Each week, we pick a few of your burning money questions for our very own Chris Farrell to answer. This week, Chris explains: when it's OK to shred your old financial documents, how to talk about financial issues with aging parents, the ins and outs of real estate investment trusts, and whether it makes sense to put a little bit of money toward a lot of debt.

This and every week, we have our economics editor Chris Farrell here to help you sort out what's smart, what's stupid, and what's the "Straight Story." The most important banker on the planet was on tour this week. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was on stage everywhere, running through his personal playlist: everything from mortgages to Social Security to Medicare to the deficit. What is Greenspan up to?

How do you budget for children? How do you think about balancing life with work? Can you make your family work financially if one parent decides to stay home? These are some of the questions we started thinking about after our host, Kai Ryssdal, welcomed his third child into the world this week. Check out Kai's interview with Eric Tyson, a personal finance counselor and the author of "Personal Finance for Dummies."

More and more women are investing in real estate before finding a mate. The National Association of Realtors reports single women are the second largest group of homeowners, behind couples. Reporter Ashley Milne-Tyte spoke with some women about why they chose to buy a place on their own.