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Certified Financial Planners (CFP) can stand out from a rather crowded field of financial professionals for a variety of reasons. One of the most important reasons is that Certified Financial Planners are mandated to act as a fiduciary, meaning that they are required to put their client’s interests and needs ahead of his or her own.

When people decide that they need to eat healthier or lose weight, they know that they have to change their behavior. That’s easier said than done for most, which is why programs like Nutrisystem and Weight Watchers are so popular; because they provide a system for automatically controlling portions and nutrition.

In a recent survey by JumpStart Coalition for Financial Literacy, only 26 percent of those between the ages of 13-21 said that they had been taught how to manage money. Yet, when they turn 18, kids are signing contracts for student loans, opening credit card accounts, and in many instances, living away from home with little financial guidance available.

There’s a good reason there’s an estimated 74 to 96 million owned cats and 70 to 80 million dogs in the U.S. With wagging tails, slobbery kisses, and little whiskers that make for adorable Instagrams, pets give us that warm, cuddly feeling inside. They are part of our families and some of our best friends.

Whether you like it or not, your credit score can determine how easy or how difficult it is to buy a car, buy a house, get cell phone service, or even get a job.  A bad credit score can negatively impact just about every area of your life. Sometimes, a bad credit score can result from events entirely out of your control such as illness, disability, or from the loss of a job.

Summer’s finally here. The sun is out, it’s warm, the days are longer, and your worries seem just a little bit further away. But, folks, I’m sorry to say, sometimes storms roll in on the sunniest of days.

Think back to those early days in life when it seemed like everything in the candy aisle was free if you begged your parents hard enough. Not a fleeting thought was given to the expenses of a vacation or the copay costs at the doctor. There’s something beautifully unburdened in the way which children experience the world: recklessly present and innocently ambivalent.

After several years of wallowing in financial upheaval caused by a severe recession and financial crisis, Americans are, once again, looking to the future. A renewed confidence has many people setting their sights on long term goals that, just a few years ago, may have seemed out of reach.

Accumulating wealth turns out to be a double-edged sword for business owners. It certainly has its privileges, but it also comes with additional risk exposures. In a 2011 Zogby survey, 92 percent of people with a high net worth indicated concerns over the possibility of home invasions, muggings, kidnapping, and even random street crimes.

For many people, structuring their auto insurance policy comes down to obtaining the greatest amount of coverage at the lowest cost. Because auto insurance has become commoditized, the focus often shifts to the premium amount as the primary point of comparison, which is fine as long as you don’t lose sight of what it is you are trying to protect.