Remember life insurance is intended as income replacement to help dependents and or/spouse pay for things that your income would have covered. When you get to the point that you're dependents (Your kids mostly) aren't dependent on your income, you could reduce the amount of life insurance you are carrying.

I've decided to keep working until my last kid is thu college.

My rule is when in doubt hire a professional. You could do it just this year and then you have direction to resume doing it yourself after the consultation. What you don't want is to do it wrong and be hit by a huge tax bill. Remember the old saying, "Don't be pennywise and pound foolish."

If we aren't careful, our children will come down with 'affluenza,' a disease that causes them to confuse wants and needs. We need to teach our children what my grandmother taught me: Think twice about spending money you don't have on things you don't need to impress people you don't like anyway.

A smart couple with a healthy financial relationship is always talking about money and how they're handling it. If there's a medical emergency or a job loss, talk about it. If there's a windfall, talk about it. Your financial situation is a constantly changing thing.

The number of those 19 to 25 with private insurance increased from 51 to 55.8 percent, and the percentage of uninsured fell from 33.9 percent in 2010 to 28.8 percent during the first half of 2011.

My grandmother's grandparents were slaves. My grandmother Big Mama would tell me about the stories she heard as a child growing up in the shadows of a North Carolina plantation. It's only been in my lifetime that blacks have had the right to vote, live in certain areas or hold certain jobs. It is with this black history that I write about the financial challenges African-Americans still have.