Take it for what it’s worth. If I were a financial genius, I’d be a lot richer.

The current U.S. economic growth plan breaks down to this: “Here, take this truckload of dry leaves, pretend it’s money, and buy things with it.” The mere hint that the Fed may stop printing $85 billion a month out of thin air caused the market to drop yesterday.

Something that can’t go on forever, won’t.

- Do not dump large amounts of money into stocks right now. Buying high is always stupid, and it’s even stupider right now. If you want to hold, okay, but I’ve done some rebalancing myself this past year.

- If you are considering refinancing your house, now’s the time to do it. Don’t get greedy and try to pull a lot of cash out just because your house finally has an impressive appraisal. Keep that mortgage as low as possible.

- It’s no longer effectively possible to “save” money. CDs, savings accounts, and other old reliables are now worse than just stuffing cash into a mattress. “Like money in the bank” doesn’t mean what it used to. Ask Cyprus.

- No, you don’t have to sell everything and buy gold, but there’s damn few financial safe havens left. Choose wisely.