In my personal ranking of the annual holidays, Halloween falls pretty low on the list. It’s not that I’m against the concept, but once I hit high-school age (and learned what a cavity was) I just didn’t get as much of a rise out of dressing up and eating tons of candy. Through college it became a reason to party (like we needed one), and after college it was just another day of the week.

Ravello is a small village perched high in the mountainside overlooking the scenic Amalfi coast in Italy. The region is magical with the panoramic ocean views in a backdrop of buildings of all types wedged into the cliffs seemingly suspended in air leaving one to wonder how the structures do not tumble down and go crashing into the ocean. As a result of the steepness of the terrain, to navigate around the village, there were a series of steep walkways, alleys and stairs that were lined with gardens, shops selling everything and anything, gelato stands, restaurants, pizzerias and wine bars. What could be better?

By Paul Morrone, CFP®, CPA/PFS, MSA Polarizing viewpoints have made political topics a conversational powder keg, which is why I stay as neutral as Switzerland when it comes up in a friendly discussion. This is quite challenging at the national level (for the obvious reasons), but as a Connecticut resident it is even harder to appear agnostic as budget deficits, underfunded retirement obligations, lob loss, population decline, high taxes, crumbling infrastructure and debt service costs...