Paul Cloutier

Financial Wellness — the proactive management of income and expenses to maintain financial health — is starting to gain momentum. While employers have been implementing health-related employee wellness programs for years, two recent studies from MetLife (The MetLife Study of the American Dream, 2010 and the 9th Annual MetLife Study of Employee Benefits Trends) show mounting evidence for the growing popularity and effectiveness of employee financial wellness programs.

According to a recent Gallup poll, Americans are more worried about retirement than at any time in the past 10 years. Gallup has tracked eight aspects of personal finance since 2001, and “maintaining their current lifestyle in retirement” has made a huge leap in just the past four years.

I’m an engineer by education…studied mechanical engineering at Kettering University. Like a lot of engineers, my natural inclination is to believe that if you build a better mousetrap, people will put it to use.

Any parents out there who help their kids with homework on a regular basis? How’d it go when your child needed help with the lesson on how to balance a check book?

Remember January 1, 2011? What were your resolutions? Quit smoking. Eat better. Exercise more. Spend more time with family. Spend less, save more.

I was watching the movie "Christmas Vacation" recently and a big part of the plot reminded me of how millions of consumers approach a plan for using their holiday bonus: Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) ordered a new swimming pool for his family, assuming that the annual holiday bonus would be more than enough to cover the costs

I recently attended the WWJ 950 Michigan Money Summit at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts in Clinton Township. The Summit was made up of an all-star lineup of personal and business finance experts and the discussion topics were both insightful and relevant.