Content Formatting Problem

I have a paragraph of text aligned to the left of an image I have aligned to the right. I’m trying to add blank space between the last line of text, and a link I wanted centered below the text and the image.

When I manually code either non-breaking spaces or extra paragraphs and preview the page, it looks fine. When I switch to Visual mode to continue adding more content, the formatting I just set up is lost. When I switch back to Text mode to identify the problem, the code I entered is gone.

If I try inserting non-breaking spaces while in Visual mode, nothing happens, and no code for the nbsp appears in Text mode.

If I add paragraphs by pressing ENTER while in Visual mode, my content appears formatted the way I want, but gets lost when I preview the page. When I switch to Text mode, I can see the code for the paragraphs. When I switch back to Visual mode, the formatting is lost. When I switch back to Text mode again, the code for the paragraphs is gone.

I’m using TinyMCE Advanced 4.0.2 with WP 3.9.2. I tried deleting TinyMCE Advanced, but the issue remains. I’ve spent the last two weeks building a web site, and this is the first time I’ve encountered this problem.