Jennifer's Compass

NECN Jennifer Lane: Presidential impact on economy

It's Election Day- what each candidate would do for the economy, and how personal finances would be impacted.

Click on the link below to watch the video

Investment questions and checking-up on your advisor

Viewer questions on Friday focused on annuities, checking-up on your investment advisor and the safety of stables value funds.

Tips for getting the best deal on a new car

(NECN) - GM and Chrysler are both working to clear out their inventory. It's a buyer's market, but is now the time to get a good deal on a new car?

Tips for getting the best deal on a new car

(NECN) - GM and Chrysler are both working to clear out their inventory. It's a buyer's market, but is now the time to get a good deal on a new car?

Where to invest?

We answered that question on a recent CNBC On The Money show. My co-contributor suggested commodities. I went with building cash. What do you think?

Graduate job action plan

(NECN) - On this segment of In Focus, the job outlook for the class of 2009. Employers in the Northeast expect to hire 38 percent fewer graduates than last year. So what can grads do to better their odds of landing a job?

Answers to your financial questions

(NECN) - Once a month, on the last Thursday, I bring the Ask Jennifer segment to Good Morning live. The questions we got for this month were tough ones.

Trudi in Cambridge I was laid-off 4 months ago. Should I continue investing $100 monthly into my Roth IRA? Are there other money tips I should know about while I'm unemployed?

Adam in Latrobe, PA ,i>Will the housing stimulus help my family? We bought our house in Dec. 2004 and then refinanced in Dec. 2006. We thought the refinance would help us a lot. Our initial mortgage was $900/month, 6.5% Fixed rate 30 year loan. The refinance ended-up being a split mortgage. The main loan is interest only 5.5% adjustable. The second loan is over 9%. The only thing that got our payments down was not having to pay PMI. I'm not sure what we should do? Any help would be appreciated.

Dennis in Boston For a while I avoided looking at my investment account balances. I've checked the last few months though, and the balance goes down each month. Where is the end? Can I believe what my advisor says about staying in the market for the long term?

Click below for the answers

Job retraining: How to land on your feet

(NECN) - The recession has claimed more than four million jobs. Even when the economy recovers, there's no guarantee the jobs will return, so some workers may have to consider a career change.

Answering your financial questions

(NECN) - As the economic outlook worsens, questions continue to pour in about your savings.

Do you know where the best place is to consolidate my son's college loans? --Jill in Ipswich

I own my home with an interest rate at 6.75%. I was preparing to refinance to lower interest rate when I was laid off from my job. When I bought the house; I made a 20% down payment. Can I still re-finance? --Ha in Boston

Share holders of Bank of America stock may be taken to zero with the current government bank bailout program; would you sell the stock now and take the tax loss? --Frank in Needham

I'm about to be laid off and I'm 58. I have a (shrunken!) 401K and a pension at my company and another pension from another company. Can I access this money without penalty because of the layoff? --Wendy from Boston

Click below to watch the segment with the answers.

In Focus: Market anxiety

(NECN) - Today In Focus, economic stimulus dreams are crashing into a hard reality. Investors hoping the market's ills would be cured are getting a sober reality check. Here's a segment with what I've been hearing from investors, and what we're telling people who want to sell and just hold on to the cash.