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My step daughter is 22 with a child and a part time job. We keep telling her to save her money and not blow it away.
Are there good books to help her understand? or advise?

I am a financial counselor and this is ALWAYS the first book I start everyone out with. It is easy to read, easy to identify with, and it doesn’t read like a textbook. It starts with the very basics about dealing with debt, saving and improving your financial situation BEFORE it goes into any kind of investing. I have found that people who will not learn from, and follow, the advice in Dave Ramsey’s "The Total Money Makeover" usually will not follow the advice in any other good book about personal finance. There’s a book review and a LOT more information about personal finance on the Financial Page of my website eclecticsite.com And all the info and help are free!

(re-post)
I’m interested in Law, Politics, and Government, but I’m not able to understand some of it because I have a very weak understanding of personal finance. What age–or grade–did you start learning about it? As of now, I’ve been doing independent research on Law, Politics, and Government, for about two or three months, and it’s very hard to learn about it when you don’t have someone teaching it to you. How old were you when you started learning about these things?

(I’m fourteen)

I started learning basic personal finance in third or fourth grade, just like Ariaread, but in public school. We had to "write checks" for little goodies (jolly ranchers, party favor type toys) each month, balance check books, etc. I didn’t get aggressive about personal finance until college. I was reading some books about investing strategies, budgeting, etc. I would suggest: Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover and Rich Dad Poor Dad. They’re somewhat contradictory to one another, but they’re crucial for dropping your preconceived notions of money, wealth, and "getting ahead."

Government has been in my life a long, long time. I would talk to my parents a little about politics from the time I was little. My parents voted for George H. W. Bush in 1992, and I asked them why. I was only six or seven at the time. Since then, I’ve listened to and participated in conversations about politics pretty regularly. In high school, I did Lincoln Douglass debate and learned a lot of political theory from researching for my arguments. Read the Federalist Papers, John Locke’s Second Treatise on Civil Government, Jean Jacque Rousseau’s Social Contract, Aristotle’s Politics and Ethics, and Machiavelli’s The Prince and Discourses on Livy. They’re hard to read, but full of insight and wisdom that have served as pivotal ideas throughout human history. Feel free to read Sun Tzu’s Art of War, while you’re at it.

It’s better to learn these things yourself, through reading and carefully considering what you read. Take nothing at face value, but always question. Is this really true? How do I know? This process develops wisdom as well as knowledge, and both are sorely lacking in society these days.

Best of luck, and don’t get discouraged. Simply asking this question is a huge step in the right direction. Good luck, and God speed.

Just curious what you think.

Not if you and your wife fully understand what your obligations are. As long as you both understand that you will have a military lifestyle, then ok. If you do not talk with your wife and have honest conversations about join, BAD IDEA. Also, make sure that if you do go in, please, make sure that both of you understand how to balance a checkbook and that you understand the basics of personal finance. Many, many military marriages end due to money problems. In addition, if you are both young, make sure that your relationship is solid. If things are shakey before, they will be worse after you join. If kids are involved, make sure that she fully understands that you can and will be deployed and she will basically be a single parent while you are away. Many spouses do not understand this and this too causes many problems.

Stuck on a name for my blog. It deals with money,
personal finance, debt, savings etc. It doesn’t have
to have money in the domain.

Some names :
Myfinance.com
personalfinace24*7.com
advicefinance.com

Get more knowledge about personal finance from below

For matters pertaining to equity the authority that I go to is Marian Snow – best-selling author of "Stop Sitting on Your Assets". She talks about how to let your equity work for you, how to become your own bank, and secure your financial future. I got a lot of new ideas, and now view my money and financial management in a different way.

Preview the book here — there’s a lot of vital information you can’t find anywhere else. I suggest too that you make a small investment on the book. It changed my total outlook on investments, mortgage, equity and personal finance.

http://www.stopsittingonyourassets.com/MarianSnow/preview/contents.html

You can contact Marian through her personal blog here:

http://mariansnow.typepad.com/assets

Right now I am taking

ROTC
World History H
Italian II H
Algebra 1 H
Personal Finance
English I
Biology H

For sophomore year I plan to take

Computer Science I
U.S History I H
Italian III H
Geometry H
Algebra II H
English II H
Chemistry H

Is this a good schedule?
I have A’s and 1 C+ in my honors history but all A’s in my other honors classes?

