Reports by Consumers

Financial planning can start with a pen and a piece of paper. Eventually, you might decide to use a software package like Quicken to help organize everything although, as this consumer reports, a spreadsheet may do the job. Don't forget to learn about life insurance, mutual funds and other financial investment vehicles.

I've been meaning to do it for a long, long time. But there are always more interesting things on my radar. After updating my copy of Open Office yesterday I started working on a few simple spreadsheets that will greatly improve my understanding of my financial situation. For far too long now I've been making educated (often overly optimistic) guesses based on back of the envelope calculations without the benefit of an envelope.

I suspect that a lot ...