QUESTION: A listener asks if a collector can call an employer when chasing you about your debt.

ANSWER: They can call you at work. A creditor cannot discuss an account with anyone that is not on the account. If they do, they’re in violation of federal law. They can call your employer’s place of business. They could even call your employer, but they are not supposed to discuss your account with them. If they do, they have violated federal law, and you should contact an attorney.

If they’re calling you at work and hassling you, they can technically do that. You can stop them. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act states that if the collector has been notified that it is against policy for you to be called at work and they continue to call work after that, then they’re in violation of federal law. Send a letter via certified mail with return receipt requested that says, “According to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, I’m notifying you that you cannot contact me at work. It is against our policy. You can contact me at home.”

QUESTION: A listener is 10 years away from retirement and wonders if he should change how his investment money is distributed between mutual funds.

ANSWER: No. You need to enjoy the ride of this market back up. It’s coming back up. Not every day—the market doesn’t do that every day. But overall, it’s coming up. Don’t you wish you’d put $1 million in on March 9? You’d have $2 million right now. I don’t know where the bottom is, so I just keep investing with a long-term mindset.

QUESTION: Jason asks the difference between mid-cap growth and mid-cap value in his mutual fund.

ANSWER: For purposes of allocating, mid-cap is a middle-sized company. It generally falls in the growth stock mutual fund category. We recommend you spread your mutual funds across four types: growth, growth and income, aggressive growth, and international. For purposes of those four areas, this is the growth category, and either of them is fine.

Investing in a mid-cap value fund is like buying an expensive home but in a good neighborhood. It’s okay that you paid a little more because the neighborhood’s good, and you’re just going to wait it out. It’s a value mentality versus bargain hunting. I’m probably going to go with the one with the best track record because the differences are so minute.

QUESTION: Mary has a fiancé who was diagnosed with brain cancer. He doesn’t have life insurance and when he dies, she will be left with the house, which they are upside down on. How does the private mortgage insurance kick in with an estate, and how would she approach the bank to short sale the house to her if she chose?

ANSWER: You are starting your life over because he has a negative net worth. If all of this hadn’t happened, I don’t think you would have walked up to this piece of property and made an offer on it. I think you’re being pulled into this by the situation rather than by the house.

If you were my sister and called and asked me this question, I would tell you to forget the house. You have enough emotions and enough things to deal with without having to think about this. And when he passes, just spend six or eight months or a year healing, building up some cash, and thinking about your future then.