Personal Finance Daily: Warning signs that inflation is percolating

	Personal Finance Daily SEPTEMBER 26, 2012 Wednesday's Personal Finance Stories By MarketWatch Don't miss these top stories: 8 early warning signs inflation is percolating How 401(k) plans could work much better Charting the surge in new-home sales Are financial advisers worth their fee? Inflation is relatively low now, but investors want a heads up before it does become a problem. The good news: There are early warning signs that indicate inflation is about to percolate, and Robert Powell lists eight of them to watch out for in his column. Also in the latest Personal Finance pages, read a story on how 401(k) plans could work much better. Plus, get the latest on new-home sales and read a Chuck Jaffe column on whether financial advisers are worth their fee. —Amy Hoak , assistant editor 8 early warning signs inflation is percolating When it comes to inflation there are some early warning signs that investors can monitor. 8 early warning signs inflation is percolating. How 401(k) plans could work much better The move away from defined-benefit plans to 401(k) plans in the private sector — which work great for employees who spend their entire career with a single employer, and less well for others — is not reversible. What's needed is a way of limiting the mistakes 401(k) investors make. How 401(k) plans could work much better. ECONOMY AND POLITICS Charting the surge in new-home sales See the charts behind the latest data on new-home sales activity. Charting the surge in new-home sales. New home sales dip in August, prices soar Sales of newly built homes in the United States fell slightly in August as prices posted a record 11.2% gain, but demand remained near a two-year high. New home sales dip in August, prices soar. Economists are as bad as the politicians Politicians can waffle about our fiscal problems because taking a firm stand can hinder their efforts to get re-elected, columnist Al Lewis writes. But he says we expect more from our economists — and they aren't stepping up. Economists are as bad as the politicians. Spanish confront austerity Anti-austerity protesters clash with police in Madrid as Spain prepares to unveil its 2013 reform budget later this week as well as the results of stress tests on its banks, in what could be defining moments for the euro-zone debt crisis. Spanish confront austerity. The emerging headache of QE3: Andy Xie The Fed's latest quantitative easing may cause problems for countries grappling with inflation and should prompt China to press ahead with economic reforms, Andy Xie writes in a column for Caixin Online. The emerging headache of QE3: Andy Xie. INVESTING Are financial advisers worth their fee? New research from investment researcher Morningstar Inc. gives investors an idea of the added value of financial planning, writes Chuck Jaffe. Are financial advisers worth their fee? An early Halloween for gold traders Gold's average October return over the last three decades has been a loss of 0.8%, versus an average gain of 0.5% in all other months. Seasonal fluctuations in Indian jewelry demand appear to be playing a major role. An early Halloween for gold traders. Rediscovering Google The hot young names are in the doghouse, but an old, reliable Google Inc. (GOOG) is back in Wall Street's favor. Rediscovering Google. Danish businessman seeks currency revolution Doing business across borders has always had its share of hazards, starting with currency exchange. Now one businessman thinks he has a way to remove at least some of the risk. Danish businessman seeks currency revolution. Spain's chicken game won't end happily Something crazy is happening in Spain right now, says Matthew Lynn, with both the markets and the politicians assuming the other side will swerve first to avert the crash. Spain's chicken game won't end happily. Get the latest news on our mobile site: http://www.marketwatch.com/m MarketWatch has sent you this newsletter because you signed up to receive it. To ensure you receive this newsletter in the future, please add marketwatchmail.com to your list of approved senders. Sent to: kumaresan.selva.blogger@gmail.com Unsubscribe | Subscribe Copyright 2012 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved. MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (updated 6/26/07). MarketWatch - Attn: Customer Service, 201 California St., San Francisco, CA 94111