When you need cash, what’s the best course of action? If you’re tempted to reach for a credit card to get the cash you need, you may want to reconsider. There may be better ways to meet your personal liquidity needs.

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to de-stress your life by taking better care of yourself —eating better, exercising more, improving relationships, and/or practicing “mindfulness” or yoga —why not include a few stress-busting goals for your money and fiscal fitness too?

We've all heard the remarkable tales about people who stumbled on antiques or works of art worth millions of dollars in their attic or at yard sales. But even those of us who have artwork or collectibles in full view in our homes may not know how much they are actually worth.

The midpoint of the year can be a good time to step back and assess your financial goals to make sure you're still on track and given any changes in the economy and markets as well as your personal situation.

Investors tend to buy high and sell low. They tend to become greedy when markets are approaching a high, and they become fearful when markets are at, or near, low points. Studies show that the more frequently investors check their portfolio performance, the more they trade, and the worse their performance becomes. In fact, investors in liquid investments (such as stocks) tend to sell quicker than investors in illiquid investments (such as real estate) because the pricing is readily available. How can you avoid falling into this trap? Should you just buy and hold? Set it and forget it?

“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise.” In 1739, “Poor Richard” published this simple axiom in his annual Almanac to remind readers about the vital role that good health habits played in building wealth. In the two centuries since then, a host of research studies have confirmed what “Richard” and the rest of us have suspected...