Thanks for all the great feedback on last week's blog!  So now I know, comparing investing to food helps you understand and shows you all have a great sense of humor!  For those of you just joining in on the blog, in late January, I had a great conversation with a client about "learning" how to invest so that our conversations would be more engaging.  This prompted me to ask a few more clients if they would be interested in an investment 101 series for the month of February; the feedback I received was a resounding YES. So, I decided to break the series down into four-parts:

Happy Valentine's Day Eve!  Did you know that this "holiday" tradition started back in the days of the Roman's as a festival called "Lupercalia?"  Here's an interesting two-minute video on Valentine's Day Facts from this history channel:http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/valentines-day-facts.

I had a great conversation with a client this past week about "learning" how to invest so that our conversations would be more engaging.  This prompted me to ask a few more clients if they would be interested in an investment 101 series for the month of February; the feedback I received was a resounding YES.  I've broken the series down into four-parts:

The topic I delivered was called, "10 Financial Tips in 30 minutes."   I delivered tips 1 - 5 last week and here are the remaining 5:

Last Tuesday, I had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to speak to a wonderful group of women via the Corning Area Woman's Club.  This club was organized in 1918 and is the oldest women's organization in the Corning area.  For those of you that live in New York, you may recall that the weather that day was less than favorable, yet the room was full of women eager to share in a common goal of fellowship and fundraising.  This was my first introduction to the group, and I was extremely impressed with their organization of the meeting.

I saved this question for the final installment of the mailbag blog because I thought it deserved a separate and focused answer. 

What are steps that someone can take to help financially assist during a lay-off, illness, or another reason that puts them out of work?

•  I love this question – it is at the core of why I decided not to charge people for my services based on assets only.  As Tom Hanks said in the movie Forrest Gump, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get." 

Are Christmas clubs a good idea?  When do you open them? What type of financial commitment is necessary?  Or do you have another recommendation for savings?