Money Advice

If there is anything good to come from such scary economic times, it is a refocusing on what is really important in our lives—our family and close friends. We can, and should, still enjoy the holidays with them.

No matter what your economic situation, I recommend that you rethink how you entertain guests this year. If you have entertained lavishly in the past, take measures to make your party a bit more homespun. Be considerate of what some of your guests may be going through. If you’ve always needed to keep a budget in mind, this year you can find new and creative ways to do that.

The month of November saw the biggest loss of jobs in nearly 30 years. It feels like only a matter of time before the bad news hits closer to home, if it hasn't already. If you or your spouse has lost a job due to the ailing economy, you may be wondering what to do next to keep your finances afloat and to keep your lack of employment from negatively affecting your marriage. Here are the first steps you should consider.

Avoid Tension
Generally, layoffs are happening because of the troubled economy, not because these employees have been bad at their jobs.

There you are, newly hitched and thrilled about it. This is a time when your two-income family abruptly becomes a stable one-income family. "Downsizing" sounds like one of those fancy made-up-kind-of-words until it happens to you. Then you realize the awful certainty of what it really means—fired. And you soon find out that getting a new job just isn’t that easy.

Companies don't want to hire you at the pay scale you were accustomed to, but would rather go with that fresh-faced 22-year-old (which you were not so very long ago) and suddenly life gets very scary.

You and your spouse have watched them grow. You’ve both experienced the ups and downs of living under one roof for the past 18 years together, but the time has come and they’re about to leave the nest for college—both an exciting and anxiety-ridden experience for most.

Often overlooked is the safety of your child’s identity. These young adults living away from home for the first time are particularly vulnerable to identity theft. In a 2010 survey, Javelin Strategy and Research found that young adults, aged 18-24, take the longest to detect identity theft—132 days on average

Today, newlyweds come in all shapes and sizes—specifically, more couples wait until their 30s or 40s to get married. In fact, during the past 50 years, the average age of marriage in the U.S. has risen by five years for both men and women to 25 and 27, respectively. Considering the number of people embarking on second or third marriages, the needs of today’s newlyweds may be dramatically different than that of their parents or grandparents.

The insurance needs of newlyweds have changed, too. In the 1960s, most couples had little personal wealth starting out

For newly married couples looking to start off on solid financial footing, these days, the path to success may seem filled with disastrous pitfalls. However, finding a sure way really isn’t as difficult as it seems. The key lies in learning how to manage the money that you take in and use it to build up a nest egg that will allow you to get through the shaky days you may experience together.

Create your budget. The first step to financial security involves putting together a budget and sticking to it. This isn’t a glamorous task, but it’s also not a step you can afford to bypass if you’re serious about a secure future.

Since you can’t protect yourself and your family completely from identity theft, make sure that you monitor the signs! Heading into a new year people make many resolutions that they may or may not stick with, but protecting your identity should always be a top priority. Here are three effective tips to help discover and recover quickly if you, your spouse or anyone in your family becomes the victim of identity theft:

1. Create a Dossier: For these purposes, a dossier is a collection of documents that are stored in a fire safe that you regularly review and update.