TRAVEL The Geographical Society: Travel the Globe Without Leaving Town
With tuition bills and your daughter's wedding coming up, you're strapped for cash. But, your perspective is a global one—you want to know more about the world, about other cultures. Time and money to travel, though? Are you kidding? Solution: Join a local geographical society.

CULTURE Book Review: The Empty Nest, by Karen Stabiner
Our children are our most precious gifts. If we do a good job as parents, these young people leave us, establish themselves elsewhere, and begin the process again. The Empty Nest is a compilation of provocative essays assembled by Karen Stabiner and written by parents whose children are in the leaving process.

FAMILY Ode to Mirna: Coping with an Empty Nest—By Filling It
A bird's nest, now abandonned. Julia, a recent high-school graduate, heads for a year in Siberia. Mirna, from Croatia, comes to fill the void. Does it work? Maryanne Soper gives a touching account of her experience as an exchange parent: letting her own child go and at the same time welcoming another child into her home.

MONEY Retirement Planning: It's Never Too Late
When it comes to retirement planning, people generally fall into three categories: (1) those well on their way (they zealously save, and they monitor their savings frequently), (2) those who save some but don’t have set goals or clear plans for reaching their goals, and (3) those who haven’t started saving at all.

BEST OF
Which ideas rate the best? We'll be the judge! Send yours to Empty Nest . . .