Investing

The uncertainty is unavoidable, but you can come to a more reasoned savings decision by starting from a different place than market history and investing insight. Forget about investing and asset allocation. Think about your job and your career instead. Are you a stock or a bond?

Wall Street Journal's investing columnist Jason Zweig dissects the GOP candidate's investment portfolio.

For 2012, I'm switching to a high-deductible health plan and will enroll in the associated health savings account. What investment strategy do you recommend? Cash, bonds or total market? Ken, Portland, OR

Tess Vigeland and Marketplace's economics editor Chris Farrell answer listeners' personal finance questions.

My question is, if your mortgage rate is higher than what you could expect from investing, wouldn't it make more sense to pay on the mortgage? This is almost the same as the concept of paying off the credit card with the highest rate first. What are your thoughts on this? John, Rapid City, SD

Lesson learned: Market timing gurus are hazardous to your wealth.

I keep reading that the lesson of the past few years is to throw out the old rules of investing. I don’t buy it. My reaction is the exact opposite. The old rules of investing were hammered out over previous bear markets, such as the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Great Stagnation of the 1970s. They still work.

I have a student loan that is on an extended payment plan with a variable rate that is tied to prime. Currently, the rate is 2.11%. I have money available that I could put toward the loan, but at this interest rate, it seems advisable to invest the money. However, at some point down the road when the rates go back up, I may wish that I had paid off the loan early. Do you have any advice as to the best approach for paying off such a variable rate loan? Wendell, Rochester, NY

News out today that Olympus committed fraud for decades comes at a time when a lot of businesses get away with such deceit. How do they do it? We asked Juli Niemann, analyst at Smith, Moore and Company.