Your Money

By Daniel Eisenberg and Kathleen Adams

Benefits Down, Taxes Up

Leave it to the government to make less out of more. Social Security just announced that its cost-of-living adjustment for 1999 will be 1.3%, or $10 on the typical monthly check. That's the lowest increase in a decade, even though the cost of living for most seniors is rising faster. But Social Security payroll taxes will rise by $22 a month for millions of taxpayers, because the taxable-wage base is jumping from $68,400 to $72,600.

Taxing the Bare Minimum

Congress didn't provide much tax relief in the spending bill it passed last week, but it did a few small favors. Next year, for example, a million families that earn around $45,000 to $90,000 can take advantage of child and college-tuition credits without triggering the alternative minimum tax, the IRS's weapon against the superrich that has lately been striking more of the upper-middle class.

Women Best at Investing

In the jungle of Wall Street, the male warrior doesn't reign supreme. Women are simply better investors than men, according to a new study by Brad M. Barber and Terrance Odean of the University of California at Davis. The reason is no big surprise: overconfident males take too many risks, trade too often and earn 1.4% lower annual returns than females.

--By Daniel Eisenberg and Kathleen Adams