Bad Broker or Bad Luck?

You've lost money in the market – maybe a substantial amount. What you thought was a way to provide for your retirement or your children's education has instead robbed you of that future, or at least scaled down your plans.

You're hurt and you're angry – understandably so – and you think someone needs to make you whole.

Can you sue your broker, fund manager or financial adviser? It depends.

Credit Card Crunch

You've defaulted on your credit card – or you're worried you will. Is it the end of your (financial) world? Not at all. But it is serious.

If credit card default were a medical condition, it would be a broken leg – a lot worse than a headache or sunburn, but not terminal. That said, you really want to avoid default if you can. If you can't, you need to take advantage of all the legal protections available to you.

Declaring Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is front-page news in these difficult economic times.

The once invincible GM slipped into bankruptcy. The Undisputed Master of Bankruptcy, Donald Trump, filed yet again earlier this year. And the government bailed out financial services powerhouses – like AIG, called "too big to fail" – to keep them out of bankruptcy.

No such luck for individuals, of course. They're allowed to fail. So it's not surprising that personal bankruptcies are rising along with the unemployment rate.

Facing Foreclosure

ARMs. Subprimes. Interest-only loans. What brought down the big names on Wall Street is doing the same to homeowners across the country. Now the federal government is helping bail out families, not just financial institutions.

New Obama administration programs are designed to help some of the hardest hit in the national economic crisis – the homeowners dealing with mortgages they can no longer afford on homes in declining markets.

This Leagle EyeView outlines the steps you can take to save your home from foreclosure and avoid scams in the process.

So You've Been Fired...

You never know when your boss might call you into your office to say you've been laid off. The first thing you should do is figure out your rights – namely, whether your termination was legal and whether your employer owes you anything.

Owes you anything legally that is – let's take it as a given that after your years of service, the company owes you something morally. Unfortunately, a moral obligation plus $5 will get you a soy latte. Only enforceable legal obligations – and not "fairness," "justice" or concepts of "right and wrong" – matter in the end.