Last Fall, G. Jeffrey MacDonald, who writes for the Christian Science Monitor, published a piece following up on news that ownership of life insurance in the U.S. has reached a 50-year low. If people aren't buying life insurance, how are they providing for the financial needs of their survivors? Read the full article

I’ve been slow to mention this, but the FFS Blog recently received a compliment by being included in a list of the 40 Best Blogs for Your Retirement Planning over at bschool.com. Although the site mostly gives advice about MBA programs, they also think it’s important for people to plan early for retirement. The article includes a number of other blogs worth perusing. 5/16/2014 update: Apparently, bschool.com has removed this article, but it was a nice compliment while it lasted.... Read the full article

Generally, I’ve written all the posts for this blog myself. I’m making an exception to that practice this month, because I’ve had a rare opportunity to feature a post from an expert in the field of behavioral finance.

Melissa Korn at the Wall Street Journal interviewed me last month for the Journal's Personal Finance feature, "The Game Plan," in which readers write in and have their retirement planning strategies reviewed by a professional financial planner. The piece appeared in yesterday's WSJ. Read the full article

Those of you who follow my blog are undoubtedly aware that I have not written anything here since the end of last year. In January 2010, my wife had transplant surgery. This made it necessary for me to cut back on many of my normal activities, including writing articles for this blog. Now that she's recovering, I’m hoping to get back to writing blog articles, though perhaps not at the same rate as before. In any case, expect to start seeing activity on the FFS Blog again. Thanks for your patience. Read the full article

I've learned from Newstex, which syndicates this blog through its Authoritative Blog Content service, that the FFS Blog's content can now be accessed using an Amazon Kindle. Read the full article

New social media, like many relatively recent offspring of the internet, are in some ways an invention in search of a need. One thing that social media can be useful for is as a means to support and encourage your favorite charities. Read the full article

It seems only right to take a moment for brief reflection on the occasion of our first blogoversary! Read the full article

It’s been a while since I’ve had time to review another web log, but I’m ready to add to my list. This one is different, because it’s an aggregation blog. Read the full article

2008 has come and gone. There are a lot of people on Wall Street who are glad it’s gone and hope it stays far away. Read the full article

Perhaps you've made a resolution to do a better job of dealing with your finances in 2009; if so, this blog can help you. Read the full article

I’m delighted to announce that The FFS Blog has been accepted by the Newstex blog syndication service. The change will be transparent to my blog users, except for the addition of the Newstex icon at the bottom of the blog. Read the full article

Today, the FFS Blog is participating in Blog Action Day 2008. Along with over eight thousand 9,700 other bloggers, my topic today is poverty.

Read the full article

I had no idea when I began this web log in April that I'd be writing an average of four posts a week. But activity in the financial markets has been extraordinary this year; in addition to the educational posts that I had planned to write, I've written many more posts related to current events than I'd envisioned. There are a number of posts I hope to write in the near future: more on hedge funds, life insurance, charitable giving, the cost of college, buying versus renting, retirement - when I can find the time.

I definitely wasn't planning to write my 100th post right after the biggest down week in the history of the S&P 500 and the DJIA. The turmoil in the markets caused an extraordinary increase in my site traffic. According to Quantcast.com, my average monthly traffic is at 2,300 2,500 people per month and still climbing. I'm not assuming that it will stay that high after the markets calm down, but it will be interesting to see what happens next! Read the full article

I've added Credit Slips to my list of great blog links.

The Credit Slips blog is run by seven academics who specialize in debt issues; the blog also fields quite an array of guest authors. Credit Slips has been particularly interesting lately as its writers have weighed in on the bank bailout plan currently under debate. The blog covers all things credit-related, include legislation under consideration, bankruptcy, credit reporting, medical debt, student loans, etc. I'm finding it very interesting reading. Read the full article

I don't write many blog-centric posts, but I've noticed something interesting in the past week. Last Monday, as the wizards of Wall Street blinked and the markets went crazy, traffic to the FFS Blog jumped by 4 or 5x. I assumed it was a one-day event, but as you can see from the attached Quantcast graph, traffic on the site has remained higher than normal.



A number of people got here by Googling phrases like, "are mutual funds insured," "are brokerage firms insured," and the like. The traffic hasn't dropped back to where it was, suggesting that there are still a lot of folks anxious about the safety of the financial markets. I hope the information here is helpful to you.

If any of my readers have questions that you'd like me to tackle in the blog, please drop a note to FFSBlog "at" FFSCambridge.com (I've avoided using the "at" sign to thwart spammers, but you know to substitute an @ for that). I can't promise to post on every idea I get – this isn't my day job, after all – but I'll seriously consider anything that comes in. Be patient, though.

A final note: readers who would like to get a once-a-week summary of my posts may do so using the new FeedBlitz widget on the upper left-hand side of the blog. Read the full article

Finally, I've gotten around to establishing a blog roll for web logs related to things I write about here. I'm inaugurating it with three selections and I thought I'd let my readers know a bit about each one. Read the full article

The University Of Michigan Retirement Research Center recently published a brief summarizing the results of several surveys of financial knowledge. The studies suggest that many Americans need help understanding financial and economic fundamentals. How financially literate are you? Read the full article

Welcome to my new blog! Read the full article

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And now, to keep my lawyers happy: This site is for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing contained here should be construed by anyone as an invitation or solicitation to buy or sell any security. This site does not contain personalized legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. Users of this site should consult with a qualified adviser to obtain advice suited to their personal circumstances. Any links provided here to other web sites are for informational purposes only. We take no responsibility for the accuracy or content of linked sites.

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