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The National Center for Health Statistics positively reports that life expectancy for our elderly population has increased to an average span of 80 years old. The reaction to these statistics have been mixed, with some looking optimistically ahead while others are dreading what these longer years of retirement mean for their finances.

Your quality of life today can help determine the kind of lifestyle you will lead upon retirement. Financial websites like TotallyMoney.com explain that while many of us are busily preparing for the more immediate future, those who start planning their retirements early on are those who will live more fulfilling post-retirement days. Experts further explain that as retirement becomes one of the most critical phases in one's life, ensuring that you have enough assets to maintain a quality living standard is a must.

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Have you got a great idea for a start-up, but are wondering how to get it off the ground? You’re not alone - this is a problem that many (if not most) businesses will have to face eventually, either to temporarily patch up cashflow issues or to accelerate growth. Funding a start-up with no financials can be a little tricky (especially now) but it’s still possible – here are some options:

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It has been a long slow slog back from the brink of disaster, but General Motors seems to finally be back on track. In fact, they have already paid back all the money they borrowed from the United States government in 2008 in order to avoid bankruptcy. Sales of their big trucks and SUVs have rebounded, even as gasoline prices continue to climb and their new small car market share, led by the new Chevrolet Volt, a gas-electric hybrid vehicle only just released this year, they are poised to reclaim the title of the world largest automobile maker back from Toyota.

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With the recent financial turmoil that has hurt even the most stable enterprises, small business are having difficulty acquiring the credit they need to push their company forward. In light of today's uncertain times, many conventional lending institutions have grown hesitant to the idea of lending to small business enterprises. It is in this scenario that purchase order financing becomes a necessary tool to help successful companies fulfill their goals and grow.

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Pushpins coupons are a great idea. Clipping and sorting through reams of paper coupons can be time consuming and dull. The money you save using paper coupons is rarely worth the time you have to invest to find and use the coupons. Pushpins allows users to download a free iPhone app that they can use to scan items at the store. If there is a coupon available for that item, the savings is automatically transferred to the customer's store value card and will be applied at the register. Unfortunately, Pushpins is not as polished as it could be.

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If you are contemplating the possibility of taking a more active role in your personal investments, then one of the most important steps you can immediately take is not trying to decide where to place your capital, what stocks to buy, or what currencies to short; instead, the most important step to immediately take is to sit down and write out a business plan.

How to Choose Your Investments Wisely

If you are like most people, you are confused as to how to invest your money, and which vehicles are best. Tax-Free savings accounts? Mutual funds? Stocks?  Bonds? Index Funds? Commodities? The list seems endless, and the risks are different for each one.  Sometimes getting an adviser is counter-productive, as they have their own interests in mind, and will recommend only the companies they get a commission from.

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A cease fire has been declared in the most recent budget battle. At least until September when the damn thing is liable to explode like a neutron bomb all over again. In the meantime, as a last minute effort to prevent complete shut down of the federal government which would have put more than 800,000 people out of work and denied paychecks to millions more, including active duty service people currently fighting wars on two fronts, Congress somehow managed to approve a stop gap measure meant to fund the government for another five months.

The Kluge winery in Virginia was once valued at $70 million. Since the farm is in foreclosure, there was an auction in Charlottesville Virginia, where people were happily buying the winery's well-known Kluge Albemarle Red for the amazing price of $45 a case. The most surprising development of the day was definitely Donald Trump's successful bid for the whole vineyard for the bargain price of $6.2 million dollars.

Everybody has an opinion about money. Most people express their feelings about money with pithy clichés: “money makes the world go round”; “a penny saved is penny earned”; “money is the root of all evil.” However, for the truly talented it’s not enough to spout off a few lines about money – they have to go and write a whole book about it. Here are three great novels about money, that delve into exactly what people will do in order to get it.