Wil Schroter has started nine companies -- some successful, others not. Over the years, the entrepreneur has developed a network of investors, software developers and others who might be able to help out with his businesses. He says friends and acquaintances began to come to him on a regular basis, asking him to put them in touch with advisers or job candidates he knows. "It dawned on me that there was no central Rolodex where anyone who's looking to start a company could come for information," says Mr. Schroter, 32.

When a married person embarks on an entrepreneurial endeavor, it's often the other spouse who's left holding up the family's finances. Take Kim and Ryan Woodings. After two years of marriage, the young couple from Boise, Idaho, were relatively prosperous. But things changed in June 2005 when they invested half their savings in MetaGeek LLC, a company started by Mr. Woodings. The Woodingses shelled out $12,000 in hopes of selling by year end 240 Wi-Spys, a hardware and software combo Mr. Woodings developed to help users detect radio waves that interfere with the performance of their computers. But demand was greater than expected. So Mr. Woodings, 31 years old, quit his job as a systems engineer less than a year later to devote himself to MetaGeek full time.

Recently I was asked by a family member to cosign a loan to consolidate her out-of-control debt. It wasn't the first time a family member has asked me for a financial favor, and it probably won't be the last. I refused. It wasn't easy -- turning down requests from the people I love is never easy -- but I knew it was the right thing to do. There are good reasons that friends and family members agree to cosign loans: A parent wants to help out a child by establishing a credit history; an older brother wants to help a younger sibling buy his first car; a friend hopes to give someone a leg up after a divorce.

Ideally, you never need to file a homeowners insurance claim. But if and when you do, that difficult process will be a lot easier if you avoid some common mistakes people make, said David Siesko, an insurance expert and founder of Siesko Partners, a consultant to companies on insurance issues. Many homeowners probably stash their policy in a desk drawer without ever reading the whole thing, but that's a mistake. Homeowners should check their policies to make sure they have the coverage they need and that they're getting it at a good value.

Dying of leukemia, Lisa K.'s husband worked quickly to get the family's financial "ducks in a row" for the benefit of his surviving wife and children. But as an e-mail from Lisa made clear, no matter how diligent you think you are problems can spring from anywhere. In Lisa's case it was in not understanding the implications of the way the beneficiary designations were filled in on her husband's life insurance policy. The oversight has stuck Lisa with having to account to a court every six months, being visited by court representatives every three years and working with a guardian ad litem appointed for her children.

You've found your dream house and now all you need is a loan. Hold everything, even if you've been through this drill before. When interest rates are rising and lenders' business is slowing down, they often get desperate. The result: You may be pitched a loan that's totally inappropriate for your needs. "A loan is a product, and just as in any business where you make money by selling a product, [loan officers] overreach in their sales pitches," says Michael McCann, a California attorney specializing in banking law.

For some home buyers, purchasing that new home involves selling an old one. That's why some borrowers look for a "bridge loan" to span the gap between the two transactions. Terms of a bridge loan can vary. Some are structured so that they completely pay off the old home's first mortgage, while others pile the new debt on top of the old.

With interest rates at their lowest levels in years, mortgage brokers and bankers are taking more calls than New York's quit-smoking hotline. But don't let the frenzy lure you into the wrong type of mortgage. You've got several options to choose from, and believe it or not everyone should go with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, even if it is at a rock-bottom rate. To help you figure out which mortgage is right for you, we've created profiles of six common mortgage shoppers, from someone who is temporarily cash-poor to someone in search of a "jumbo" mortgage of more than $359,650 ($539,475 in Alaska and Hawaii). Everybody's situation, of course, is different and yours might not be perfectly matched here. But this approach is a good way to learn about who uses the different types of loans available and where the best place is to get them.

At some point, most of us will feel a little strapped for cash. Maybe we didn't set aside enough money for our kids' college tuition. Perhaps the balance on those credit cards is larger than we'd like to admit. Or, it's finally time to update that harvest-gold kitchen. Whatever the need, tapping into the equity built up in a home offers an inexpensive way to access funds. Most homeowners can do this in one of two ways: either by taking out a home-equity loan, sometimes known as a second mortgage, or by setting up a line of credit. Both carry very competitive interest rates right now, and in most cases homeowners can write off the interest on a loan up to $100,000 -- no matter what the proceeds are spent on. And thanks to a slowing, but still strong real-estate market, most homeowners are sitting on more equity than they realize. Just remember, the stakes are pretty high. If you default, you could lose your home.

If your down payment on a home is less than 20 percent of the appraised value or sale price, you must obtain mortgage insurance. Mortgage insurance sometimes is referred to as private mortgage insurance, or PMI, to distinguish it from FHA and VA insurance, which are run by government programs. The cost of mortgage insurance varies depending on the size of the down payment and the loan, but it typically amounts to about one-half of 1 percent of the loan.