This is a guest post from the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE), a non-profit dedicated to improving the financial literacy of all Americans. NEFE operates the site Smart About Money and have developed a series of articles filled with tips to help you make 2010 the year of financial freedom.  You can also find Economic Survival Tips, worksheets and articles focused on financial education related to housing, spending, credit and job change. Follow NEFE on Twitter at @nefe_org

Control Spending.  If you spend less you'll have more money available to pay down debt and save for the future. Write down your expenses for a month to see where your money is going. You might be surprised by how easy it is to find places to scale back.

Create a Debt Repayment Plan.  If you carry credit card debt, write down everything you owe and make a plan to pay it off. Start with small items you can act on right away–it will make tackling the bigger debt easier. Also, try buying with cash only. It’s a sure-fire way to prevent increases in your credit card debt.

Setup Auto-Savings Plans. Arrange with your bank or another financial institution to have a set amount deducted from your checking account to a savings account each pay period. Of the Americans who have been able to contribute to emergency savings funds, automatic withdrawal is the most popular method, according to the Consumer Federation of America. Here's why you need to save money.

Boost Retirement Savings.  If your employer offers a 401(k) plan, increase your contributions. If you don't have an employer plan, open an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) and arrange for contributions to be made automatically from your checking or savings account.

Create a Long-term Plan. Write a list of your long-term goals, such as buying a home or saving for college or retirement. Visit the Life Events section of Smart About Money for concrete tips on accomplishing those goals.

Protect Yourself. Be prepared for the unexpected by making sure you, your family, your assets and investments are insured and fully covered. If you do not have a will, make 2010 the year you establish a life plan. Not sure where to start, Quicken offers a Willmaker program to get you going.

Find a Financial Buddy. Share your financial resolutions with a friend, colleague, or family member, and you’ll be more likely to keep them. Find someone else who wants to turn around their debt or cut their spending, and establish a mutual support system.

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The practice of New Year’s Resolutions goes all the way to Ancient Rome. Where we look at the past, examine our life and seek to make ourselves better for the New Year. These resolutions can include improving one’s health, getting rid of a bad habit, or re-prioritizing what’s important in our lives.

Typically, there are a few money-related resolutions that are popular: start budgeting, manage debt and save more money. However, there are many other money resolutions you should consider:

Clean Up Your Credit Reports

Sometimes mistakes can happen with your credit report. Someone made an error when applying a credit card payment. You were confused with another person. A Social Security Number was read incorrectly by a lender. Inaccurate information on your credit report can stop you from getting the credit you deserve. It’s important to contact the credit bureaus and dispute these credit mistakes.

Get Out of Debt

It’s not enough to just manage your debts, start a plan to get out of debt. That means making a list of all your debts, their interest rates, and minimum payments. Try to eliminate your highest interest rate payments first and then work your way down. Don’t exclude your secured debts, such as mortgage and car payments. Even as you pay down your debt, don’t reduce what you’ve set aside to pay off your debts. The more you put towards principal, the faster you’ll get out of debt.

Get Rid of the “Little Extras”

Sit down and figure out where your money is getting wasted. Then make a plan to eliminate that unnecessary expense. For example, my money waster was the morning latte on the way into work. At $3.86 a cup, I was spending $1,003.60 a year on lattes. So I bought a coffee machine and starting making my own lattes in the morning. The money from that little extra went towards my emergency fund.

Reduce Financial Stress

USA.gov lists reducing overall stress and work-related stress as popular New Year’s Resolutions. However with the recent economic turmoil and a slow recovery, financial stress is a serious issue that’s going to plague many Americans this year. There are many ways to manage your financial stress. Keep your problems in perspective, and work towards improving your finances. Get support from your family and friends. Exercise or start a low cost hobby to reduce stress.

Increase Your Financial Literacy

Knowledge is power. The more you know about credit, debt and money, the better you can manage your personal finances. If you’re successfully managing your debt, saving money and budgeting your finances, consider branching out into learning more about investing or building wealth. Don’t depend on others to manage your money for you. Take the time to increase your financial literacy.

Improving your financial health can improve other aspects of your life. Take the time to clean up your financial mistakes of the past and start planning for a better future. Make 2010 a good year to remember.

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About Kathryn Katz

Kathryn Katz is a working mom, internet marketer and professional copywriter. Kathryn is a Certified Personal Finance Counselor and works for Consolidated Credit Counseling Services.

I can't believe how fast 2009 has gone by. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were just coming into 2009. I made 4 goals that I wanted to accomplish in 2009. Now that 2009, is just weeks from being over, it's time to review how close I came to meeting my goals. Right now, it looks pretty bad since I only completed 1 of the 4 goals.

My 2009 goals were to:

SGM Savings Challenge. I had a goal of saving $50,000 over the next 24 months. Back in December of 2008, I was at about $28,000 and set a goal of saving $14,000 in 2009 and $14,000 by the end of 2010. I'm happy to say that I was able to save a little over $14,000. Here is the last savings update.

Student Loan. My goal was to pay down my student loan balance from over $23k down to $18k. I didn't meet this goal. Unfortunately, the balance did not change very much. I paid down a little bit of the principal but the majority of the payments went towards interest. I think the main reason for this was that my extra cash was going towards my Savings Challenge. The only good thing about paying interest on this loan is that I can write it off when I file my taxes.

