Author: Peter Dunn, Special to USA TODAY

A nest egg is not a bottomless bowl of M&Ms grandma set out around the holidays. Your dollars are finite.

A financial adviser assures soon-to-be retiree that $180,000 is enough of a nest egg to last until 100. Pete the Planner tells her if that’s right.

My philosophy has always been to pay cash for a lightly used car and then drive it until the doors fall off. But which repair should be the last?

Buying your parents’ home could be a good financial move. But when you are nearing retirement age, calculate its effect on your overall savings plan.

After four years of living away from parents, millions of new college grads are moving back home. They need to set rules to achieve independence.

When you lose a job in your 50s, you need to replace your insurance and manage your savings carefully.

Losing a job in your 50s is a devastating moment, especially if the job is connected to a long career ripe with upward mobility.

I want to help you find your breaks – when you experience an unordinary influx of money or the disappearance of a monthly obligation.

Think you need a perfect 850 credit score? You’ve been bamboozled. Tricked. Hoodwinked. We all have.

At the start of each year, I declare goals that can be quantified. And by New Year’s Eve, I’ve either delivered or not. Here’s how I succeed.