Even if you were to fall into extreme financial hardship and file for bankruptcy, you need to understand that your student loan debt will not be discharged in bankruptcy. It is the Velcro of all debts.

If you pay off your mortgage before retirement, you take a huge financial load off your shoulders. You also become eligible to take out a reverse mortgage once you turn 62.

So many financial dreams are thwarted by the failure to act upon good intentions.

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.

We tend to focus on assets and forget about debts. Financial security requires facing up to the big picture: assets minus debts.

Cut back your spending now.

When you give, give from the place of the heart because it is the right thing to do, not the easy thing to do.