The financial collapse of 2008 got its start with predatory mortgages, that weren’t sold by community banks and credit unions, they were sold by fly by night mortgage brokers who had almost zero federal oversight and then the big banks looked over, saw the profit potential and they wanted it bad. So they jumped in and sold millions of these terrible mortgages while the bank regulators just looked the other way.

Get your money in balance. One rule of thumb is 50/30/20. Spend about 50% of your money on must-haves - things like rent, car payments - and about 30% on wants, while 20% should go toward savings and paying down debt.

If you have a choice between buying something and paying down your credit card, pay down your credit card.

I want to be blunt: We should not be fighting about equal pay for equal work, and access to birth control, in 2012. These issues were resolved years ago - until the Republicans brought them back.

Nobody's safe. Health insurance? That didn't protect 1 million Americans who were financially ruined by illness or medical bills last year.

The total amount of money that Wall Street handed out in bonuses last year was double the total income of ALL full-time minimum wage workers. That's obscene.

It is not the job of the Department of Education to maximize profits for the government at the cost of squeezing students who are struggling to get an education.