You wouldn’t expect a builder to create a structure without a blueprint. Nor would you expect your employees to succeed in their jobs without a clear picture of what you expect from them. Taking the time to ensure you’ve established a mutual understanding of expectations is actually essential if you want to employ workers who follow the rules of your establishment, get along with each other, and perform their jobs admirably.

When you think about the dangers associated with identity theft, you likely imagine shadowy criminals using your financial information to apply for credit cards or take out loans. While these actions can devastate your credit score—and often take years to repair—there’s another hazard that goes beyond that important number. It’s the theft of your medical identity, and according to experts at the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) in San Diego, more than 1.8 million Americans became victims of this crime in 2013.

During the summer of 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case of United States v. Windsor and subsequently ruled that Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act—also known as DOMA—was unconstitutional. This portion of the act had previously prevented the federal government from recognizing marriages between same-sex couples, even when those couples lived in states that had legalized same-sex marriage. At the time of the ruling, this included 12 states plus the District of Columbia. The re-legalization of same-sex marriage in California—also by the Supreme Court—soon increased that total to 13.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 50 percent of our nation’s hourly workers will leave a new job within the first four months. Half of outside hires placed in senior positions fail at their jobs within 18 months. Both statistics describe costly situations; a review of related studies conducted by the Center for American Progress found it costs a business an average of 20 percent of the worker’s salary to replace an employee who earns $75,000 or less a year.

If you need to generate income from your portfolio, you’ve likely found the last few years rather frustrating. Interest rates have remained near historically low levels since the financial crisis of 2008—and any improvement in yields during the recovery are hardly worth a mention. Traditional sources of dependable payouts—from money market funds to U.S. Treasury notes and government bonds—are generating very little. And when yields eventually increase, the value of fixed income investments will take a hit. This can feel like a lose/lose situation.