The holidays are just around the corner, which means it’s time to enjoy vacations, catch up with family and friends, and eat great food. While the holidays are about quality time and making memories, it’s easy to get caught up with spending money. Here are five holiday mistakes to avoid this year so you can enjoy the season with your finances intact:

This article is provided by AARP. 

No matter where you work or what you do for a living, balancing work and family can be tough. But when the question of money comes into play, both can get even trickier. The fact is, financial advice for working families tends to focus on the cost of raising children, rather than the costs of caring for aging loved ones or family members with disabilities in need of long-term care.

One in eight Americans provides care for a loved one facing illness, a

With open enrollment season comes cold calls from insurance companies and unsolicited voicemail ads. But it’s also your annual chance to revisit your employer benefits to determine which coverage is best for you and get the biggest bang for your buck. Here are some pointers to keep in mind while you select your benefits package for next year so you can have optimal coverage for yourself and your dependents.

By Lauren Minches, Actuary, Blueprint Income

Retirement has become more complicated ever since employers stopped offering traditional pensions. Even worse, there’s an endless barrage of products, advertisements, and commercials trying to “help” you get ready for retirement. There’s enough advice floating around to create thousands of different retirements.

Before deciding which product, investments, or plan is right, you should understand the basic principles and math behind a successful retirement. So here they are…

Information for this article was provided by Chime.

Investing in the stock market can be an effective strategy to improve your economic well-being, but it’s not always the most straightforward—especially, when debt comes into play. Whether you’re paying off student loans or still making payments on a mortgage you took out a decade ago, the simple truth is that most of us carry some form of debt. This undoubtedly adds another layer of complexity to financial decisions, and begs the question: should you invest if you have debt?