Today, more than ever, it is important for every person to understand economics and financial markets in order to live well and retire wealthy.

Informed financial decisions will be the purpose that will drive this column.

I will attempt to move from the general/nontechnical to the specific/technical aspects so I will ask that experts forgive my simplicity at first and laymen forgive my use of jargon further on.

As you are undoubtedly aware, the U.S. economy is experiencing one of the worst recessions in decades, if not since the Great Depression.

The GDP (gross domestic product) for Q4 2008 fell by an annualized 6.3%, which is slightly worse than the estimated 6.2%. The news is not all bad however.

Durable goods orders and new residential sales were both surprisingly positive for February, a fact that could owe a lot to the Fed’s overtly expansionary monetary policy.

These mixed signals may be the first signs of an impending recovery for the American economy and the recent rally in stock markets seem to support this theory.

The government has been trying to speed the recovery in a number of ways. Recent plan by the Federal Reserve to purchase $200 billion in long-term government securities should push interest rates lower and spur spending on housing and durable goods.

The Treasury’s difficulty with auctioning off shorter-term securities in order to finance the recovery initiatives provides evidence of a recovery as well.

The shortage of buyers of the securities is a signal that people are moving away from the default risk “zero” that T-bills offer and back into riskier investments, a noted sign of confidence.

In the markets, the rally that began on March 9 is registered gains of over 20 percent in the S&P, its downward trend for the first time since January.

Better-than-expected earnings from several companies on the street reminded investors that some firms are still making money, and drove the NASDAQ to a positive position.

Maybe these positive developments will make it easier for college students and their hard-pressed parents to afford the ever-rising costs of higher education.