Increase Alternative Income. My goal was to bring in an additional $7500 in alternative income on top of my regular salary and rental income. The additional income for this goal would come from this blog, Ebay sales and online survey sites. Right now, it looks like I was able to bring in an additional $4300. While it is not near the amount I'd hope for, it's still nothing to complain about. Any extra money you can bring in on top of your regular income is great!

Purchase an Additional Rental Property. There are so many properties in the Atlanta area that can be obtained for less than $50k due to the collapse in the housing market. I wanted to use this to my advantage and pick up an additional rental property. I put in offers on 2 properties and was outbid by investors with deeper pockets and a lot more resources than I have. I've decided to put this goal on the back burner for awhile. I don't think the housing market will rebound that much in the next year or two so the opportunities will still be there.

How did you do on your 2009 Financial Goals?

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There are some people out there that live by the financial motto of, "You can't take it with you, so enjoy it today". To some extent, I agree with that. Yeah, you should enjoy your money while you are still young enough to enjoy it. There is nothing wrong with that. But I also think you should save some of it for later. By saving money, you are building wealth.

"The time to save is now. When a dog gets a bone, he doesn't go out and make a down payment on a bigger bone. He buries the one he's got".  - Will Rogers

Here are some of the reasons I save:

Emergencies. Unfortunately, we don't have control over everything in our lives. There will be times that your car will break down and need repairs. There will be times when the hot water heater goes out or you have an unexpected illness or lose your job. If you are a homeowner, you can guarantee that something will break at any time. Unlike being a renter, you can't just call up the landlord and have them fix the problem. These things happen and most of the time they require money to fix them. If you have no money set aside to cover the emergency, it could cause additional stress along with the stress of the original problem. If you have no savings to cover the emergency, you could end up going into debt and paying more money.

Freedom. Having money set aside in savings gives you freedom. I had the opportunity to take a vacation a few months ago. A few years ago, I would not have been able to go because I didn't have the money. I had the money set aside in my "fun" account and I was able to take my trip without causing any disruption to my regular monthly budget. I did pay for the cost of my trip with my credit card just to get the rewards but I paid the bill the next month with funds from my "fun" account. I didn't have to stress about how I was going to pay for the trip or if I could afford it.

Another good thing about having a nice savings account is that you don't have to depend on anyone else to help you out in a pinch. You really find out who your true friends are when it comes time to borrow money!

Sinking Funds. We all have those expenses that occur once or twice a year. My auto insurance is due twice a year, my homeowners insurance is due once a year, my auto registration is due once a year. Instead of wrecking my budget in the month that the expense is due, I take the total amount of these expenses and divide by 12. Each month, I save that amount in a separate account. When the due date comes, I pull that amount out of savings and pay it. It makes those large expenses a lot easier to swallow.

If you aren't saving money, it's time to get started. It doesn't matter if it is $5, $50 or $500, every amount adds up.

What do you save for? 

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Saving Resources:

If you are considering getting your teen or young adult a cell phone and don't want to worry about overages that result in huge bills, consider getting them a Straight Talk Cell Phone. I bought one for my teenage sister a few months ago and it has worked out great. It can also work for those of you that don't want the hassle of signing a contract or worrying about a credit check.

If you haven't heard of Straight Talk before, it is a service from TracFone Wireless. TracFone Wireless is largest no contract cell phone provider in the US.

Straight Talk was designed to simplify wireless costs without having to sign a contract. They offer 2 simple plans: Unlimited talk, messages and data nationwide for $45 or 1000 minutes of talk time, 1000 text or picture messages and 30mb Data for $30 per month.

You basically pick your cell phone (they offer 3 choices), pick which plan you want and pay. If you are worried about coverage, the service is comparable to that of the big carriers as indicated by the map below.

You can purchase Straight Talk online (see affiliate link below) or at participating Wal-Mart stores.

I'm sure you are probably wondering what the connection is between the two. I've posted before about the virtues of an Emergency Fund and how much they've helped me in the past. I'm sure this will be a controversial post but I wanted to stress again how important it is to have money set aside for those unknowns in your life. Consider this real life example....

I have a friend who is currently in an abusive relationship. Her husband is verbally and physically abusive to her but she continues to stay with him. She's left home a few times only to end up going right back. I couldn't understand why she kept going back so I kept nagging until I got it out of her. The reason she is still there is because she can't afford to leave. He has taken most of the money out of their joint savings account and the individual savings account she had on her own. He has access to all of her accounts but she only has access to their joint checking account. He has his own savings account that she has no access too. She thinks he has taken all the money and put it in his account. He knows that without money, she won't leave him.

I could not believe my ears when I heard this. What kind of person would do that to another person? I then started to think about how she could let this happen to her. I am a firm believer in having a little money set aside in your own name when your are married. Things happen and unfortunately, marriages don't last as long as they used to. When I get married, I plan to have a joint checking and savings account but I also want to have my own savings account. I may want to purchase something that my spouse does not agree with or my spouse may want to purchase something that I don't agree with. By having our own separate savings account, we can buy what we want without causing a huge financial argument .

I've offered to help her but she has refused my help. At this point, I'm not really sure what to do. I'm really concerned that the only way she will leave that house is in a body bag. As harsh as it sounds, I think this is what it will eventually come to. 

By the way, there is NO excuse for domestic violence!!!

I'm going to need some input from my readers on this one. Have you been in a situation like this? How did you get out of it? Do you keep a separate savings account? Do you and your spouse/significant other have equal access to each others separate account?

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