Were you born in the 1960s, at the tail end of the baby boom?

Then maybe you're like many in your age group who are trying to juggle multiple financial goals simultaneously.

Perhaps you're seeking to buy a more commodious house while also grappling with the challenge of funding your children's college years. As if these pressures aren't enough, Lisa Hatcher, a certified financial planner, has an additional one: your retirement.

"People in their 50s are alert to the issue of retirement savings. But they're very resistant to reducing their living standards in order to save as much as they'll need," says Hatcher, who's affiliated with the Garrett Planning Network (garrettplanningnetwork.com).

She says boomers are the first generation that must worry about paying for their own retirement because many rely on largely self-funded 401(k) plans, instead of the employer-provided pensions of yore.

Despite competing financial pressures, Hatcher says many people in their 50s can still meet more than one financial goal, assuming they plan carefully.

Here are a few pointers:

-- Search for creative ways to fund college costs.

Michael Knight, another Garrett Planning Network adviser, says many of his clients are feeling a great deal of pressure to maximize savings for their kids' college expenses.

"On average, students who graduate with a bachelor's degree have $33,000 in debt, and many grad students ... come out with six-figure debt," says Mark Kantrowitz, a leading authority on funding college and the senior vice president of Edvisors. The company (edvisors.com) runs a suite of websites about planning and paying for college.

Kantrowitz urges students who've yet to enter college to take an analytical approach to school selection, making sure they get the maximum return on investment.

"For example, if you're going into engineering, you'll probably do just as well at a public university as an Ivy League," he says.

As long as they remain as objective as possible, families can often work out compromise scenarios to help reduce the parental burden of college funding.

For instance, a family could decide to divide the cost of their children's undergraduate schooling three ways: a third paid upfront by the parents; a third through the kids' part-time and summer employment; and a third with student loans.

-- Think through your financial priorities in a holistic way.

Before they begin analyzing numbers, Knight asks clients to itemize their top financial objectives. They write down their money goals for the next six months, two years, 10 years and 30 years.

"Each spouse does this exercise separately and then they do it together, which makes for very sobering conversations," Knight says.

This exercise serves to create a firm foundation for a financial "action plan" that can help people clarify their goals in an orderly way.

-- Consider engaging a financial adviser for a few hours.

An increasing number of financial planners are willing to work on an "as needed," fee-for-service basis. One source for referrals to fee-only financial planners is through the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (www.napfa.org).

Knight says that often clients need only three to four hours of help from a financial planner to reconcile seemingly conflicting objectives.

-- Chart your housing plans in context with your other goals.

Knight encourages his clients to fulfill their home-buying wishes, but only if doing so doesn't sabotage their higher priorities.

Suppose you're a 50-something who intends to retire at age 70 and then travel abroad. Would you be comfortable meeting hefty mortgage payments at that stage of your life?

One approach that could allow you to buy a better home and also pursue a fulfilling retirement is to finance the purchase with a 15-year mortgage rather than a traditional 30-year one, Knight says. Then your home will be paid off, or nearly so, by the time you retire.

"With the shorter term, your payments are not that much higher," he notes.

-- Seek a lifestyle focused on the future as well as the present.

Knight says many couples underestimate the number of years one or both will be retired.

"People are living longer and as they grow older, some of their expenses, such as health care, increase," he says.

The good news for many late boomers is that they still have time to build a retirement nest egg without sacrificing near-term money goals.

"If they're focused on their savings and are willing to work long enough, it's possible for lots of people in their 50s to have it all, including that dream home they always wanted," Knight says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

The residents of high-income neighborhoods often have busy travel schedules and hectic social calendars. So does that mean plush neighborhoods are less welcoming to newcomers than less affluent ones? Not necessarily, says Peter Lovenheim, who's written a book on community.

"It's idiosyncratic which residential areas are friendly. You can't predict this based on income alone. Sometimes, just one person who is proactive in leading neighborhood events can make a huge difference," says Lovenheim, who details his own struggle to find community in his book "In the Neighborhood."

The book was written after a murder-suicide occurred in Lovenheim's suburb, and residents there faced the shocking realization that they'd never met the family involved. As a result, he embarked on an attempt to get to know others in the neighborhood, and found many feeling alienated and lonely.

As Lovenheim notes, there are many pluses to living in a friendly, close-knit community instead of one where residents don't even smile or say hello when they meet on the street.

Are you a homebuyer who wishes to move to a friendly neighborhood? If so, Lovenheim suggests you look for a community with a "built environment" that supports neighborly interaction. That could include sidewalks and green spaces where residents can interact easily.

Here are a few other pointers for homebuyers:

-- Look for a strong neighborhood school.

A strong neighborhood school has the potential to make a community more coherent by strengthening bonds among parents, says William Bainbridge, president of the SchoolMatch Institute, (schoolmatch.com), which provides comparative school information.

Must you shoehorn yourself into an expensive neighborhood to find an excellent school? Not necessarily, says Bainbridge.

"Our research indicates there are still many areas in the U.S. where houses are moderately priced and the schools are great," he says.

Mark Nash, author of "1001 Tips for Buying & Selling a Home," says that children are the conduit for lots of connections among families, particularly through playdates and sleepovers.

-- Don't assume that an "age-restricted" development is your best bet.

Obviously, it's not just people with school-age children who wish to live in a friendly community. Indeed, retired people have even more reasons to appreciate strong neighborhood ties, given that they spend so much time at home.

Many older house hunters are drawn to age-restricted communities where they hope to find social activities to fill their days. But Nash says some who choose such a community face an unexpected result: boredom.

People with broad intellectual interests, as well as the ability to program their own time, can find life in an age-restricted community that's located in a resort area to be especially monotonous due to the dearth of cultural attractions.

