Because many of us will use credit cards to purchase gifts online and in stores this holiday season, it never hurts to be extra careful. Learn more about how to protect yourself while shopping for family and friends.

Normally, an inflation reading of 7.7% is not good news. But things have not been normal for some time. Reported inflation for October was 7.7%, and in a backward way, that turned into the best news of the year. The S&P 500 was up 5.5% that day, which was its best one-day return of the entire year. It doesn’t take much good news for market returns to improve when the lows have been baked in. As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, it may serve us well to be thankful that it likely won’t take too much good news for markets to improve from here.

Food prices this Thanksgiving made us wonder how people celebrated on other occasions when times were tight. Just for fun -- a group of Savant employees agreed to cook and provide a review for several Depression-era Thanksgiving dishes.

It can be scary and difficult to talk to your family about your finances. But the holidays can present a perfect opportunity to start the conversation.

The last 18 months have witnessed a return to normalcy among some diversifiers – small-cap value, energy stocks, and managed futures, to name a few. Others have been flipped on their heads entirely – hello, bonds! Yet one area has remained consistently disappointing from one decade to the next: unhedged exposure to international stocks from the lens of a U.S.-based investor.

If you’re in an industry where whispers of potential layoffs are growing louder, it can’t hurt to prepare financially – as well as emotionally -- for a possible pink slip.