As you know, the holiday season can be joyous, hectic, celebratory — and expensive. And while you certainly enjoy hosting family gatherings and giving presents to your loved ones, you’ll find these things even more pleasurable if they don’t add a lot more weight to your debt load. And that’s why you’ll want to follow some smart money-management techniques over the next few weeks.

To begin with, try to establish realistic budgets for both your entertaining and your gift giving. When you host family and friends, don’t go overboard on your expenditures. read more »

When you invest, you take some risks. While you can’t totally avoid these risks, you can take steps to help reduce their impact and increase your comfort level. And the more comfortable you are with your investments, the easier it will be to follow a long-term strategy that can help you meet your goals.

Let’s look at the most common types of risk related to investing, along with some suggestions on helping to reduce these risks: read more »

If you already have a Roth IRA, you’re aware of its biggest benefit: Your earnings grow tax free, provided you meet certain conditions. If you don’t have a Roth IRA, you may want to consider one — and it may be easier for you to do just that in 2010. read more »

Late last year, something happened in this country that had not occurred since 1933: The nation’s personal savings rate went negative. And we don’t even have much company in our spendthrift ways: Our savings rate was the lowest in the industrialized world, according to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development. read more »