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My brother was visiting from China, and we got into a discussion of the stock market and the impact of high-frequency trading, or HFT.

Oh, the things we discuss after a good dinner and copious amounts of wine. Does HFT help or hurt individual investors?

Kenny Rogers made Don Schlitz’ song The Gambler famous back in the late 1970’s. If you recall the lyrics, the old gambler tells the young one that you have to know when to hold your cards and also when to fold them.

I remember picking my eldest son up from school, when out of the blue he asked, “Mom, what’s the difference between a Roth and an IRA?” Pretty astute for a high school freshman.

This morning I’m thinking of the delightful 1998 movie Shakespeare in Love. It involves a poor, unknown playwright named Will who falls in love with the far-out-of reach daughter of a wealthy merchant.

I am in this great financial-planning book club. We read and discuss one book a year. The downside is that we have a video conference to discuss the book, instead of getting together in person, and there is no wine involved.

This year, we read and discussed “Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending,” by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton.

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to be able to save money effortlessly?

I am not one of those people. I struggle to keep my spending impulses under control.

When looking for any professional advisor, it is important to be able to match their characteristics, temperament, client profile and experience level to your own profile.

A recent Kiplinger article, “5 Big Problems to Solve Before You Retire,” lumped financial advisers into two camps.

“There are those who promise everything is going to be fine; you don’t have to fret about retirement, they say, because they’ll help you make more than enough money to get you through.

Imagine a brainstorming session in Detroit going something like this:

Cars have gotten so expensive, why don’t we add an alarm to provide increased protection against theft?