower, resemble the top of Batman's black mask and be only 29 feet shorter than Willis Tower.

If completed, the $1 billion-plus project to repurpose Tribune Tower and build a skinny, ...Read more

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Appo Agbamu recently quit a $75,000-a-year job at U.S. Trust, a dream job for a young associate portfolio manager.

However, Agbamu, 25, has an entrepreneurial dream. He's founder of ahrvo.com, an investment app targeted at young people that went live at the Google and Apple online stores in January.

"I'm passionate about ...Read more

Many of us adults give considerable thought to how we will pass along our money to the rising generations in our families when we die. Far fewer of us also consider how we will pass along our "value assets" -- our family's unique approach to community, giving back and helping others, while we're living.

The passing along of family values cannot...Read more

Tom Staperfenne, 34, isn't ashamed to admit that he went out and spent most of his family's income tax refund for 2017 right away.

Nearly the entire $3,700. Gone.

But don't wrongly label Staperfenne as a spendthrift. Most of that money went toward the loan for a 2012 silver Ford Fusion that he bought used last summer for around $8,200.

"I ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Dustin Brown and the L.A. Kings are making another run in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but away from the ice, the star right winger is making a play of a different sort: He and his wife, Nicole, have put their home in Manhattan Beach up for sale at $6.999 million.

Custom-built for Brown and his family four years ago by Matt Morris ...Read more

Most house purchasers look at many houses before they make a decision, weighing multiple features of one against the other. In contrast, the decision about which of numerous mortgage options to select often is made hastily with little thought. Yet borrowers have to live with their mortgage indefinitely, often for as long as they have the house. ...Read more