We know intellectually that money can't buy happiness yet we spend and go into debt as if it does.

I knew I had found my life's passion after writing my first column for The Washington Post. The response was like nothing we had seen in the business section. Everyday people were writing that finally someone was speaking to them in a way that was understandable. I think we were all shocked at how many readers wrote in to say that they too had a Big Mama who taught them about money.

Sometimes your gut is right. And sometimes not.

My Big Mama is my No. 1 financial role model. Much of my advice stems from what she taught me. She never made more than $13,000 a year, yet she paid off her home before she retired. She saved money from every paycheck. She taught me to be skeptical. It makes me cry to think that I'm a nationally syndicated personal finance columnist for one of the world's best newspapers and my core advice comes from my black grandmother who was a nurse's aide with just a high school education.

I like the idea of having a paperless society.But to be paperless means you have to be so careful with your identity.

A foreclosure does not define you financially.

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.