The current economic environment has caused most everyone to reconsider their personal finances with many people having to drastically change their spending and savings habits. Out of this economic malaise may come an opportunity to finally instill the right habits in your teens that can carry them into adulthood on the right financial footing.

As anyone would have expected, the extraordinary convergence of extreme stock market volatility, low interest rates, declining home values, diminished retirement savings accounts, and chronic economic sluggishness has taken a severe toll on the American psyche. For many investors, it may have forever altered the way in which risk is perceived and managed.

If you have read any literature on retirement planning or have received advice from a financial professional, chances are you were presented with the 70% rule, the one that suggests that retirees will need between 70 and 80% of their pre-retirement income in order to maintain their standard of living.

One of the principal tenets of investing is that no one single investment is right for everyone. Every investment has certain characteristics, risks, and objectives that must match those of the investor, and fixed annuities are no different.

You may have heard statistics or evidence that multitasking can actually make people less efficient. Actually, in many cases that’s true. Generally speaking, multitasking decreases the level of knowledge and understanding in a given task; and, sometimes it can lead to doing many things but not really accomplishing anything.

Choosing a financial advisor is tough. There are generally a lot of options so how do you differentiate the crème de la créme of advisors who you can really trust to manage your hard-earned money?

Money is just one of those things that sometimes brings people as much pain as it does pleasure. As the economy in an up cycle of the recession, things are looking better but just the thought and uncertainty of an unstable economy is often enough to bring the fear back into people’s minds