By TIM GRANT, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Stunned by falling home values and rising foreclosures nationwide, mortgage lenders have become more critical of the appraisal process and begun insisting the assessment of a home's worth be far more rigorous than it used to be.

The battered economy is forcing many couples contemplating divorce to ride out the recession.
Struggling couples are discovering that it will be painful -- if not impossible -- to support a second household, experts say. So more couples are deciding that it's cheaper to stay together.

Even people with long credit histories who make credit card payments on time are seeing credit lines reduced, interest rates increased and fewer offers in the mail for new credit cards.
Major banks, which have suffered heavy losses from the mortgage crisis, are trying to minimize their risk as more Americans are falling behind on credit card payments at an alarming rate.

The American Bankruptcy Institute recently reported 1.06 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy last year, a 32 percent increase.
The general cause of most bankruptcy filings is too much debt combined with a loss of income related to unemployment, divorce or uncovered medical bills.

The idea of buying high-quality stocks and holding onto them through thick and thin for the long haul has become so widely accepted that to do otherwise seems foolish.

While precious metal prices have fallen from the record high levels set earlier this year, most, if not all dealers, are experiencing shortages, and retail buyers are finding it harder to obtain gold and silver coins.

Investors who can't make sense of today's stormy stock market might think the safety and security of bond mutual funds and money market accounts are a way to avoid losing money.

Inflation is the monetary thief that robs consumers of their current purchasing power and diminishes the future value of retirement nest eggs."You need to invest to keep up with inflation," said Roch Tranel, president of Tranel Financial Group in Libertyville, Ill.

These are tough economic times for people of all ages, but few are affected more than senior citizens living on pensions and Social Security, and juggling medical bills, credit card payments and mortgages along with soaring food and gas costs.

The current real estate market is fantastic, and every time the price of oil shoots up it's a wonderful thing, in the opinion of Robert Kiyosaki, best selling author of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad."