You wanted to make the best financial moves possible this year. You started out great, but after a while, your time and attention got diverted elsewhere and you didn’t pay as much attention to your financial planning as you wanted. Don’t get discouraged.

As a smart investor, you want to maximize opportunities to grow your wealth and to take advantage of every financial tool available to make that happen. You also want to give back to your community through charitable giving. So how can you accomplish both?

How do you determine the right balance between low risk investment holdings vs. sources of expected return? As important, once you’ve got an appropriate investment portfolio in place, how can you minimize the temptation to react to scary market news?

It’s never easy when a loved one dies. Not only are you grieving, but there are painful life decisions to be made, and legal, financial and personal paperwork to be processed. It can be hard to know what requires immediate attention, versus what you’re better off postponing.

Rather than trying to react to market mood swings by switching up your investments, here are 16 actions you can take instead to be ready for a recession. Each is within your control, and any of them can add real value to your financial well-being.

As an attorney, you’re constantly counseling clients on how to manage the never-ending curve balls that come their way. This leaves you precious little time to protect yourself in similar vein.