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These are trying times.

So try not to commit any financial mistakes that you'll live to regret later.

Economic pressures can cause people to make bad moves with their investments, insurance, debts and more. Here are five  mistakes to avoid:

' Neglecting retirement.

It's easy to put retirement planning on hold by halting contributions to IRAs and 401(k) accounts or, worse, by drawing down balances.

Retirement-account withdrawals usually trigger an income-tax bill that might include a penalty. Loans against 401(k) accounts also can pose problems too, especially if you can't repay them.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a watchdog group, warns against taking casual loans using debit cards that increasingly are being tied into 401(k) accounts.

FINRA's chief executive officer, Mary Schapiro, cites 401(k) loans as a way to raise cash quickly that could lead to long-term consequences. She calls loans a “last resort” strategy.

' Changing course.

It's easy for investors to become disheartened by stock-market losses, rising gasoline prices and signs of economic weakness. That's why you need to focus on the big picture and avoid knee-jerk reactions.

“Stick to your long-term plan and don't let emotions drive your investing decisions,” said Richard Kerr, manager of Charles Schwab branches in Chandler and Prescott.

Kerr suggests that you make sure your portfolio is diversified, that you keep adding money to investment accounts and that you talk things over with an adviser if you have one.

Scott Huish, a certified financial planner with Tribeca Financial in Mesa, cautions against trying to time the market, especially when it involves a lot of costly trading.

“Investment portfolios are like a bar of soap,” he quips. “The more you handle it, the smaller it gets.”
He also warns against chasing hot performance, which lately has centered on energy and commodity investments.

“Sure, it makes sense to have a portion of that in your portfolio,” Huish said. “But it does worry me when I see so much interest pouring into one area of the market.”

' Switching debt priorities.

If you must prioritize, you generally want to pay your home, auto and other secured debts first and let your credit-card balances accrue.

“The consequences of secured debts are greater,” said Mike Sullivan, director of education at Take Charge America, a debt-counseling company in Phoenix.

Unpaid credit-card debts could result in a judgment and, perhaps, a garnishment of your wages, he said. That typically pales against losing a home through foreclosure or a vehicle through repossession.

Yet many debtors aren't thinking along those lines.

“Now many people are switching, paying their credit cards and skipping their mortgage payments,” Sullivan said. “It's a terrible, risky strategy.”

' Listening to crooks.

Scams pose a special threat during tough times as many people look for ways to improve their finances. Con artists hope to exploit all that.

For example, the Internal Revenue Service said it has counted more than 1,500 different tax scams lately, including those purporting to offer refunds. Criminals often seek Social Security or bank-account numbers that would let them drain an account or open a loan in someone else's name, said Bill Brunson, an IRS spokesman in Phoenix.

The IRS doesn't send out unsolicited e-mail messages to taxpayers.

' Dropping insurance.

In times of belt-tightening, it's always a good idea to shop around with an eye on cutting costs. But you probably don't want to drop your auto, home or other types of insurance.

“I'd caution against canceling, especially health insurance, which you often can't drop and pick up that quickly,” said Mary Butterfield, an assistant director at the Arizona Department of Insurance.

Still, you might be able to trim insurance costs. For example, if you're not driving as much due to high gas prices, you might qualify for a reduced rate. You also can cut premiums by raising your deductible.

“This could be a really bad time to drop coverage,”said Butterfield. “But it might be a very good time to review it.”

Reach Wiles at russ.wiles@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8616.

My 8-year-old son loves Legos, so it’s a good thing we checked out the new Lego store at Chandler Fashion Center the first week the store opened. It was merely crowded. This past Saturday a week later the crush of people was overwhelming. 

Following this weekend's official grand opening and a promotion where a master Lego builder was at the mall to create a giant 8-foot-tall R2D2, the place was a zoo.

So many people were at the store Saturday when we stopped by to participate in the R2D2 build (which, it turned out, was in the main mall area near Sears) that there was a line of at least 100 people waiting just to get into the store.

I like Legos, and they’re a great toy for boosting creativity in kids. But a waiting in a theme park-style line just for the privilege of giving a company my money? No thanks.

A group that works with people who "walk away" from homes instead of fighting to keep them out of foreclosure has released its first data Almost 30 percent of the homeowners who contacted it from Arizona have other mailing addresses or own other homes, according to Carlsbad, Calif. You Walk Away. . That signals they are most likely investors.

The figures, which have been compiled since the beginning of the year, show almost 50 percent of the people who are "walking away" in Florida are investors.

The top state for residents who contacted the firm is California. Then it was Florida, Nevada and Arizona at no.4.

Those four states have much in common - the biggest speculator-driven home price run ups in 2004-05, and the fastest rising foreclosure rates now.

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 The firm tracking the trend says the figures show the majority of people considering walking away are primary homeowners, so the trend isn't being fueled by speculators. However, the data is only from the beginning of the year. Some housing analysts believe speculators were the first to "walk away" in Arizona when foreclosures started to really climb last summer. 

