Ever since listening to the intensely popular Serial podcast, I have continued to be hungry for informative, entertaining, audio content that is on-demand whenever I want it. Without boundaries to my curiosity, I've been enjoying everything from Planet Money to This American Life to The Advanced Selling Podcast to Sodajerker to The Nerdist. Better 10 years late to the podcasting bandwagon than never!

With visitors to this website/blog representing all 50 US states and 145 countries over the last 12-months, this is a question that we hear quite often. There is no doubt that the world is shrinking and the way that we consume products and services is changing.

Case in point, without leaving my desk in New Jersey, I recently worked with a mortgage broker in Minnesota, printed brochures in Tennessee, and bought a ski helmet from Utah. Thomas L. Friedman, author of The World Is Flat, writes, "The simple definition of globalisation is the interweaving of markets, technology, information systems, and telecommunications networks in a way that is shrinking the world from a size medium to a size small." Financial advisors do not operate in a vacuum so it only makes sense that the way clients are selecting and working with their financial advisors is also changing.

If you do not have time to read everything that we publish, at least read these 10. "Best" is rarely the same as "popular," but here we let the market decide. According to our readers, these are the best Runnymede blog posts of 2014:

The annuity business has grown in popularity as investors, especially those nearing retirement, look for options to protect themselves from stock market volatility and give them a decent income stream in retirement. With over $200 billion in annual sales, the annuity industry is big business with lots of salesmen trying to persuade you to make a purchase.

Today I will dig deep into the American Equity Bonus Gold Annuity which has been requested by several readers in recent weeks. It is one of the best selling indexed annuities of all-time. Sales of indexed annuities, a fixed annuity that provides a minimum guaranteed rate of interest combined with an interest rate tied to movement of an index, increased to $39.3 billion in 2013, a 17% gain year over year. This is the biggest percentage increase of any form of annuity.

Today is December 31st again. My daughter is repeating everything I say, I'm finding more gray hair and the wonderful holiday treats are making my pants tighter and tighter. It must be time to make some New Year's resolutions so we can get our lives back on track. Whenever you read articles on becoming financially fit, you read about budgets, planning, monitoring and other boring crap. Worry not, I won't mention any of these terms. I promise. So here are 3 unique and unusual tips to be financially fit in 2015!

With just 3 trading days left in 2014, it is time to look ahead to 2015. What do Wall Street strategists foresee for 2015 and should we even care?

It is not uncommon to have multiple 401(k) accounts after switching jobs several times over a career. According to a Fidelity survey, almost a third of people who transitioned jobs were not sure what to do with their old 401(k) or 403(b).¹ Changing jobs is a busy time so thinking about what to do with your old 401(k) is often not a priority. If you are among the many busy people who have multiple retirement accounts at different firms, this post is for you.

Since June, oil has been on a sharp decline from $107/barrel to $67/barrel. Thanks to slowing global growth and OPECs reluctance to cut supply, oil prices have fallen to their lowest levels since 2009. As a consumer it is wonderful to see gas prices around $2.50 again. It's been a long time coming. You often read that consumer stocks are the big beneficiaries of falling oil prices but is this truly the case? Let's take a quick look at the potential winners and losers of falling oil prices...

For many, Thanksgiving is about traditions. It's a time for traveling to spend time with family and friends. It's about sharing favorite recipes - turkey, stuffing, and grandma's famous pie. It's about community, gathering locally to watch a high school football game or watching a game huddled around the family TV. At our house growing up, my parents always hosted family as well as friends who did not have family nearby. We look forward to doing that again this year. Thanksgiving marks a return to a simpler time, providing temporary solace from a volatile world full of geopolitical risks, racial tensions and economic worry.

Today, I give thanks to friends, family, food, football and... yes, the US economy.

We are all aware of the increasing risks of cybercrime. Target, Home Depot and other major retailers have exposed the vast majority of Americans to cybercriminals; but most of us haven't seen the after effects... at least not yet. Therefore it is of utmost importance to protect your personal data as much as possible because you don't want to have your identity stolen. To do this you must stay ahead of the curve and more importantly ahead of the criminals.