This post is from Brandon Ballenger at partner site Money Talks News.

The holidays are around the corner -- is it time to start shopping? Maybe not until you book your travel. Fares are up more than usual this year.

Although year-end airfares are always high because of the holiday demand, CNN is reporting average airfares for Thanksgiving week are 6% above last year's. Fares in December are expected to be up 10% over last year, and if you have multiple people traveling, that could be a big hit.

This post comes from Melinda Fulmer at MSN Money.

Best Buy may actually live up to its name on Black Friday. The electronics retailer's ad was leaked to deal sites Friday morning with a number of sale prices that are sure to have shoppers lining up Thanksgiving night.

The best bargains are on HDTVs. For those shoppers limping along with an old set -- or looking to upgrade -- this is your year.

You just can't beat a Sharp 42-inch 1080p LCD HDTV for $199.99, says Michael Brim, operator of the BFads.net website, that posted the ad early this morning.

This post comes from Len Penzo at partner blog Len Penzo dot Com.

When it comes to great gift ideas, I always struggle.

At my house we draw names each year for the annual Christmas gift exchange.

The drawing is usually done each Christmas, long after all the presents from the current holiday have been opened and everybody has stuffed themselves on the traditional "chickadel" dinner – actually a homemade doughy Italian pasta, better known as cavatelli.

Everybody's names are put into a Santa hat and then we all take turns to see who we’re going to buy presents for on the following Christmas.

This Christmas I drew Uncle Paul’s name -- which really put me in a bit of a spot.

This post comes from Melinda Fulmer at MSN Money.

If you don't want to queue up between midnight and 4 a.m. to score the hottest Black Friday deals, a whole slew of shoppers are ready to check off your list for you.

With so many unemployed or underemployed this holiday season, more ads have been popping up on bulletin boards and in online classifieds such as Craigslist from people offering to do the standing, schlepping and wrapping for you.

"Black Friday Shopping Made Easy," exclaims one posting on Craigslist San Diego. There, this personal shopper will stand outside in the cold and pick up your doorbuster specials for a sliding fee -- between 10% and 25% of the total, depending on how much you're buying.

We all want to be happy and comfortable in our golden years. To get there we focus on saving money every month, investing for the long term, and figuring out when we should retire.

A huge step in the right direction is to be financially free by the time we leave the workforce, and one of the quickest ways to get there is to make more money. However, asking for a raise or finding a more lucrative job are not strategies everyone can pursue. Luckily, there are many ways to prepare for a secure retirement without a large income. Here are five ways to improve your chances of having a comfortable retirement.

This post comes from Phil Moeller at partner site U.S. News & World Report.

Reports of the death of the traditional pension, as with concerns about Social Security, have been greatly exaggerated, to borrow Mark Twain's famous phrase.

There is no question that defined benefit plans are disappearing from the workplace. And pensions, particularly public pensions, are under pressure. Employers are scrambling to adequately fund their plans and are also watching plan returns slide after finally regaining much of the losses they experienced during the 2007-2008 market swoon.

But pension benefits are generally not at risk, experts stress, particularly for existing employees who already have vested benefits from their plans. More likely, newer employees will receive less generous benefits and may have to contribute more to their plans to secure benefits than existing employees.

This post is from Angela Colley at partner site Money Talks News.

A friend of mine just got married. She came back from her honeymoon to find an email from her financial adviser with a laundry list of money matters she hadn’t considered yet. Within the hour, she was  stressing with her new husband and watching the Internal Revenue Service’s YouTube channel.

They’re not alone. Saying "I do" is the start of a new financial lifestyle for most newly married couples. Here's how to make sure your new family gets off on the right foot.

This post is from Jason Steele at partner site Money Talks News.

Using credit cards wisely was the cornerstone of the personal finance education I received from a very young age. In fact, it's probably one of the chief reasons I decided to carve a career from writing about credit cards and other personal finance topics.

These days I often spend hours reviewing credit card offers, and still learn new things every once in a while. And I still see card users making fundamental mistakes in the way they manage their cards.

Here are some top mistakes some people make that I wouldn't.