In a recent survey, 43% of people said they'd do more than half their holiday shopping this year online. Yet, 80% of those big online shoppers fear having their identity stolen, says the study by security company Guard ID Systems. It's one of several firms recently out with improved safety-enhancing gizmos.

When it comes to establishing credit for the first time or rebuilding damaged credit scores, I like to keep this image in mind: A phoenix rising from the ashes. To a large extent credit is an equal-opportunity evaluation process. Your credit scores do not reflect your income, age, education, or job title. They indicate how you use credit that's extended to you. I've seen a couple who have two teenage daughters and who work seasonal jobs earning a combined income of less than $30,000 a year with credit scores in the low 800s. And I've known a few executives, earning more than $200,000 a year, with credit scores in the subprime 500 range.

One in four identity-theft victims say crime takes years to resolve: report SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Even as law-enforcement agencies, creditors and consumers become more savvy about the problem of identity theft, it can still take years for identity-theft victims to get their financial houses in order again after the crime, according to a new survey.

Spooked by the possibility of identity theft, increasing numbers of people are taking a radical approach to thwart criminals: They are putting their credit reports on permanent freeze. A frozen credit report prevents almost anyone from using your name to take out a loan or sign up for credit, such as a credit card, a bank account or cellphone service. That is because, with a freeze in place, potential new creditors can't get access to your credit record kept on file by the three main credit-reporting bureaus without your explicit permission.

Here's a statistic you probably don't want to hear: More than 70 percent of credit reports contain mistakes. These mistakes can range from misspelling of your name to accounts you never opened. While it maybe tempting to ignore small errors such as inaccurate spellings or addresses, don't. Even these make you more vulnerable to fraud if someone is using a misspelled version of your name or a former address where you never lived. The bottomline: Whatever is wrong on your credit report must be corrected.

It's resolution time again. Instead of making the same old difficult-to-stick-to promises, like losing weight or quitting smoking, use the New Year to take stock of your career. Addressing career concerns might make you more fulfilled on a daily basis. If you make the resolutions wisely by setting small, achievable goals, you're likely to feel particularly rewarded.

When it comes to big business, high-level politics and professional sports, it's becoming less and less about how you play the game, and more about whether you get just mildly wealthy or obscenely rich. That certainly seems to be the case if this year's cast of winners and losers is any indication. But while a fat paycheck may get you that house in the Hamptons and the envy of your peers, it won't necessarily garner you the much-coveted MarketWatch "winner" status. And it might even land you the dreaded "loser" tag, depending on the events leading to the payday.

Getting to the corner office was once just a matter of paying your dues and following a narrowly defined route. Want to become a chief executive? You had better put in time as the president or chief operating officer. Dream of becoming chief financial officer? It's best to have vice-president of finance on your resume first. If only it were still that easy.

All too often, studies seem to show workers being dissatisfied and fed up. A Conference Board survey earlier this year, for example, showed that less than half of all Americans say they are satisfied with their jobs, down from 61% 20 years ago. And the numbers were even more striking among the newest entrants to the workforce. Less than 39% of workers under the age of 25 said they are satisfied with their employment situation.

Manage enough employees and you'll face individuals with personality disorders. The way you respond can either promote calm or provoke turmoil. "We all have diverse personalities," said Laurence Miller, a clinical business psychologist in Boca Raton, Fla. "But when personality traits turn into personality disorders, you have a problem." Author of "From Difficult to Disturbed," Miller describes the most difficult people to manage as "personality stealth bombs." The severity of their dysfunctional personality may not manifest itself at first, but it eventually grates on everyone on the team.