Money

It's been more than four years since the financial crisis first knocked you back on your heels. You've probably been on the defensive ever since, doing your best to deflect whatever punches the economy has thrown your way. Of course, the trick to any good rope-a-dope strategy is to sit back and let your opponent tire out before you unleash your own flurry of blows.

The country's new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is taking aim at big financial firms and small print, while itself enduring fire inside the Beltway.

At age 60, Kathy Frederick routinely put in 50 hours a week as a hospital administrator for Scripps Health Systems in San Diego. She managed a 15-person staff, and regularly took work home on week-ends -- until one day five years ago she decided enough was enough. "I wasn't ready to retire," says Frederick, "but after 18 years at that pace, I wanted a different challenge and more time for myself."

Lots of Americans these days want something more from a vacation than vegging out on a beach, a mojito close at hand. Some 30% of respondents to a Travel-Ticker.com survey put adventure travel on their 2012 wish list, and spending in the category has been growing 17% a year, even as economic woes slowed leisure travel overall.

If you're like most people, you're inclined to trust your doctor's advice.

This year the end of the holidays probably didn't bring the usual stress relief; there are still worries about unemployment, a flailing housing market, and a volatile stock market, all of which may be taking a toll on your health.

If you have a child headed off to college this fall, you've got an important item on your to-do list: the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which you can submit as early as Jan. 1.

Lean times call for budgetary triage. But while you should clearly opt for orthodontics before Disneyland, the choice is tougher when it comes to home maintenance.

Looking for a steady, long-term investing strategy? Check out the MONEY 70, our recommended list of mutual and exchange-traded funds that will keep your investment on course through 2012 and beyond.

They steered their funds into the head of the pack in the bear market, in the bull market and even in the current blah market. Find out how these managers did it and where they're investing now.

Feel like you've been wronged? These strategies can turn just about any company rep into your avenger.

Let's face it: 2011 was pretty abysmal when it came to savings rates, and 2012 won't be much brighter.