Last week was rough. I felt overwhelmed by the what-ifs in life, underwhelmed by an illness, and basically “whelmed” (under and over) by my husband’s coinciding business trip. I was fried.

At this point, anything would have sent me into a tailspin, and one little thing did push me over the edge. Thankfully, a stranger invested a little of his time into my life, and his kindness put me back on track to sanity. Here’s how investing in a stranger can help you both:

The Week from Hell

As we move forward in our financial definitions series, we are presented with Unit Investment Trusts, also known as UITs. This type of investment is similar to the mutual fund and the closed-end fund because all three are types of investment companies. Whoa, you say? What is an investment company? Well, let’s take a look at both investment companies and UITs.

Investment Companies

On this Friday Round-Up, I am tired. I just finished a 10 mile run, which is a first for me! I am excited, sore, proud and hurting, but my mixed emotions and aching body leave me exactly where I want to be: on my way to running a ½ marathon before I get pregnant. Heck, while I’m at it I might throw in finishing a full marathon before I’m waddling then swaddling.

I recently came across an article online that went on and on about why extreme couponing (what we here at MomVesting call super-couponing) fails. It snagged a ton of comments, and it appeared the majority of people posted legitimate comments and concerns about the couponing game.

Have you ever met someone who seemed to have it all together? Perhaps this perfectly primped person could balance a load of laundry with a plate of cupcakes while herding sheepdogs, kids and monkeys out the door. Or perhaps this person could simultaneously balance multiple checkbooks at once, charge a purchase to her bankcard, and pay off the student loan, the gas bill and the mortgage (all while filing her taxes).

Everyone knows that you only get one first impression in life: One chance to impress that potential boss; one chance to showcase your best assets to a date; one chance to walk in with a bang and walk out with a win. And that one chance is based a lot on how you present yourself through your wardrobe – which can seem both daunting and expensive at the same time.

If any of you out there has had a toddler or knows one fairly well, then you already have the means to understand the term "volatility." One minute, your toddler is happily making sweet potato art on his high chair tray while the next minute finds him screaming because no one will give him a steak knife.

Volatility, then, is when something varies greatly over a given period of time. Though pages and pages could be written about this phenomenon and kids, the same concept also applies to the investing and financial world. Today, we take a closer-yet-simple look at price volatility.

You might have noticed that I have not mentioned my own kids in any of my posts. This is because my children right now are furry beings: a Great Dane and two cats. Now these kids can be almost as trying, as loving and as beautiful as human children (to which any parent of a furry child can attest!), but there’s a certain je ne sais quoi missing in stories about one’s pets that is apparent in parent stories (really, how many people truly want to hear my numerous Great Dane puppy stories?).

As you all know, I've been trying my hand at the latest craze sweeping the nation: super (or extreme) couponing. While I'm the first to admit that I have not achieved a large-haul shopping trip like the couponers featured on the TLC show (think $500 worth of products for next to nothing), I have been consistently saving our household of four more money than ever.

Budgeting can sound intimidating. It may seem impossible to keep track of cash, debts, paychecks, bills and savings to those new to the finance world, but actually, budgeting is not as difficult as it appears. A few rather simple tips can keep a person on the straight and narrow to financial freedom. Let's look at the basic budget.

What is a Budget?