You'll feel better when you get all that debt off your back.

To get started, track your expenses for a couple of months. Then you should be able to start filling in your estimated debits and deposits for the next few months. Once you get it rolling for a while, you will be able to see your budget for the upcoming months reflected in the estimated totals. You can even notice year-to-year trends, like bonuses, tax bills, etc. that come up routinely and it will help you budget accordingly.

If you'll have enough saved and nobody has to take on debt and you want to retire, shoot go for it.

My writing is definitely influenced by and speaks to African-Americans because that is who I am. I'm black. I'm a black woman. I'm a black mother, wife, churchgoer, etc. I am the legacy of slavery.

The sad thing is many people learn how to manage money after they've made a lot of financial mistakes, some that take decades to fix.

There are some dark days when I do receive some racist mail or emails. But overall the response to me has been very positive. Readers relate to me not just as an African-American, but as an American trying to make sense of her personal finance, just like them.

I understand why many are still poor or struggling to make just a middle-income lifestyle. I'm a fiscal conservative, but I also have compassion for people who make financial mistakes.