divorce-filter: protect friend from his wife financially, her secret bank accounts, hostility, etc I have a close personal friend who I think is on the verge of a divorce (although he doesn't think so) and I am getting all the warning signs. His wife is hostile towards him non-stop- yelling at him over things he has no control over, picking fights at random times over past incidents. I'm pretty sure (very sure actually) that this fighting and hostility goes well above and beyond normal marriage quibbling. The reason I say this is because it happens every day, all year long. Also, the man in question is very quiet and intellectual and holds a well paying job. It should be noted that the she threatens divorce in several arguments that she can't win.

What basic, personal accounting software do you recommend? I would like to track: • income • retirement accounts • out-come, i.e. spending on credit cards and ATM debits This would preferably be done automatically — the software will contact the banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions electronically and download as much information as possible. We're eight years into the 21st C. and it doesn't seem necessary to spend one to two hours a day manually tracking and entering the day's business-related what-have-yous. I don't hold investments, but if I gamble I would like to start gambling somewhat intelligently. The software would track investment accounts — and existing retirement account components — automatically on a daily basis. In particular, I'd like to be able to view how parts of my retirement account are valued on a daily basis, which I can't do currently without manually tracking its history in an Excel spreadsheet.

Seeking guidance with financial planning (loans, down payment, more) I've searched through the questions already asked but didn't see anything quite like this. My situation: 1. I am graduating with a very large student loan debt (more than 50k, less than 100k). 2. I have excellent credit. 3. I have no other debt or loans. 4. I have some retirement savings. 5. I don't expect to have a huge salary. 6. I am considering going back for another degree in a year or two--probably one that would result in a significantly higher salary I'm going to move home for a year or two. I am considering using my cost savings to pay off a large portion of my loans. This appeals to me, except for a few reasons:

Will a single parent selling a home that has appreciated a lot and that has a very low mortgage payment, then buying a much more expensive house with all of the proceeds help make the child more (or less) eligible for financial aid (not loans) for college? My SO and his ex are the parents of a 17 year old girl, junior in high school. College plans are being discussed by everyone, although the parents haven't had a sit-down to talk about particulars since last summer. Each is obligated by divorce decree to pay for 1/2 of in-state tuition for the state college (in this case U of MD). FAFSA forms have not been completed, primarily due to a reluctance on the part of the ex to disclose her substantial income. (This came out in the only talk the two parents had on the subject, sometime last summer.) Mom did hire a college financial aid "expert" last summer. His suggestions included having the kid move in with Dad because Dad makes less money, and "goggling" for scholarships. (He really did misspell Google!) That was $500 thrown down the toilet, but I'm not sure that Mom isn't getting equally bad advice from someone else. Here's why...

Mac switcher / Intuit hater question: Is there a good alternative to Quicken for the Mac? My wife just got me a new MacBook as a pre-Valentine's day present (yes, she's awesome.) There are obvious equivalents for all of the applications I have on my old desktop (running XP), except one: Quicken. I know there's a Mac version of Quicken, but from what I hear it lacks a lot of the functionality of the Windows version. I also know that I could run the Windows version via Parallels, but that doesn't appeal to me for two reasons: a) the only reason for me to install Parallels/XP would be for Quicken, which makes the whole thing rather expensive, and b) over the last few years I've come to hate Intuit with the proverbial heat of a thousand suns just as much for their product-sunsetting, privacy-invading ways as for their insecure software. (Bastards.) So Quicken in either form is right out.

Can someone please point me in the right direction to find practice test papers for Financial Accounting? (Balance Sheets, Income Statements, Statements of Returns on Equity, Cash Flow Statements, Depreciation, Ratios, etc. etc.) Assorted business schools worries inside. Coming from a liberal arts academic background, I'm starting to really feel the pressure from my recently-started international business masters and get the impression I need to study ten times as hard as my classmates, most of whom have studied the subject at undergraduate level. At the moment, I'm fretting over Financial Accounting. Please help me to understand this subject!

Can someone please point me in the right direction to find practice test papers for Financial Accounting? (Balance Sheets, Income Statements, Statements of Returns on Equity, Cash Flow Statements, Depreciation, Ratios, etc. etc.) Assorted business schools worries inside. Coming from a liberal arts academic background, I'm starting to really feel the pressure from my recently-started international business masters and get the impression I need to study ten times as hard as my classmates, most of whom have studied the subject at undergraduate level. At the moment, I'm fretting over Financial Accounting. Please help me to understand this subject!

A friend needs to find a good place to park some money that will ultimately be used for house down-payment purposes. Help me come up with a few good investment options. My friend has around $100k sitting in a low-yield savings account. It pains me to see the cash left there when better options are legion. Key points: the money will be invested for around 1-3 years. I think one or two good mutual funds would be a reasonable choice, but am not really an investor myself so I don't have specific funds or fund families to which I can point my friend. Other options are welcome, of course, provided they are relatively conservative and are low-maintenance (i.e. they do not require active monthly monitoring; keep in mind that my friend is relatively young and is not an experienced investor).