
Degree of Difficulty
The life-altering burden of diploma debt
Fluff the pillows and stock the fridge because, chances are, your adult kids are coming home. Nearly one-third of Americans age 25 to 34 have lived with their parents in recent years, according to a 2011 study by Pew Research Center. But before you start blaming a generation of millennials — known for their unearned trophies and sense of entitlement — remember it’s the generations past who wrought an economy with tuition hikes and growing unemployment.

Contract Killer
Local businesses struggle with dwindling government deals
Companies in the Sacramento region have long counted on government contracts to smooth out the gyrations of economic cycles. Local, state and federal governments had deep pockets and a seemingly unending appetite for goods and services.
Companies in the Sacramento region have long counted on government contracts to smooth out the gyrations of economic cycles. Local, state and federal governments had deep pockets and a seemingly unending appetite for goods and services.
The Incredible Shrinking Vault
Regional banks shed costs as their industry contracts
Big banks have been drawing heat this year. Some is focused, such as the clamor over monthly debit card fees being proposed or tested by several national banks. Some is diffused, such as that from the apparently leaderless Occupy Wall Street movement and its nationwide imitators.

A Light in the Attic
Yuba County pays for green retrofits with energy savings
Yuba County’s infrastructure was crumbling and its budget bleeding red ink when officials came up with a catching solution to their energy problems.

Hedge Hogs
Investors look to recoup losses from the Great Recession
Hedge funds are back. Worries about European debt crisis, war in the Middle East and the potential for rating agencies to downgrade America’s treasuries have rattled shareholders. But those fears haven’t held back investors from pouring record amounts of capital into the cowboy country of largely unregulated, nontransparent funds.

Lost and Fund
Counties hold off on muni bonds due to uncertainty
After a jarring sell-off and resulting glut, there’s just one word for today’s municipal bond market: precarious.

Nonprofit Revenue
Charities raise money through social enterprise
A Sacramento software startup has launched an iPhone application for runners that picks music to go with a workout and can add customized coaching instructions along with the beat. When users pay to download the coaching data, a donation goes to a nonprofit of the coach’s choice.

Lending Competition
Weighing the pros and cons of bank size
In the Capital Region and beyond, some customers are switching from large financial institutions to smaller community banks, partially in response to columnist Arianna Huffington’s December 2009 “Move your Money” campaign, which encouraged consumers to do just that.

Return to Sender
Qualifying for research and development tax credits
Chris Huppe spent more than a dozen years working on better ways to use the green waste from his landscape maintenance company.

Mortgage Melee
High unemployment stifles the refinancing market
It should be the perfect prescription for an ailing housing market, but so far few buyers are taking it.