When you’re in school the thought of having money – any money – is usually a laughable novelty. What money you do have is usually spent on late night pizzas and scraping up rent. Then when you get out of school and you get your first “real job” where you actually are bringing in a decent paycheck that money goes towards acquiring all the things you couldn’t buy in college. Suddenly you can afford things – you don’t have to shop the clearance rack or order off the dollar menu. Rarely do young, aspiring professionals think about planning their finances because the thought of investing money or saving a portion each month doesn’t seem as important as buying your first brand new car, or closing on your first house. However when you’re young is the perfect time to get familiar with financial planning, and can be done rather easily and in ways you may not have thought of before.

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This is the sixth article of the A-B-C's of credit and debt. Today is F for Free advice.

If you can get something for free, you should do it, right?

Well that all depends. Free beer - that sounds great! But a free puppy - well, that could be lots of fun. And it could be LOTS of work and cost you lots of money! It all depends on which one you end up with more of - fun or work. So, free isn't always great. And free isn't always free.

When it comes to financial advice, there's free ADVICE. And then there's FREE advice. Big difference!

There's been a lot of talk recently about the pre-paid debit card from financial celebrity Suze Orman. That's what got me thinking about this entire free advice thing. Let me say for the record that I'm not opposed to any of these financial "experts" you see on TV. They all have their areas of expertise. And I'm sure most of what they say is good, honest advice.


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This is the fifth article of the A-B-C's of credit and debt. Today is E for Empower.

So what is the reason for your money problems? So many people these days find it easy to blame something or someone other than themselves. "It's not my fault" they'll say. It's just so much easier to...

Blame your boss.
It's not your fault you didn't get that raise. Or work crappy hours. It's your boss's fault. They hold you back. They treat you poorly. Someone else gets the good hours, the promotions, the nice office. You, well you get the leftovers.

Blame the government.
Taxes are way too high. The Democrats don't know what they are doing. The leaders in your town and state stink too, right? If only they knew what it was like to be the little guy, the person who works hard and never gets ahead.

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