Personal Finance News

Credit unions are nonprofit institutions owned by their members -- meaning they tend to offer accounts and services that are more customer-friendly than those of large national banks. And, like banks, they deliver a full range of options, from checking and savings accounts to credit cards, auto loans and mortgages.

Many credit unions limit membership to people who live in a certain region or work for eligible employers, but some open their doors to any U.S. customer who joins a qualifying organization. With data from Informa Research Services, we evaluated 16 such all-access credit unions, plus Navy Federal Credit Union, which reaches a large number of customers despite its membership limitations. Among other factors, we examined the fees, minimum-balance requirements and interest rates on checking, savings and CD accounts.

Take a look at these 10 outstanding credit unions. Most of them participate in the CO-OP shared branch network, allowing members to use the services of 3,500 credit unions with more than 5,000 branches. And customers whose credit unions are part of CO-OP's ATM network get access to nearly 30,000 surcharge-free ATMs.

SEE ALSO: The Best Bank for You, 2018

Read more: https://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/saving/T005-S003-best-credit-unions-2018/index.html

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It's become second nature for many online shoppers to go straight to Amazon.com to make a purchase -- especially Amazon Prime members who shop using their voice-activated Alexa devices. And why not? Amazon's selection is vast, its prices tend to be low, and the free two-day shipping that comes with a Prime membership is reliable and convenient.

But while Amazon does, indeed, offer many great deals on many items, it doesn't always offer the best deal on every item it sells. We asked several shopping experts to weigh in on which products online shoppers should avoid on Amazon. While cost is critical, it's not always the deciding factor. Take a look at some of the worst things to buy on Amazon.

Read more: https://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/spending/T062-S001-worst-things-to-buy-on-amazon-com/index.html

Read more: https://www.kiplinger.com/article/credit/T017-C001-S003-you-can-now-freeze-and-unfreeze-your-credit-report.html

Vanguard funds have become synonymous with index investing. But if you limit yourself to the firm's passive strategies, you'll miss some gems. Indeed, Vanguard fund managers actually invest more of their own money in the firm's actively managed funds than in their index funds.

Vanguard has such good actively managed funds for two major reasons. One, because Vanguard is owned by its mutual fund shareholders, it has no outside owners to pay -- and thus can keep its fees lower than most other fund firms. The other reason: Despite founder Jack Bogle's advocacy of index-fund investing, he was surprisingly good at identifying talented outside stock pickers and signing them up to manage assets for Vanguard during his tenure.

Soon after Bogle founded Vanguard, he signed up Wellington Management, where he had formerly worked, to manage funds for Vanguard. Wellington runs some superb funds. His other find was Primecap, which was formed by three talented managers who left American Funds in 1983. Bogle signed them to launch Vanguard Primecap (VPMCX), one of the most successful mutual funds of the past 45 years.

Here are the five most impressive Vanguard actively managed funds that are open to new investors. (Note: Some are only available directly through Vanguard.)

Read more: https://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/investing/T041-S001-the-5-best-actively-managed-vanguard-funds/index.html