Personal Finance

In a second question posed to financial psychologist Ted Klontz and the Wall Street Journal's Robert Frank, Tess Vigeland asks what it is that makes people feel wealthy. It turns out, the fact that many don't believe they're rich may be the problem.

How we each individually live our lives often depends on how we see our peers live their lives. For people making $250,000 a year, or the top 2 percent income in the country, that means probably surrounding themselves with even richer people. And that's why there's a debate over taxes, says the New Yorker's James Surowiecki.

The cost of living changes, of course, depending on where you live. And if you happen to want to live in Manhattan, that cost of living is very, very high. Sally Herships visits with a Manhattanite to see how far a $250,000 salary can get you in New York City.

More and more, companies are using credit reports to check up on employees and job applicants. Should this become an accepted practice? John Dimsdale reports on what the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is planning to do about it.

Are regular economic indicators still the best way to measure our economy? In our latest Economy 4.0 report, David Brancaccio investigates into why alternative indicators might be moving into the mainstream.

Although some banks have just announced they're temporarily halting foreclosures, many homeowners are still in trouble and in need of answers. A non-profit group in L.A. tries to help.

Fees -- many of them hidden -- are everywhere these days. But that doesn't mean we have to give in to them. It pays to be a fee hawk, says commentator Chris Farrell, and it's time the government helps us out too.