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Want to travel? Go back to school? Spoil your grandchildren a little? If you can hold your core expenses in check, you can plan better for the stuff life is really made of.

It's true: A handful of easy, straightforward steps could put a big dent in your bills. Here are specifics to help you save on basics such as groceries, car costs, energy and taxes.

The credit crunch will take time to unwind, and until then it could hurt a range of companies. Use these tips to avoid those that could still get burned in the crisis fallout.

Waiting for the next crisis to hit means you will have waited too long to revise your business plan.

Keep employees happy with creative benefits they'll value more than money.

It's tougher to get business loans in this lender's market, but these tips can improve your chances.

Lawmakers agree on a tentative deal to bolster the financial markets. Early market reaction is neutral. Regional bank Wachovia looks for a suitor. Research In Motion shares fall 28% on a disappointing profit outlook.

When Sarah Lavely gets angry, she likes to break things. Not all the time, but on days when everything seems to be going wrong, she has been known to throw some plates against a wall. Fortunately, she has an easy outlet: Lavely is the founder of Sarah's Smash Shack, a San Diego shop where customers pay to smash tableware like dinner plates, wine glasses, intricately lined sashimi plates, brightly colored vases and goblets.

When recruiting consultant Fran Quittel heard on her car radio one Friday afternoon in July that her bank, IndyMac, had been seized by federal regulators, she was surprised but unworried. An IndyMac customer for five years, Quittel had both personal accounts and business accounts at the bank, but she was confident her accounts contained less than the $100,000 insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

What happens when a company's eponymous founder and celebrity spokesman dies?

JPMorgan Chase steps in to buy $1.9 billion in assets from the government. WaMu’s collapse is the worst bank failure in US history, and the thrift is the 13th financial institution to fall this year.

The more I hear about Henry Paulson's plan, the less convinced I am it's worth $2,000 from every American. The predictions of financial Armageddon without it don't ring true.

Paulson and Bernanke want Congress and the American people to write them a big check -- despite the financial leaders' sketchy track records. Unfortunately, the cost of not acting is far larger.

Don't rely on your insurance company to size up what you need. Here are the steps you should take to make sure that a disaster doesn't ruin you.

Congress has made a lot of noise about ensuring wealthy CEOs don't profit from the proposed bailout. But so far, it looks like executives won't have much to worry about.