This is a good schedule, especially if you bring up your history grade. I commend you for taking two math classes next year! It’s good to take math courses through calculus, which you can take your senior year since you’re doubling up next year.

One tip:
Colleges love to see that students are challenging themselves. If you have A’s in your honors courses, you’re probably pretty smart, so why not take an AP class (if your school offers them)? Even if you get a B in the class, taking the most rigorous classes available to you looks great of your transcript.

I would recommend taking just one next year because most AP classes are geared towards juniors and seniors. You could take AP US HIstory, AP Psych, or AP Human Geography. Then, in your junior and senior years, you could take AP English, AP Bio, AP Chem… There are a myriad of AP courses in most subjects! I recommend both AP English classes.

I have 8 checkbooks for various properties and personal finance. I need to keep track in them for tax purposes. I used to do it at work with quickbooks pro but at home I don’t have a program…what would be a good one to buy that is fairly easy to use as I am retiring now and my memory isn’t what it used to be..thanks in advance

Quicken for home. Quick books pro is more for setting up a business. Quicken for home lets you set up multiple accounts and even link them with the bank if you wish to do that too.

Are they talking about: a) stated salary; b) gross income before taxes; c) Federal "Adjusted Gross Income; or what?

It really depends on the context of articles. However, when discussing personal finance generally it is referring to gross income. There are plenty of people who reads Forbes and Fortune magazines in the high income bracket with little earned income (salary).

Best wishes.

I feel like I have gotten everything materialistic that I want. I want to start saving money, but I have a bank account. I wanted to start grabbing my money and put it inside a small jar. One for my girlfriends surgery in 6 months, the other in a charity jar for a church that lives close by. Are there any tips on this?
Nah it aint my girlfriends boobs lol

I have lots of little secrets to save money. The most important thing is to document all of your spending. This way you can see where your money is going and what percentages you spend in certain categories such as: FOOD, TRANSPORTATION, ENTERTAINMENT, SOCIAL, ETC. Break your spending down and see EXACTLY where your money is going. Take control of your money, don’t let it control you!

Here’s a few easy tips anyone can do:

1. Carpool
2. Buy clothes and other items at thrift stores
3. Use Coupons
4. Pack your lunch for work/school
5. Stop dining out so much
6. Drink water
7. Instead of gym memberships, look up exercises on YouTube
8. Do-it-yourself home repairs. (Don’t know how? Google it.)
9. Use the internet for entertainment
10. READ READ READ. I would suggest reading material that has something to do with personal finance or budgeting. You can never learn enough and there are countless tips available. For instance, this forum is a wonderful place to start.

😀 I would recommend a book called [b][i]Money Saving Tips: A Poor Man’s Guide to Prosperity[/i][/b]. You can get it on Amazon. It is VERY USEFUL and easy to read. I inserted the link below.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Amoney+saving+tips+a+poor+man%27s+guide+to+prosperity&keywords=money+saving+tips+a+poor+man%27s+guide+to+prosperity&ie=UTF8&qid=1347387437&ajr=0

I would also note that just Googling "money saving tips" will help you tremendously. Just use the internet at your disposal. Be creative! There are TONS of ideas and useful ways to save money. You just have to proactively seek these things and you will find them. Of course, it will take a little discipline, but it is well worth it!

I wish you all the best of luck! May your lives be wealthy, healthy, and satisfied!

I realize that as an adult you can’t learn things as well as when you’re a kid or whatever so my question is what things should you learn before your brain is unable to do so as an adult? Don’t give me stupid answers either.

Also I don’t really mean information like scientific facts or anything like that, I mean things like playing an instrument.

A foreign language for sure!
Like you mentioned a musical instrument is a good idea too.
One thing I have overwhelmingly heard from friends that they wish they’d learned while they were younger was the basics on personal finance and a general knowledge of accounting/taxes/government. I know it sounds boring as all get out, but its true. If you learn the basics early on you’ll be more likely to smartly handle your money in the future.