Even fashionistas need to tighten their belts in a weak economy. Here are fall styles that will keep your look and your budget in tact.

While most of the fashion world concentrates its time and effort on adults, some designers focus on a smaller (literally) market: Children’s luxury fashion.

To the outside observer, Ken Wirth buys a new car every 18 months. For the past 30 years or so, you'd be hard-pressed to find him driving the same make or model for more than two years. As the owner of a financial service in Connecticut, Wirth is well off, but not that well off. Wirth leases and he's not bashful to say it. In fact, he feels it shows off his intellect.

The latest camera? He's got it. Earrings? She'll yawn.

The ultimate holiday-shopping challenge is finding a gift for those people in your life who basically can -- and do -- buy anything for themselves.

Here are suggestions for when money is no object but ideas are scarce.

Go ahead, admit it: You have never thought about how you would spend
$100,000. Well, it's time to ponder that possibility now that my
employer -- TheStreet.com -- is offering $100,000 to the player who wins our "Beat the Street" game.

Ahh, summer is finally here. Take a moment, close your eyes and think of what this time of year means to you.

For most it brings only good thoughts to mind: golden,
sun-kissed skin, crowded boardwalks by the beach and cold ice cream
cones.

If San Francisco is heaven for foodies, the California Culinary Academy (CCA) just might be the pearly gates.

Acquired by Career Education Corp. (CECO)
in 2000 and one of just 10 Le Cordon Bleu-certified schools in North
America, the academy has been producing some of the world's great chefs
and bakers since its founding in 1977. CCA alumni include Juan Carlos
Cruz, host of The Food Network's Calorie Commando, and Claud Mann, host of Turner Broadcasting's Dinner and a Movie.

I had the rare opportunity to sit down with a glass of red -- OK, a
couple of glasses -- and speak with Peter Mondavi Jr., current
proprietor of Charles Krug Winery, the oldest Napa Valley winery and one of the few that has remained in the hands of the same family since the Prohibition era.

"Listen to this music," he says, emphatically pointing toward the
ceiling as if trying to explain a time and place, "this is not Africa."
When we return to his friends, balancing fistfuls of mojitos, he makes
the point again. "Look at these people," motioning at his own entourage
and then at the rest of the crowd, which would not look out of place in
SoHo or SoBe. "This is not Africa either. This is South Africa."

The two-car garage: today, that concept sounds quaintly vintage, like iceboxes and sliced bread.

The second car can hardly be considered a luxury anymore.