We are all powerless as children, and money looms so powerfully... we don't grow up to claim our financial power until we look money directly in the eye, face our fears, and claim that power back.

The last thing family and friends want is for you to spend money on them that you don't have or that you can't really spare.

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.

If you wait until your children are high school seniors to spring it on them that there's not a whole lot of money for school, they won't have too many options.

With success comes unhelpful criticism - ignore it.

Learn how to prioritize all your debt. And did you know student loan debt is the most dangerous debt any of us can have?

Money is such an amazing teacher: What you choose to do with your money shows whether you are truly powerful or powerless.