The chances of a bank going out of business are extremely slim, but it's always a good idea to spread around major sums so every penny is backed by insurance.

When you give, give from the place of the heart because it is the right thing to do, not the easy thing to do.

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.

Ignore the annual percentage rate when shopping for a mortgage.

The mind gives us thousands of ways to say no, but there's only one way to say yes, and that's from the heart.

If you're saving for the long run, it's actually a good thing when the market is down because the more shares you have, the more you can potentially make when markets rise. And over time - decades, not months - the markets rise more than they fall.

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.