David Marotta

Many investors are panicking. From its peak in March 2000, the major market indexes still show significant losses. Even looking back over the past 10 years provides little comfort. The news media is calling it "the lost decade."

If you think the $700 billion bailout of the mortgage crisis was expensive, wait until we need to bail out Social Security.

According to behavioral finance studies, overconfident investors trade more and earn less than those who opt for a buy-and-hold strategy. These brash investors time the market poorly, all the while assuming they're doing better than average.

If you put the same assumptions into 10 different retirement calculators, you will most likely get 10 different results. The largest number may be more than twice as much as the smallest. But retirement doesn't give you a second chance — measure twice and retire once.

The average college student graduates with almost $20,000 in student loans. While this is a daunting sum, it is still possible to build wealth even while paying off student debt.