What should you do when a friend asks for money?
First: read the Nov. 5 Dear Abby column:
A snippet:
“Dear Friend, Family Member or Co-Worker: You came to me in a state of panic — unable to make your car payment, pay your lawyer’s fee, your taxes or the light bill. You asked for my help. I [...]

I found this link on Paycheck Chronicles, which is hosted by Kate Kashman at Military.com:
Kiplinger has an online Military Family Money Guide with a lot of great links and resources. Topics include financial preparations for deployment, savings opportunities, and avoiding scams that target military personnel.

My friend Candy at Deal With It, Simply! and her husband are working through the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University classes.
She’s been posting about her experiences and perspective on her blog:
This week our goal was to sit together and plan out our budget. It was stressful trying to find the time, but we did and [...]

When did you last check your credit report?
You can do it at annualcreditreport.com.
It won’t cost you anything to go through that web site if all you want to do is check the credit report for mistakes or inaccuracies. Each of the three participating credit bureaus allow you to request one free credit report a year.
Do [...]

The following article about a credit literacy class in Monroe, Mich., is on page 6A of today’s print and e-editions of The Monroe Evening News:
Seventeen persons learned the ins and outs of consumer credit during a “Get Smart About Credit” program Monday, the first of a series of financial literacy programs being offered through the [...]

Bible Money Matters has this provocative post: 10 attributes of the perpetually broke.
A snippet:
Like to blame their problems on outside forces:  People don’t like to see themselves as the source of their problems. While people certainly have problems that aren’t caused by something they’ve done, far too often they will also try to shift blame [...]

The CollegeScholarship blog says on this chart on their site: Please help spread the word. You may embed the image in your blog or on other sites so long as you reference the original source. So here’s the link and here’s the chart!

Brian J. O’Connor, columnist at the Detroit News, has this piece today: Workers discover 401(k) plans are failing them in retirement.
He makes good points about the unrealistic expectations that have been placed on ordinary people via converting retirement money to 401(k) plans to make complicated financial investment decisions. A snippet:
All this is not to say [...]

This post is for my southeast Michigan readers:
The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards will host a free financial planning clinic from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday Sept. 19 at the Westin Southfield Detroit, 1500 Town Center, Southfield.
The presentations and topics include financial steps to take in case of a job loss, estate planning [...]

This post is for my southeast Michigan readers:
The Sisters Acquiring Financial Empowerment Health and Wealth Expo will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday October 24 at the Northwest Activities Center, 18100 Meyers St., Detroit, Michigan 48235.
Admission is free and open to the public. Lunch also will be provided at no charge.
There will [...]