Messages about money are passed down from generation to generation, worn and chipped like the family dishes.

After you marry, every asset either of you acquires is jointly held. That's why you both need to be in sync on your long-term financial goals, from paying off the mortgage to putting away for retirement. Ideally, you should talk about all this before you wed. If you don't, you can end up deeply frustrated and financially spent.

people's feelings about themselves change when they change the way they handle their money. Once they begin treating their money with respect, their self-respect shoots up as well.

If you are worried about job security and do not have an adequate emergency fund (ideally eight months' worth of living expenses stashed away in a federally insured bank or credit union), you need to focus more on saving money than paying down the balance on your credit cards.

Don't let what others think or say get in your way; their actions reflect on them, not you.

You will never be powerful in life until you are powerful over your own money. How you think about it, how you feel about it and how you invest it.

When you undervalue who you are, the world will undervalue what you do and vice versa.