Shirley M Mueller

Some economists say the housing market isn't just diving off a 10-ft. board into a swimming pool, it may be about to plunge off a 100-ft. cliff into the ocean. Another wave of foreclosures looms, which could further drag down home values. So should you sell now, or wait to buy? Hold on.

Emerging markets are known to be risky, and the situation in Egypt drives the point home. Upheaval in the Middle East demonstrates political risk, one of the major dangers of emerging markets. Another danger? Investment advisers who downplay those risks for their own interests.

Joachim Klement delves into role memory plays in why financial crises keep recurring over time in his working paper "The Flaws of Our Financial Memory." The chief investment officer of Zurich's Wellershoff & Partners Ltd., believes the problem can be traced to flaws in memory that he calls the "seven sins."

A man puts his cash in the freezer wrapped in brown paper and marks it ‘beans.' The idea is that accountants are called bean counters so labeling money ‘beans’ will trigger the gentleman’s memory as to what the packages contain. This is his stash of cash. Is there a better way?

An Emory University study invesitgating the brain function of subjects who made monetary decisions found that when the volunteers acted alone, brain scans showed that regions of the brain consistent with decision making were less active when a financial expert offered advice, compared with no guidance.

During a market downturn, only those that know how to play the fluctuations between rallies will make real money. Here are four strategies to working pre- and post-bounce environments to your advantage.

Women and men make investing decisions the same, but also different. It is the dissimilarities that lead to unlike outcomes.

Female partners need to include themselves when it comes to family investment decisions.

The veneer of municipal bonds was recently cracked, though they were commonly thought to be ultra safe because of their traditionally rare defaults. Munis can have credit problems that are not appreciated, especially by the individual investor.