Money Funds Are Ripe for ‘Radical Surgery’: Jane Bryant Quinn I’m among the last people standing who think that Paul Volcker is right about money-market mutual funds. They pose a systemic risk to the financial system and need a radical fix.

Commodity Hedge Is About Finding Right Tilt: Jane Bryant Quinn If you want to hold commodities in your investment portfolio, what’s the best way?

Muni Downgrades Add Risk, Prize to Bond Game: Jane Bryant Quinn Time for some California dreaming: Will the state plug its budget gap, and are its bonds worth a gamble?

College-Savings Plans Don’t Need to Blow Up: Jane Bryant Quinn If you are saving for college in a 529 plan, you probably took a bigger hit than you expected during the 2008 market crash.

Loan-Shark Lenders Have Date With Hangman: Jane Bryant Quinn Pity the neighborhood loan shark.

Brooke Astor Trial Exposes Financial Abuse: Jane Bryant Quinn It’s a nightmare for families and for their financial advisers: a parent or client with Alzheimer’s and significant money to manage.

Recession’s End Won’t Make Investing Easier: Jane Bryant Quinn After all the blood, tears and recriminations, is the Great Recession over?

Diversify Your Investments Even If It Hurts: Jane Bryant Quinn Everything you thought you knew about diversification is wrong. So is everything you thought you knew about portfolio risk. It took the meltdown of September and October 2008 to flesh out the story, but the plot outlines have been in place since the 2000 tech-stock bust.

Lost Decade Investing Makes Price Paramount: Jane Bryant Quinn Here’s one of Wall Street’s best-kept secrets: If you were investing 30 years ago, your best choice, for the long run, would have been super-safe Treasury bonds. That’s where the money turned out to be. Investors erred in their religious belief that stocks always outperform bonds, over holding periods of 10 years or more.

Lock in Mortgage Rate Before It’s Too Late: Jane Bryant Quinn So who is actually getting some?