Described in 1956 as an oceanographic curiosity, salt fingers are now recognized as an important mechanism for vertical transport in fluids that may play a key role in areas so diverse as stellar formation, oceanography and material science and engineering. Complete life cycles of salt fingers will be modeled and analyzed using a combination of finite difference and analytical methods. Some commonly held assumptions about fingering phenomena will be challenged, and some conclusions regarding the origin and maintenance of the finger structure, as well as the dependence of the fingering process on several defining parameters, will also be drawn and discussed.