The Bernard Madoff scandal has been extraordinary. The amount of money lost, the number of years that the scheme went on undetected, and world-wide extent of the fraud are unprecedented. The fact that Madoff’s victims were mostly highly sophisticated investors is unsettling for a lot of people – if experienced investors could be fooled, how can the average investor avoid getting taken by an unscrupulous adviser? Here's how. Read the full article

529 plan savers have received a small, temporary gift from the IRS. As I noted in an earlier post, IRS rules permit only one change per year in the way that a 529 plan is invested. However, in response to recent turmoil in financial markets, the IRS has announced that for 2009 only, it will permit up to two changes in investment strategy during the calendar year. As before, a change in investment strategy will also be permitted if the designated beneficiary of the account changes.

The change provides a bit more flexibility for the ten million 529 plan owners who reportedly have invested $130 billion in the plans. If you’ve been meaning to make an adjustment in your child’s allocation and have not done so this year, it’s a good idea to do it now. Then, you'll still have two chances to adjust in 2009 if that's needed for some reason. Read the full article

Christians traditionally celebrate the birth of Christ by giving gifts. I’ve never been able to determine whether this custom originated because of the gifts the wise men brought to the infant Jesus or because Christ’s incarnation was a gift to the world. In either case, I’m taking a break from financial matters in this post to give a gift to my readers: one of my favorite recipes. Read the full article

I’ve already written elsewhere about year-end tax minimization strategies. With a little more than a week left in 2008, time is drawing short for carrying out many of them. Here's something you still have time to do: charitable giving. Read the full article

My Mac-using friends have another gloating opportunity. Microsoft released an advisory warning of a newly-discovered flaw in multiple versions of Internet Explorer, including IE 7. PCMag.com and BBC News technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones have posts on the problem. The flaw allows software running on hacked web sites to access the contents of your hard drive, run unwanted software, or possibly steal your passwords; as many as 10,000 sites could be infected, according to BBC News.

Microsoft recommends changing IE security settings to high (look under Tools/Internet Options); other protective actions are provided at the advisory link. Alternatively, you may want to download one of the competing (free) browsers, like Firefox, and use it until Microsoft provides a fix. Read the full article

The news media continue to reverberate with details of Bernard Madoff’s fraudulent investment scheme. Sadly, a number of charitable foundations, including Elie Wiesel's Foundation For Humanity, Steven Speilberg’s Wunderkinder Foundation, the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Foundation, and the Robert Lappin Foundation, had most of their funds invested with him. The Lappin Foundation, based on the North Shore of Boston, has had to shut down. Read the full article

2008 has been firmly established as an annus horribilis for the financial world. Yesterday, Wall Street got another big dose of bad news as a well-known stockbroker and former chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange was arrested yesterday for swindling investors out of tens of billions of dollars. Read the full article

Back in October, some influential members of the House of Representatives held hearings to discuss overhauling the 401(k) retirement plan system. Soon thereafter, talk radio, the blogosphere, and even the generally-sober Wall Street Journal erupted with dark warnings of a plot afoot to “nationalize” or “confiscate” everyone's 401(k) plans and convert them to accounts managed by the Social Security Administration. Read the full article

With stock markets down precipitously and few asset classes that haven’t declined significantly this year, many investors in 529 college savings plans are wondering what to do. In some situations, it may make sense to make a change in your child’s 529 plan. Read the full article

I wasn’t the only one to make fun of the NBER’s not-too-timely announcement that we are in a recession. Following on the heels of many others, David Merkel (Alephblog) gave his own raspberry to the NBER today. He provided a link to a very funny clip on the recession announcement from CBS Radio’s Dave Ross. Like David, I normally don’t care for audio links, but this is a worthy exception. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did…. Read the full article

A comment that I've heard several times in the last few weeks is, "I took a look at my 401(k)/mutual fund statement and it was really depressing." Well, take heart: at least you're not down by eight billion dollars.... Read the full article

Sometimes, a well-meaning gift giver just doesn't know enough about a recipient’s needs to select “the perfect gift.” A gift card or gift certificate seems like a nice solution in that situation, but what if the retailer that issued the card subsequently goes bankrupt? In the present economic climate, it seems likely that a few retailers will go bankrupt in the next few months. Here are a few thoughts to keep in mind as you consider giving a gift card. Read the full article

We all knew it in our bones, but now the word has come down from on high - the US economy has been in a recession since last December. Read the full article

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