Dragons, it seems, are the ultimate evil. In fairy tales, when the hero slays the dragon, he is considered the bravest of the brave, he wins the treasure and the adulation of the townspeople, they throw a parade and he marries the princess. The dragon is his final obstacle between Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After.

If my life were a fairy tale, my dragon would be $100,000 in unsecured consumer debt.

Over 25 years of married life, Downtown Dad and I fully own the fac

She announced to the class that this would be her last year teaching as her face graced us with a smile. You could see the relief wash over her mind as a weight was lifted, as the words crossed over her lips and reality sank in.

My favorite professor leaving, after decades of putting up with tests, papers, excuses, and every other drama she dealt with outside of the classroom. I never experienced it firsthand, but I could imagine how stressful her job could be. I never asked, never w

What happens when you turn 55 years old, and have no money for retirement? Simple arithmetic shows you that it is impossible to save enough for a decent retirement with so little time left in your working career. But wait, the fear and misery gets worse. What if you are too old for the job market and find yourself jobless to boot? And to further compound the hopelessness, there is household debt to service. The author of "55 and Scared Sh*tless" found himself in that exact situation.

“I’m buying a bond because I don’t want to lose any of my principal!” Not great reasoning or logic and not exactly accurate.

An investor buys bonds (or bond funds) for many reasons but their investment objective(s) must drive that decision. The two primary reasons to invest in bonds (also called fixed income securities) are diversification and/or steady income. Although investment portfolios normally include a fixed income component, if either of these are not your investment prior

Hello All,

Stage of Life is proud to announce its latest endeavor - the development of the first mobile storytelling game! For the last three months, we have been putting our creative efforts into drafting Writing Race, a multiplayer story writing game for Apple iPhone where friends will collaboratively (or competitively) write a story together using their mobile phone.

Our idea to expand Stage of Life’s literacy initiative to the mobile realm began as some scribbling on

As one of the Stage of Life Editors keeping an eye out for products and services that can be of assistance to Baby Boomers, I came across the company Wearever. With more Boomers taking care of their aging parents, not to mention aging themselves, the often taboo topic of incontinence is something not everyone is comfortable talking about.

Because of that, we asked Wearever to share their thoughts about this issue in the hopes that it'll help those of you dealing with it, either with

There is no doubt that many people have felt the full force of the financial downturn. Recession is a word which has been around for quite some time, and with it, the unfortunate implications that have in some cases literally decimated the lives of families. From a purely financial standpoint, it is at times like these that it is important to take a moment to review available options when considering the financial situation and not make any rash decisions.


In terms of finding

The coming year promises to be a wonderful one.

Yes, the economic outlook for our country is bleak. It’s inevitable that prices will continue to climb. Workers will continue to lose jobs, and neighborhoods will continue to lose families.

There will be disruptions in the supply chain of products shipped cross-country. While we now see sparsely stocked shelves only on occasion, they may become commonplace before too long.

All around us, budgets will be strained,

by P. Skoran, WeissRatings.com

Baby boomers questioned the authority structure and coined the phrase “don’t trust anyone over 30.” Now, they’re moving into the 55-and-older age group. The generation that drove change at each life stage will no doubt challenge the culture of aging in America.

Had the economy remained robust, Boomers would have begun a steady transfer of retirement assets out of the stock market

My husband and I owned and operated a business for over twenty-two years. When we decided to sell it, we knew that we would be facing two major expenses within the next ten years - four years of college tuition and a future wedding for our daughter. We had carefully saved for those expenses and felt confident that we could manage the tuition and the wedding and still maintain a comfortable lifestyle for ourselves, with a few minor adjustments. So, we eagerly plunged headlong into a new stage