With all of the issues related to money that young adults face today, it's more important than ever to raise money smart kids. However, if you are like many parents, you may be a little baffled about where to start and what to do. Here are 7 simple strategies to get you started:

1. Talk to your kids about money. It may not always be comfortable to talk to your kids about money but it is important. Take advantage of opportunities as they arise in everyday life to discuss how you make money decisions and then set aside a specific time each week or at least monthly for more in depth family discussions.

2. Start money lessons early. Kids can generally understand basic money concepts like spending, saving and earning as soon as they learn to count, around age 4 or 5. Once they are in school, they are ready for more complex concepts like borrowing (debt) and investing.

3. Encourage your kids to set money goals. Teach them the elements of goal setting using the 5-step ‘SMART’ system: (1) be specific or pin point exactly what you are going after; (2) make goals measurable so you can track your progress; (3) make them achievable so success is possible; (4) record or write them down along with the steps to be successful and read them every day to keep moving forward; and, (5) set a time frame to complete them so they don’t become ‘someday’ goals that may or may not happen.

4. Teach your kids how to spend. This may sound a little strange but kids need to understand how to make buying decisions. Use everyday occurrences like going to the grocery store so they can begin to understand what things cost and why you choose one brand over another. Read sales papers and plan purchases based on the ads. Talk to them about quality, price, sales and bargains, and show them the steps you go through to make buying decisions for large purchases like appliances and cars.

5. Provide structure for your kids to grow their skills. Make it easy for them to develop budgets and save money on a consistent basis. Help them set up their own accounts and keep records, or you become the banker, providing everything from checking to savings and loans with interest. Also, give them their allowance in denominations that encourage them not spend it all in one place. For example, if you give your kids a $5 allowance, give it to them in $1 bills so that they can easily divide it into different categories like saving, spending and charity.

6. Give your kids the opportunity to test their skills. I know this can be difficult to do watch, but kids need to exercise their money muscles. They need to learn to make choices and to deal with the consequences if they make mistakes. Remember, you may not really be helping them in the long run if you constantly bail them out, so unless it is an urgent situation, let them deal with it.

Are you in need of a personal budget? Well, join the crowd because many people today could use a little help in that area. Here are a few free personal budgeting tips that may be able to help you out.

Analyze Your Situation

The first and biggest thing you have to do when trying to create a personal budget is analyze your situation and be truthful about what your income and expenses really are. This may seem like a no brainer but many people that set out to create a budget for themselves fail before they even begin by not being one hundred percent honest with themselves. Some people may think that their smaller credit cards are not that big of a deal so they tend to leave smaller credit card payments out of their budget. This is a mistake. When creating a budget you want to make sure that each and every little expense has been accounted for.

Budget for Fun Events

A good budget will even have room for fun events. Some people don't include fun things like going out to clubs in their budgets. This can lead to money missing at the end of the month. Guys, make sure you budget that trip to the driving range and ladies, don't forget to include getting your nails done in your budget. It may sound a bit too strict but to become good at budgeting you have to keep track of your spending habits. Once this is done, you should be able to see areas where you can get better at spending your money.

Budget for the Unexpected

The biggest mistake that people make is not budgeting in miscellaneous cost. If your like most people, there is always going to be some sort of miscellaneous expense that shows up every month no matter how much you stick to your budget. There is always someone's birthday or someone getting married or maybe just something that goes wrong with your car that you didn't plan for. Make sure that you always plan for the unexpected.

Hopefully you enjoyed these free personal budgeting tips. Budgeting can be as easy or as hard as you make it. Just be sure to be honest with what your situation is and make sure to save room for unexpected events. You will be able to better track your spending habits and see where certain areas may be able to be improved.

“I’ve dreamed of being a dentist as long as I can remember” said Denise Mills, DDS. And so she built a thriving dental practice in Scottsdale by literally “pounding the pavement”. It was hard work, but it paid off. She loved the freedom and security of owning her own business. But slowly that all changed, putting her financial future in jeopardy.

Dr. Mills began noticing pain in her hands. At first she thought she’d be fine, but the pain became unbearable, and she sought help. Just to lift the dental tools caused tremendous agony. She went through many treatments but the pain increased to the point where even being touched on the hand made her want to scream. And after 2/12 years of pain the doctors said that there was nothing else they could do.

Denise was stunned. She had spent almost 30 years doing what she loved, and now it was gone.

She was worried… about her business.. her family…and about what she was going to do next.

Fortunately Dr. Mills had followed some wise counsel and she realized that she was going to be okay. Her business overhead insurance policy has helped her to keep her business running, paying things like utilities and rent and has allowed her to hire another dentist to take care of her patients. Her disability income insurance policy benefits has helped supplement the income she used to receive as a dentist, so that she can continue to take care of her family.

Dr. Mills still has pain in her hands, but she’s not worried because the insurance has allowed her to continue to do what she loves, just in a different way. Early last year she founded Progressive Dental Academy, a dental assisting school in Scottsdale. So now, she is helping people find their “dream career” in the rewarding field of dentistry.

Credit cards and credit scores are a delicate recipe; too much or too little of the ingredients could spoil the dish. Having worked in the mortgage industry for years I have seen almost every credit score and scenario imaginable and credit cards play a large role determining the scores. On one hand they can improve your credit and over all credit “worthiness” and on the other hand they can do just the opposite. Finding the right combination and wisely managing your credit cards is key to improving and maintaining a good credit standing.

Almost everyone knows that too much credit card debt is bad and this may have a negative effect on your credit. What you may not know is how the credit reporting agencies determine who has” too much” debt and who doesn’t. After all, credit bureaus are not aware how much people earn only how much they owe. The main criteria they use to judge excessive debt is a term called the “credit to balance ratio”. Meaning if you have one credit card with a $5000 credit limit and your balance is $4500 this ratio is high and will begin to affect your credit score negatively.

Once your balance on your credit card rises exceeds 35% of your credit limit ($1750 for our example) the credit bureaus interpret this as having too much revolving debt. The higher this ratio is the more adversely it affects your credit score. I do not advocate that you fill an excessive number of credit card applications; this can be detrimental to your credit scores. However, in a pinch, I have had clients use a balance transfer credit card to shuffle balances between cards to lower this ratio and improve their credit scores. If you have a lot of credit cards, within reason, this will not lower your credit score. Having high balances just one or more credit cards will drop your credit score severely.

Showing credit restraint and depth is one of the best ways to improve your credit scores. Meaning, if you have available credit lines and leave them “untapped” this will have a very positive result to your credit score and over all credit profile.. For this reason, I recommend to my clients not to close accounts that they have paid in full, unless the cards charge an annual fee. Be careful though, the temptation is too great for a lot of people to keep a ready access to credit, yours truly included. If you don’t trust yourself with the credit card you can always shred it and keep the account open. My grandmother used to freeze her credit cards in a large glass of water to prevent ready access to them. Of coarse this was before she had a microwave.