In today’s Big Picture, Jim Puplava covers three extremely important topics that every investor should understand: 1) Risk—understanding it, recognizing when it is increasing, and how to mitigate it from decimating your finances; 2) Oil prices—where are they headed and why they are having such an impact on the markets; and, lastly, 3) the Fed’s balance sheet—outside of financial and economic wonks, this may seem like a boring topic. Don’t be fooled! Jim explains why a reduction in the Fed’s balance sheet could have enormous implications for investors large and small.