Financial Planning

For two decades, Danny Lockwood believed that investing in the stock market was essential for a comfortable retirement. Like millions of Americans, the 41-year-old West Hollywood resident steadfastly poured money into mutual funds that invest in stocks. For him, a sharp decline in the value of his portfolio meant only an opportunity to add to it at lower prices. But after two bone-rattling bear markets in the last eight years, Lockwood is abandoning his blind faith in stocks.

Michael and Esther Maston had hoped the fertility drugs would work, but they weren't ready for the news that they were going to have triplets: a boy and two girls. "We can't afford to send three kids to college" at the same time, Michael, a civil engineer for Rancho Cucamonga, recalled saying in the doctor's office that day in 2001. Since then, the Mastons have been focused on saving for their children's college educations and building a retirement fund for themselves.

George and Virginia Filart have seen their share of financial ups and downs since they emigrated from the Philippines more than 30 years ago with just a few hundred dollars in their pockets. Back then, George landed a job as a design engineer and Virginia found work as a nurse. But George's career has had some rough spots -- he was laid off four times during construction downturns, and each time, the couple exhausted their savings, then rebuilt their financial safety net.

Painting a jungle mural from a kit in the bedroom of her new twin grandchildren was giving the artist in Patricia Newton a pain in the neck. Why was the lion frowning? What was with the toucan's backward ankles? And, darn, that monkey was ugly! The former Walt Disney Imagineering designer couldn't help but paint over the offending primate, put a smile on the lion and fix the bird legs.

Worried about how you're going to pay for the holidays? Here's a plan: Find painless ways to save on things you pay for all year. There are plenty of opportunities, if you know where to look. "If you treat a few big things as discretionary purchases and shop around, you can save hundreds of dollars," said Steve Krenzer, president of Experian's interactive media group, which operates LowerMyBills.com. Here are five money-saving ideas.

Patricia Kimball takes the measure of her life once a month when issues of Parenting and AARP magazines drop simultaneously through the front-door mail slot of her North Hills home. "I never thought I'd end up with four small kids at this age," said the 65-year-old special education teacher and mother of three adult sons.

Natalie Hickey left her small hometown in Ohio six years ago and aimed her beat-up Dodge Intrepid for the West Coast. Four years later, she realized a long-held dream and graduated with a bachelor's degree in photography from Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara. She also picked up $140,000 in student debt, some of it at interest rates as high as 18%. Her monthly payments are roughly $1,700, more than her rent and car payment combined.

Small businesses trying to plan their finances for 2009 are finding the process complicated not only by the recession but by the uncertainty about what governments at all levels will be doing to stimulate the economy or make up for lost tax revenue. Business owners are waiting to see how they might benefit under the stimulus plan that Barack Obama's administration is expected to present soon after he takes office. Small businesses also face unknowns from their state and local governments.

Amber Eyerly, 32, says she's never been much good at saving money. But with only minimal raises, at best, expected for 2009 at the Los Angeles public relations firm where she works, Eyerly carefully studied her health insurance benefits package this year to see where she could trim costs. She made one cut for 2009 by signing up for a medical flexible spending account, which takes money, pre-tax, from each paycheck to spend on healthcare costs and reduces her taxable income.

In retrospect, Jack and Grace Harkness know that they should never have purchased a time share in Myrtle Beach. They'd never been to South Carolina. They hadn't planned to go there. Their vacations generally involved visiting relatives or heading to exotic locations such as China and Panama. But the salesman told them that they could use the time-share interest to swap for vacations around the world. And that seemed like a good idea.