You may have seen them around town – teenagers, adults, even senior citizens – walking around like zombies with their gaze fixed on their smartphones held inches from their face. Searching in a parallel virtual world for Pokémon characters, they stumble onto streets and walk through gardens, rarely lifting their heads to see what is in front of them.

The figures out last year show that the average amount of student loan debt a student graduates with is a little more than $35,000.  Most graduates are carrying multiple student loans from multiple sources, and the cost and complexity of managing them can become overwhelming, especially if they are unable to secure steady employment with sufficient cash flow to make the payments.

For time immemorial we have known that men are bigger cheaters than women. It seems that men, by their very nature, are more inclined to hide their infidelities and risk their relationships. Now we learn that women can be bigger cheaters than men, but with financial affairs, not romantic affairs.

In our discussions with clients, the term “wealth” has always been tossed about somewhat loosely. We talk about building wealth, wealth management, wealth enhancement, and wealth preservation and wealth in general as if it were universally understood.

After market-risk and inflation-risk, which investors take great strides to mitigate through sound investment practices, taxation-risk presents the biggest obstacle to building wealth. A sound investment strategy not only seeks to generate returns on your capital, it also seeks to preserve as much of your capital as possible to keep it working for you.

It should not take the filing of a tax return or a death in the family to finally create order out of paper chaos so you are not forced to scramble in those critical circumstances. The chances of making costly errors are too great not to take some very simple, albeit essential, measures to get and stay organized all year long.

There are many who would suggest that, in a digitally-wired world in which information travels at light speed to all corners, the investment playing field has been leveled between individual investors and the institutions. In reality, however, the incessant noise and information overload can do more to fuel the irrational behavior of investors than it can to provide any sort of advantage.

Amidst the more obvious lingering effects of a sluggish economy, such as slow job growth, decreasing incomes, low interest rates and shaky consumer confidence, there lurks a more insidious threat which, thus far, has largely been ignored.

Perhaps the weakest links in the family security chain are the younger family members. The rise of social media as a gateway for children’s interaction with the world presents a substantial risk for families who otherwise try to keep a low profile. By posting details of their whereabouts, activities and plans, family members can inadvertently compromise their family’s security.