We’ve often said on this site that “no one cares more about your money than you.” While this is the truth, it may not exactly be the whole truth. In reality there are a lot of people out there that care a great deal about your money, perhaps just not in quite the same way as you. Although not quite as concise, perhaps we should update this favorite phrase of ours to state “everyone cares about how you spend your money, but no one cares more about keeping it safe than you do…” or something along those lines. At the end of the day, you’ve got to be a self advocate and be responsible for making your own good decisions, regardless how many people out there are trying to take a share of your hard-earned money.

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A while ago in foretime, our Asian counterparts dealt with a crisis similar to the one US is wrestling to deal with today. The crisis was purported the 'Asian Financial Crisis' that plagued the Asian economies in 1997. The crisis was characteristically similar, yet fundamentally different that the one we are faced with today. Yet laced with innumerable similarities makes it an interesting revelation to note that, "History does repeat itself".

Let us see how. The Asian financial crisis affected South East Asia in particular and was the fallout of a mismanaged debt policy. At that juncture, interest rates were exorbitant, in order to lure foreign investors to invest their surpluses. This influx of cash led to high growth rates which led to a nation wide investment in fixed capital assets without a corresponding growth in factor productivity.

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While the myriad mind of us individuals is perpetually engaged in toiling for our livelihood, we would like to invest our prized green bucks in assets that will not only conserve our capital, but will cultivate it to cumulate it into a sizable corpus. Moreover, while most of us know what to do with our money, some of us are inept at financial discernment or just too hard pressed on time to invest on our own. At the same time, we are responsible for our investments that will carry us through our retirement.

Lifecycle funds/ target date mutual funds offer a solution for investors managing their retirement portfolios and are 'buy one' mutual funds that invest in a mass of underlying funds. It is a sort of fund of funds that invests in a combination of debt and equity in a particular way that the allocation turns conservative as soon as one's retirement age approaches.

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Usually CNBC's Jim Cramer, host of the popular "Mad Money" show, is passionate about what he says, whether it be his current stock picks or general market commentary. Today is the 9th consecutive meeting that the Fed has left rates untouched. Jim predicts a rate cut in October. The next Fed meeting is planned for September 18th, 2007.

The video below is of Mr. Cramer at seemingly at his witts ends with respect to Bernanke's "by the books" approach to handling federal monetary policy issues. What is tricky in my opinion is that either way you argue the rate debate there is strong points for both sides. Some would argue higher rates could destroy the housing market and start the economy into a downward spiral. Lower rates could help fuel the inflation concerns. Some, as seen below, feel more strongly than others.

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