You'll notice that there are several articles in this issue about fear and failure. These are hardly my favorite topics. But as we approach the one-year anniversary of the credit market meltdown, many of you have reported that you feel some "compassion fatigue." Clients, however, are still worried and need you to show you care.

Case in point: Education planning. As the parent of a college student and a high schooler, I know plenty of people who lost a chunk of their college savings. As someone who commutes to work by train, I overhear many conversations among parents who wonder how they'll ever, ever afford their children's schooling. The recession has hit these successful people hard.

There are multiple approaches to making up the shortfall, as Donald Korn, our senior editor, describes in "College Panic." The investment failure does not have to translate into failure to educate beloved children. If you can help, you will have made a huge difference to many a family.

Fear and failure are also behind the incredible squirming on the part of the asset management industry to avoid any responsibility for losing 25%, on average, of money invested in target-date funds by workers age 60 and older. I was amazed when I listened in to the target-date fund hearings in June, and even more so when conversation about them simply died right afterward.

These funds are important, and Financial Planning is not letting the discussion about them drop, as you'll see from our articles "Time to Reevaluate" and "Bad Match." If you or your clients have anything to do with 401(k)s, you know that as default options they hold assets for people who don't know what they are and can't or won't make informed choices. Many of these funds, thus far, have failed to serve those who need them most. But few players in the financial world appear to care. Why is that?

Marion Asnes became the editor of Financial Planning magazine in 2005. Financial Planning is the leading professional magazine for independent financial planners and has a circulation of 115,000. The topics covered on its pages range from industry news and trends to sophisticated discussions of portfolio management, estate planning and philanthropy. Asnes is the first female editor in chief of Financial Planning in the magazine's 38-year history.

Before joining Financial Planning, Asnes was a senior editor at Money, participating in the magazine’s coverage of personal finance, retirement, investment and health care issues. Her areas of expertise included retirement and 401(k) planning, asset allocation, estate planning and the particular financial challenges faced by women. In addition to her regular editorial duties at Money, Asnes co-edited Money for Women, an annual special issue that was featured exclusively on “The Today Show” on NBC.

A 27-year service journalism veteran, Asnes has contributed to a long list of national publications including Vogue, Elle, Glamour, Good Housekeeping, More, Mirabella, Working Woman and Lear's. She has spoken at conferences and symposia ranging from the National Endowment for Financial Education’s Retirement Summit to the National Football League’s Rookie Symposium. In addition, Asnes has appeared on national television programs as an expert on financial and economic topics including CNN, CNN Headline News, NBC's Today, ABC's 20/20, PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor.

Asnes graduated with a B.A. from Cornell University.