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.

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.

My first piece of career advice is find your gifting. Find the thing that you are skilled at and figure out if you can make a living doing it.

You know me and I have a pension. It provides some comfort but only some. It's still not enough to live off completely but it sure will help. But I'll say this. I try to forget about it and save like a maniac because I want the assurance of having other pots of money.

A foreclosure does not define you financially.

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

If you haven't saved, your child may have to work. But do what you can to NEVER take out student or parent loans.