"Who wants to spend every cocktail hour hearing talk about other people's aches and pains or what's on their dinner menu?" Nash says.

-- Investigate the social dynamics of any neighborhood you're considering.

Nash, a longtime real estate broker, says homebuyers seeking a friendly, interactive community should spend sufficient time there to pick up less-than-obvious clues about how people relate.

"Even prestige neighborhoods can present real problems if a few residents there have noisy lifestyles or otherwise disturbing tendencies," Nash says. "A couple of very loud party animals who are always up late can spoil the peace for all who live on their street."

To investigate the underlying social dynamics of a community, don't hesitate to go door-to-door for conversations with residents or to talk to local merchants. Quiz them about the pluses and minuses of living in the area; they're likely to give you their candid views.

-- Preview the neighborhood more than once.

Nash encourages buyers with a strong interest in a particular community to visit the area at various hours to scope out patterns of behavior. Also consider visiting on a weekday as well as the weekend.

"Ideally, you'll walk or drive through the neighborhood four times in one day, during the morning, at mid-afternoon, at dinnertime and at 11 p.m. Observe whether residents are interacting or staying in their homes nearly all the time," he says.

In some neighborhoods, residents are superficially friendly yet don't build in-depth relationships with one another.

"It's one thing for people out walking their dogs to smile and wave. It's another for them to occasionally stop and chat before moving on," Nash says.

-- Don't rule out a brand-new subdivision.

Are you interested in buying into a subdivision that's still under development, but fear it could be an unfriendly habitat? If so, Nash recommends you learn more about the area before rejecting it based on what could be an unfounded assumption.

It's true that brand-new communities are often populated by two-income families with parents in their 20s to 40s who have very demanding daily schedules. Even so, many who move to new areas are highly motivated to make friends with neighbors who have children the same age and who would like to share child-care responsibilities.

"The beauty of a brand-new neighborhood is that there's no established social hierarchy. That means everyone is a newcomer and all the friendships are fresh, which can make for a more inclusive place to live," Nash says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

Are you planning to sell your home during the first couple of months of 2015, when buyers will be scarce due to normal seasonal variations? If so, don't hesitate, says Sid Davis, author of "A Survival Guide to Selling a Home."

"It's depressing to face all those bills in January and February. But many people committed to a job-related housing move will still go forward with a purchase at the beginning of the year," says Davis, a real estate broker who's been selling homes since 1984.

Although many post-holiday buyers are committed buyers, they're also hard bargainers.

"They're always trying to save pennies on their deal because they're in an austere mood," Davis says.

Still, Davos seeks to dissuade most would-be home sellers from postponing on the basis that springtime would be a better selling period.

"Starting in March, there will be lots more buyers flooding the market. But there will also be lots more sellers. So your competition greatly intensifies," Davis says.

John McLellan Tayler, a real estate author and former realty company owner, says a property in good condition that's located in a popular neighborhood with good schools can sell quickly, even during an overcast winter period.

Here are a few pointers for sellers:

-- Choose a listing agent who's weathered several post-holiday cycles.

No matter where your house is located, it's crucial to hire a listing agent with an established track record.

"An agent who's been through at least 10 post-holiday seasons should be especially good at identifying the best week and day to put your property on the market," says Mark Nash, the author of "Starting & Succeeding in Real Estate."

-- Go on a cleaning crusade right before your place goes up for sale.

Once your New Year's celebrations are behind you, your first challenge should be to remove any hints of holiday decor.

"A house that's stuck in Christmas or any other winter holiday is a turnoff to buyers. Trying to show a property with holiday decor still in place signals to buyers that you're not really ready to move," Nash says.

After the decor is gone, Nash urges sellers to go on a cleaning binge, purging the property of all superfluous items and then making the whole place dust- and spot-free.

Sellers lacking a design-trained eye might consider engaging a home stager, a professional who helps reduce and then rearrange sellers' furnishings for maximum appeal.

"One way to make a room look better is to remove up to half the furniture and then float your sofa and other pieces at an angle away from the walls," Nash says.

-- Lighten your interior walls.

Are you a homeowner who loves bold designer paint colors? That's fine during your tenure in the property. But once your place is heading for the market, such colors are a poor choice, especially for a wintertime sale.

"I call colors like magenta, mustard and chocolate brown 'commitment colors.' They might look good in houses shown in Architectural Digest magazine. But they're a bad idea for wintertime sellers because they make a place look even drearier on cloudy days," Nash says.

However, when repainting your walls in advance of a sale, you needn't pick sterile white to lighten and neutralize your look. Good choices include linenlike tones with just a hint of another pleasing color, such as very pale yellow.

-- Engender excitement about your wintertime sale.

Clearly, enthusiasm is in shorter supply during January and February than in the weeks leading up to the winter holidays. So it's often helpful for you and your listing agent to develop a creative marketing strategy for your winter sale.

Nash, who long sold homes in the frigid Chicago area, recalls the true story of an Illinois couple whose listing agent was puzzled about how to attract home shoppers to what he describes as their "blah suburban house" when it went up for sale one February.

What finally worked was a "Garden of Eden" theme, in keeping with the fact that the home's owners were avid gardeners. Though their flower beds were buried in snow, the agent asked for photos showing their flowers blooming in summer. These were enlarged to poster size, mounted on tall easels and placed next to windows throughout the property.

"The theme created buzz among neighbors, real estate agents and buyers during some of the darkest days of February. We all loved the break from winter because it was so hopeful, bright, and cheerful," Nash remembers.

"The simple goal of creative marketing is to encourage talk about your house and get eyeballs over to see it," Nash says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)