Retirement: How to craft your own annuity

Sidestep insurers, build your own annuity and keep control of your money.

Do-It-Yourself Annuities: A Blueprint (SmartMoney)

Personal finance: How to cope with market volatility

Useful lessons to be gleaned from the way ultrarich families cope with investments and market volatility.

Lessons on Investing From America's Richest Family (wsj)

Taxes: Converting to a Roth retirement account

As I scan the web for timely, insightful personal finance articles, sometimes a topic will be trending, which adds some credibility to the advice offered.  Here is another writer saying it's a good time to consider a Roth conversion for your IRA or 401k.  (See Aug 5 post for another take on this topic).

Save on Taxes with a Roth Conversion Right Now (dailyfinance)

Education: Does class size really matter?

Today's link provides a break from the market gyrations around the economy, ratings downgrade, double dip, debt ceiling, gridlock, indigestion theme. If you are a parent of school age children, and you want them to have as good or better opportunities than you did growing up, you probably are keenly interested in their class size as the next school year is just weeks away (summer goes by fast!).  Here is a great read that reviews the recent research and thought leadership on class size and impact on a child's learning.

Does class size really matter?  (Salon)

Investing: The ghosts of 2008

Did the market crash of 2008 change a generation of investors?  Interesting take from the field of "neurofinance" on how that panic influences market actions today, like the current volatility experienced last week and this week.

Pressing All the Buttons for a Panic Attack (nyt)

Investing: Market slide strategies

Forbes can have some pretty insightful columnists. Here are few weighing in on what to do in the middle of this dramatic market correction:

Smart Moves For Battered IRAs
Use Market Crash To Bail From Burned Out Shelters?
How to Escape from a Bear

Personal Finance: Debt deal and you

The dust is settling a bit from the self inflicted debt crisis in Washington. How does the compromise affect you?

How the Debt Deal May Affect You (SmartMoney)

Loans: Why mortgage closing costs are rising

A couple articles today reporting on how closing costs for a mortgage have been going up the last couple years.  They explain that the mortgage industry has new costs to adhere to the new financial regulations in place to prevent a future meltdown, which of course are they are passing to the home buyer/refinancer.

Buying a home may be cheaper these days, but the cost of closing on a mortgage has increased in most states (bankrate)
Why Mortgage Closing Costs Are Rising and How You Can Protect Yourself (creditsesame)