Money is the only thing you can use even if you don't have any. ... There's always a credit card.

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.

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

Those carrying a credit card balance should scale back to making the minimum payment each month so they have more money to put into savings.

You're thinking to yourself, 'How is it possible that I am going to pay back $150,000 in student loans? I'm never going to pay that back. What am I going to do?' Listen to me and listen to me good, class of 2013. I want you to think back to all of these things you said to yourself, 'I can't do that. I can't palpate a cow. And what's worse, palpating a cow or taking semen from a horse?' But you did it, didn't you?

Make it a priority to have at least eight months of living costs set aside in a federally insured bank or credit union account.

People have got to learn: if they don't have cookies in the cookie jar, they can't eat cookies.