Make it a priority to have at least eight months of living costs set aside in a federally insured bank or credit union account.

I have always advocated doing everything possible to pay off credit card balances; it's good financial management and the ticket to a strong FICO credit score.

Who would you want to be giving you advice? Somebody who doesn't have any money?

Many people are dreaming. Let me rent. Let me have a job. Let me work until I'm 70. That's not what the American Dream used to be. It used to be, let me own a home. Let me retire at 59 and a half or 65 at the latest. Let me do this. And now, really, given what's happened, good luck with anything happening unless you do it yourself.

Ignore the annual percentage rate when shopping for a mortgage.

If you're going down the street and you're going the wrong way, remember - God permits U-turns.

The mind gives us thousands of ways to say no, but there's only one way to say yes, and that's from the heart.