Sheryl Garrett

After you've tapped out all other options, borrowing money to pay for college is your last resort. Your student should exhaust her borrowing options before you consider taking on any debt to pay for her college education. Putting yourself into debt to pay for your child's college education may have disastrous effects on your financial future — after all, there is no such thing as financial aid for your retirement.

You may want to consider establishing automatic investment programs to save for your retirement. Several automatic savings programs may be available to you. You need to determine how much you can direct to each of these automatic plans. Here’s how you do it: Make sure that you’re taking full advantage of any employer matching contribution for which you may be eligible with your company’s retirement plan.

Getting a handle on your personal finances can be tough. We’re constantly being urged to spend, spend, spend, while others encourage us to save, save, save! The good news is that you can create a healthy balance between the two. When you understand your personal financial situation, you can make smart decisions about what to do with your money.

If your family is embarking on a military career, your life could be unpredictable, stressful, and ever-changing. You'll want to keep your military family happy, ease the stress of making frequent moves, and connect with other military families. To further minimize your stress, learn to manage your monthly finances and the time away from your deployed spouse.

When you’re part of a military family, it can be overwhelming to think about moving and starting over every two to three years. During your time at the installation, your unit will become your extended family through shared experiences and deployments. To help with your transition, the military has a structure in place that ensures that you have people, resources, and programs out there to support you from day one.

Moving is always headache, but many military families have to get used to it. You can turn moving into an art form if you keep the following tips in mind when it’s time to pack up and head out. Pack the essentials you’ll need for your first few days in the house inside a large piece of furniture. It might be difficult to know which box has the linens for the beds and towels for the bathrooms, but if you pack them in a chest of drawers, you might actually find them when you need them.

Military service is a demanding way of life for the entire family. To keep your military family together and happy, try to remember and apply the following pointers: Be flexible! Respect each other’s dreams and goals. Manage expectations. Develop family rituals. Maintain open lines of communication.

When your spouse is deployed with the military and you can watch the news 24 hours a day, it’s easy to let your imagination run wild. Technology’s a great thing, but sometimes enough is enough and you need to unplug. You’re going to have to find ways to manage your separation anxiety or you’ll find yourself coming apart.

You should review your finances any time your family starts on a new career path, and the military is no exception. Know how much money you really need to purchase essentials for your family — food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and insurance. Most of these required expenses are provided by, or supplemented by, the military.