You have to see every potential roadblock as an opportunity and a benefit.

True generosity must benefit both parties. No woman can control her destiny if she doesn't give to herself as much as she gives of herself.

If the boss is a jerk, get over it. First of all, don't you think there's a good chance that your boss's boss knows what's going on? If so, just keep your head down and do the work. Usually, if you put in maximum effort and produce excellent results, someone in the company is going to take notice. Either you will get promoted or your jerky boss will get the heave-ho. It happens all the time.

Absolutely pay off credit card debt. If you're not getting a match in your 401(k) and you've got credit card debt, you've got to get yourself out of credit card debt. When you get out of credit card debt, your credit score goes up and interest starts to go down.

Absolutely invest in retirement. You can always get a loan to get kids through school. I do not know of any loans to get you through retirement. The markets are seriously low from where they were (even though they've gone up 30 percent recently). Now is the time to be dollar cost averaging; the more money you put in, the more shares you buy. Save for your retirement, people.

The only way you will ever permanently take control of your financial life is to dig deep and fix the root problem.

America has a broken spirit, that the people that are saying, "Please help me, please let me keep my home, please let me keep my car, please recognize me as a vital human being," they are falling on deaf ears.