It’s never too late to start saving for retirement, but now that you’ve put it off - don’t wait any longer.

Question: I’m 41 years old and have no retirement savings. Is it too late for me to do anything worthwhile? If not, what would be the first couple of steps I should take? - Brian, Phoenix, Arizona

Answer: Too late to make a difference in your retirement prospects just because you’re starting at age 41? No way.

Granted, you’d be in a lot better position if you had begun saving earlier in your career. But you’ve still got a good 25 or more years of your career ahead of you. If you get started now and really make a concerted effort, that’s plenty of time to build a decent nest egg that, combined with Social Security and any other resources you might have, should be able to support you in reasonable comfort in retirement.

The key, though, is shaking off the lethargy, procrastination or whatever it was that prevented you from getting your act together and make a commitment to ratcheting up your retirement-planning effort now. And I mean right now.

As for what steps you should take, let’s be honest. There are no miracle strategies I can give you that will make an extra decade or two’s worth of retirement savings magically appear overnight. And while it would be nice if there were a “Make Up For Lost Time” mutual fund I could recommend that guaranteed 20%

SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- The Chinese yuan gained against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, hitting a fresh high as American and Chinese officials resumed talks centering on trade and other strategic issues.

Washington wants Beijing to loosen controls on currency trading and allow the yuan's rate to set by market forces. U.S. manufacturers contend that the restrictions keep the yuan's value artificially low, giving Chinese exporters an unfair advantage and boosting China's trade surplus.

The yuan has gained about 20 percent against the U.S. dollar since Beijing revamped its foreign exchange trading system in July 2005, revaluing the currency by 2.1 percent to 8.11 yuan to one dollar.

On Wednesday, the yuan began trading at a 6.8823 to the dollar, continuing a steady advance against the dollar that has taken it to record highs in recent weeks. It was trading at 6.8827 by Wednesday afternoon on the over-the-counter market, stronger than Tuesday's close of 6.8914.

China has pledged to loosen currency controls, but has not given any timetable, saying that sudden change would expose the country's shaky financial system to excessive risks from outside speculators.

During the talks in Annapolis, Md., China's central bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, alluded to such risks by asking about the regulatory mistakes that may have helped precipitate recent U.S. financial troubles.

"China always hopes to draw lessons from the U.S. experience in macroeconomic management and market

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- FedEx Corp. reported a fourth-quarter loss Wednesday and offered a gloomy outlook as it wrestles with a slumping U.S. economy beset by soaring fuel costs and falling prices for homes.

FedEx, considered a bellwether for the broader U.S. economy, predicted 2009 earnings of $4.75 to $5.25 per share, well below Wall Street expectations of $5.92 a share. The international package delivery company expects to earn 80 cents to $1 per share in the first-quarter of the current fiscal year. Analysts forecast $1.27 per share.

"Looking ahead to '09, we do expect conditions to remain extremely challenging and we anticipate in both the first quarter guidance and the yearly target the current economic weakness will continue and the current level of fuel costs will not mitigate," chief financial officer Alan Graf said in a conference call with market analysts.

FedEx posted a loss for the just-ended fourth period of 78 cents a share, or $241 million, compared with a profit of $610 million, or $1.96 per share, for the same quarter last year.

Excluding one-time charges, FedEx earned $1.45 per share for the fourth quarter. Revenue rose 8 percent to $9.87 billion from $9.15 billion a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected $1.47 per share on revenue of $9.6 billion.

FedEx, which owns the world's largest cargo airline, spend almost $1.4 billion on fuel in the fourth quarter and those costs represented 14 percent of total operating expenses, said Edward Jones analyst Dan

Peter Lynch showed he was a money whiz with the first mutual fund he ran.

As manager of Fidelity's Magellan Fund, (NASDAQ:FMAGX - News) he turned the fund into the world's largest with $14 billion in assets and more than 1,000 holdings.

During his tenure from 1977 to 1990, a $1,000 investment reaped $28,000.

His closest competitor returned $15,000 on a $1,000 investment.

Magellan earned an average annual return of 29.3% -- nearly double the 15.2% average return of other funds in its class. It never had a losing year, despite experiencing nine corrections of more than 10% -- each deeper than the market's.

Lynch, born in 1944, started working as a golf caddy at age 11, a year after his father died. He traded golf tips for stock tips while caddying for Fidelity Investments' president and other bigwigs at the Brae Burn Country Club in his hometown, Newton, Mass.

After hearing them mention stocks, he would look up the tickers in the newspaper.

"Gee," he thought as he saw them rise, "this makes a lot of sense."

This was during the post-World War II economic boom that fueled the bull market from 1949 to 1966, so