These are hard times. The Great Recession is taking its toll–not only on our 401ks but, for some of us, on our jobs and worse, our children's jobs and financial well-being. Just to put things in perspective, a recent survey by Fidelity Investments found that 41 percent of U.S. households did not have emergency funds…

As readers of this blog may know, I've got quite a collection here of studies done in Great Britain, Australia and other countries on how "the bank of mum and dad"  is faring in this economic downturn. Short answer: not well. To complement those reports, here's one from Pew on how our perspectives of the…

Many of us who have grown children have been hit hard financially by the economic crisis. Money we thought we'd have to live comfortably on and still help out our adult children is gone. Is that changing our relationship with our adult children? Some of us may be worried about becoming dependent on them, or…

For many of us, gone are the days when we could open our wallets with ease and help our grown children when they were in need–paying off a college loan, helping with the down payment on a house or even defraying everyday living expenses. Now our 401ks are half of what they were, the value…