You know me and I have a pension. It provides some comfort but only some. It's still not enough to live off completely but it sure will help. But I'll say this. I try to forget about it and save like a maniac because I want the assurance of having other pots of money.

Set up rules for when you will "give" not lend money. Never lend. My people know that I'll help with college. I'll help if they lose they job thu no fault of their own.

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.

Kids can and are a blessing. But plenty of people without kids live and die just as happy.

You shouldn't invest the money if you are looking to use it within five years. Too much risk.

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.

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.