Personal Finance Advice and Commentary

What was unsaid by Bernanke might be more notable than what he actually expressed outright.

The Federal Reserve, taking a fresh look at the economic tea leaves, has decided that a cocktail of record-low interest rates and billions of dollars in monthly asset purchases is still warranted.

Low interest rates will be a fact of financial life for another two or three years, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in his first news conference of the year.

Banks are looking to attract your business with cash bonus offers. Are they worth it?

The Federal Open Market Committee met on Jan. 29 and 30 and decided to continue purchasing $40 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities per month and $45 billion of longer-term Treasuries per month.

The Fed sticks with a target for the benchmark rate of between zero percent and 0.25 percent. That’s nice for borrowers but not for savers.

FOMC members are split on when to end quantitative easing, some favoring as early as the end of this year.

The CFPB is asking for comments from consumers, the credit card industry and consumer advocates on the CARD Act’s impact.

The Federal Reserve chairman spoke about why he’s worried about the “fiscal cliff” and how the Fed’s transparency on rate movement will benefit markets.

Fixed-income investors are taking on more risk than they think.