Once you stop looking for a job, you are no longer considered part of the unemployment number.

If your company matches your 401(k) contribution, then no matter what, contribute to your 401(k) first. You put in a dollar, they put in 50 cents. It's an automatic 50 percent return on your money. You can't pass that up. I'd rather have the 50 percent than pay 32 percent interest on a credit card.

If you make time each month to give your money some attention, you'll start the next year in fabulous financial shape.

Cash - in savings accounts, short-term CDs or money market deposits - is great for an emergency fund. But to fulfill a long-term investment goal like funding your retirement, consider buying stocks. The more distant your financial target, the longer inflation will gnaw at the purchasing power of your money.

You can never solve a financial problem with money. The only way for you to have a larger net worth is for you to go within to see why you are going without.

Here's what's interesting about women. When it comes to their babies, when it comes to their children, they become these financial warriors like I have never seen before. They will not turn their back on the battlefield.

Just because you can afford it doesn't mean you should buy it.