In an uncertain economy plagued by unemployment and insecurity, the idea of working for yourself can seem as appealing - and remote - as winning the lottery. How do you get started? What kind of work can you do? Is it expensive to get started? Faced with all that, the lottery starts to seem like the safer bet, even though you probably don’t know anybody who has won the lottery....

It won’t surprise anybody to hear that the recent recession caused average wages in the United States, Canada, and around the world to take a beating. Workers everywhere have been suffering through a period of what economists optimistically call “wage adjustment,” with wages stationary or even decreasing almost across the board. With unemployment still elevated in the developed world, there’s plenty of opportunity – and incentive – for corporations to...

Any retirement professional can tell you that you need to invest your earnings in order to retire in comfort. They might tell you to look at bonds – debt issued by corporations or municipalities – and shares of stock, which are pieces of individual companies that entitle you to a portion of the profits (known as dividends). And it’s true – investing is essential to stay ahead of the curve....