Since family and friends are the primary reasons that people blow a lump sum, if you can invest in good quality relationships, you can go a long way toward maintaining financial success as well.

Investors have been sold a very big lie over the years, that greater diversification always leads to higher risk adjusted returns.

Taking over an aging parent's finances is a difficult -- but important -- step to protect them from the consequences of neglecting their accounts. But once adult children have made that difficult decision, they may find that they have to deal with another obstacle: distance.

Naturally, as a proud daughter and, now, a proud mother, I love hearing from dads about the ups and downs of imparting money lessons to their kids.