What with all the depressing news – the rocketing price of gas, the plummeting economy, the war of words on illegal immigration and that other one a half a world away, the one that involves bombs – I was looking for a diversion.

So I headed to Tempe where I met Ralph Johnson.

It was his birthday a few days ago and his friends and family thought I might like the chance to visit. They didn't throw him a party this year, having done a blowout celebration two years ago. Just a nice lunch for him and his wife of 71 years, Ruth.

Naturally, I jumped at the chance to meet him, given that he may have saved my life. Or yours.

Ralph is what you might call a 20th century man living in a 21st century world. A can-do guy whose life has spanned a wondrous time -- as all times are, when you really think about it.

He was born in 1906, just three years after the Wright Brothers took to the skies. He grew up, the fourth of 10 children, on a farm in Indiana where the words “horse power” meant literally that. “It was horses and buggies,” he told me. “We all drove teams of horses to till the fields. Everything was motivated by horses.”

But not for long. Ralph was fascinated with machines, the bigger the better. When he was a teen, he built a car out of junk but it was airplanes that would take him to amazing places.

When he was 24, he flew in the Army Air Corps, the forerunner to the Air Force. When he was 27, he was piloting amphibious planes, ferrying tourists from Indiana to the Chicago World's Fair. Later, he became the chief test pilot for United Airlines and it was there that he made his mark, developing innovations that would later win him industry safety awards and land him in the aviation halls of fame -- in Arizona and Wyoming, where he worked for most of his life.

Chief among those innovations, he pioneered what's called the stabilized approach, a landing procedure that has saved countless lives and is still the standard today. “That's probably the single most important innovation since the airplane was invented by the Wright Brothers,” said Billy Walker, a pilot and close friend.

During World War II, Ralph oversaw the testing of nearly 6,000 B-17 bombers and flew military transports to places like Guadalcanal and Okinawa. After the war, he went into the general aviation business, eventually buying a fleet of Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon bombers that he used to battle fire ants and forest fires.

Until he was 82 years old.

One of those Harpoons is on display at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson.

It's said that Ralph could fly anything, having an ingrained sense of optimism, no fear and a determination to do the impossible. Once, he landed a B-17 on a runway slick with black ice and couldn't slow down. So he swung the thing around until it was sliding backwards on the ice then added power until he stopped.

Simple, huh?

A few weeks ago, his alma mater, Purdue, awarded Ralph an honorary doctorate in engineering, recognizing him for “a truly remarkable career, having made a huge impact in aviation and service to our country.” The school chartered a plane to fetch him.

Ralph shrugs at an honor most of us cannot imagine just as he marvels at the things he's seen, things most of us take for granted.

“The most amazing thing,” he said, “was that man flew.”

So what advice does he have, as we sit here at the start of the 21st Century, airborne, sure, but often unable to see beyond the end of our noses?

“Don't give up,” said the man who is 102. “The world is still your oyster.”

(Column published July 2, 2008, The Arizona Republic)

Just finished reading and listening to all the reader reaction to my column Saturday on Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s immigration sweep. (Ouch.)

Allow me to make two observations.

1. Joe Arpaio will probably be re-elected this year by a landslide.

And 2. When it comes to illegal immigration, nobody on either side of the issue really listens.

For instance, when I called into question last year why judges were granting bond to illegal immigrants, I was called every name in the book by the left -- never mind that voters had just outlawed the practice and the judges were ignoring the law.  Ditto when I wrote about ASU thumbing its nose at voters by awarding scholarships to illegal immigrants – money that could have gone to legal residents. And when I wrote about illegal immigrants who got drunk and killed Arizonans? Well, I was a racist for even pointing that out, I was told.

More recently, I’ve written about the hysterical nature of the illegal immigration debate -- wherein people refer to those here illegally in sub-human terms -- and I described the circus-like atmosphere at last week’s immigration sweep in Mesa. Now, all the sudden I’m an “illegal alien” sympathizer”? To read my e-mail lately, you would think I support rapists, murderers and all manner of criminals.

In fact, I, like most people, oppose illegal immigration. I want the border closed down ASAP. Once that's done, I also confess to wanting to treat those already here -- the ones who aren't rapists and murderers, etc. -- with a little dignity and fairness, recognizing that we had a hand in them coming here – or at least our employers and politicians did.

So here’s my question for those on both sides:  Have we become so entrenched on this issue that we can see nothing other than black or white? Good or evil? Noble immigrant or alien criminal?  Is it really true, what they suggest on the radio, that you're either for the citizens or for the illegal immigrants?

Last week, we had 200 or so sheriff’s deputies unleashed onto the streets of Mesa and for their efforts they arrested 14 illegal immigrants on Thursday.  Meanwhile, Mesa Police Chief George Gascon unleased 131 officers onto the streets, to quell any possible violence by the 80 or protesters who showed up.

Regardless of which side you're on, I ask again:   Is this really the best use of our resources?  Really?

OK, I'll put on my fire-retardant jacket now.  Let the flaming begin.