By the time I graduated, I had in place some pretty good money habits thanks to my grandmother Big Mama. Because of her, I’ve made it my mission to pass on the financial wisdom she taught me.

Since the bureau’s inception, it’s been asking consumers for feedback on issues such as student loans, credit cards and how you’re affected by mandatory arbitration clauses.

My grand­-mother, who was determined to raise me to be a good money manager, didn’t want to hear about the fire I was sent to cover — not yet anyway. Instead, she cut me off, asking if I had gone to the benefits office to arrange for some of my pay to be automatically sent to a savings account, preferably to a credit union. I hadn’t.

Ross left a wonderful personal legacy. He was a good father, friend and coach. He was a dedicated educator who devoted his career to working with children with emotional, developmental and physical disabilities.

I’m hoping the school on the top of her list will be one of my favorites, North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro. I’m also pulling for my alma mater, the University of Maryland at College Park, but she says it’s too close to our home, about 17 miles away.

I cleaned out my closet. It felt good to get rid of clothes I haven’t worn in years or that no longer fit. It took much longer than I expected, mostly because I just couldn’t let go of many things. And isn’t this much the way many of us handle our personal finances?

The deadline to file and pay your taxes this year is April 17. The Internal Revenue Service’s Free File program, conducted in partnership with private-sector tax-preparation companies, offers software that will assist those with low or moderate incomes to prepare and e-file their returns. More than 33 million tax forms have been filed through Free File since its debut in 2003.

There are good intentions behind these surveys. Their purpose is to find out how to create financial literacy programs to help people understand the importance of saving and investing, the devastating results of taking on too much debt, and how to avoid becoming a victim of fraud.

The NFL suspended Saints head coach Sean Payton, General Manager Mickey Loomis and former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams for participating in a pay-for-performance system that gave cash awards to players who hit opposing players hard enough to knock them out of a game or cause them to be helped off the field. The players most heavily involved in the bounty scheme face potential disciplinary action.

This tax season, the IRS has specifically targeted the unemployed and small-business owners for help through its Fresh Start initiative. The agency is also making a change to its installment agreement program, doubling the dollar amount it takes to be eligible for quick and streamlined installment payments.

The woman, who earns about $40,000 a year, ended up with that eye-popping payment because when trading in her old car, the dealer rolled the remaining loan balance into a new loan. In describing why she would sign such a deal (because it didn’t make a bit of sense to me), she said the dealer promised to “pay off” her old loan no matter how much she owed.

For the second year, the Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants has surveyed its members to come up with a list of the most outrageous tax deductions people fearlessly try to claim that were smacked down by their accountants.

But I’m not buying it. Didn’t we learn something from the Great Recession, when an over-reliance on all things not cash nearly took down our economy?

For example, consider the trend of schools forcing families to pay fines for various infractions such as not getting their children to class on time. It’s counterproductive, and the fines often hit people who can least afford them.

When companies fail to protect our privacy, we are rightfully upset. Javelin Strategy & Research, in its latest report about identity theft, says that about 36 million people were notified of a data breach in 2011. Having your information lost or stolen during a breach doesn’t automatically mean you will be a victim of identity theft, but it certainly greatly increases the odds.

It was not hyperbole. And his problem is one being faced by many adults. They are finding that their parents’ finances are a hot mess. Equally frustrating is the realization by these adult children that they don’t have enough money to fix the problem.

However, I’ve never considered destroying these items to further punish her for not doing her chores, for being disrespectful or for being ungrateful. But that’s what one father did. Tommy Jordan shot his daughter’s laptop — nine times — after he found a profanity-laced tirade she had written on her Facebook page.

“Where do you see yourself when you retire?” I wondered.

Every year, my husband and I pull out a white folding table to begin organizing the tax documents that we will eventually hand over to our tax preparer. We put it up early this year, instead of waiting until the end of March when we’re scrambling madly. This time, we’re determined we won’t be among the millions of procrastinators who wait to file on the last day, which this year lands on April 17.

Many people would ignore the court notice. And many of those people would probably end up with a default judgment and be forced to pay the debt, some by having wages garnisheed or money snatched from their bank accounts.

Is college a time for young adults to just enrich their minds, or should students use that time to concentrate on a major that will prepare them for a career?

She and I talked about her options, which included selling her two-bedroom townhouse and moving into an affordable apartment or getting a roommate. But while speaking with her, I had to suppress my anger.

“What’s your major?” I ask.

The student might say, “English,” “psychology,” “political science” or “engineering.”

And then, in my mind, after factoring in some other information, I say to myself “job” or “no job,” depending on the major.

A bully was hitting my younger brother, Mitchell, who suffered from epilepsy. The attacker was considerably larger than my brother, who was cowering on the ground trying to block the punches with his arms. I was skinny and bookish and would cry if you looked at me hard. But I got between that boy and my brother and just started swinging. I fought so hard on behalf of my brother. The bully never bothered him again.

They’re scared about losing their money. But in my experience, contributing to the poor returns some investors receive are the bad decisions they made because they panicked, because they were greedy or because they didn’t investigate their investment choice.

One of the good things was the opening of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which will promote financial education and write federal rules to combat unfair, deceptive and abusive financial practices and products.

My, how times have changed. Forget the crazy-colored scarves or the overly bold-smelling lotion gift packs. The gift card is the go-to present when you don’t know what to get someone. My husband and I laughed that the teens could have put all the cards in a bowl and then selected the one each wanted.

A lot of them are making enormous sacrifices. About one in six people who have a full-time or part-time job say that they have to care for an elderly family member, relative or friend, or someone with disabilities, according to Gallup research sponsored by Pfizer and ReACT (or Respect a Caregiver’s Time) — a coalition of corporations and organizations trying to address challenges faced by employee caregivers. The research found that workers are forced to miss an average of 6.6 days a year because of care-giving responsibilities.

Now I must warn you, the gift, as you might already suspect, won’t make the children screech with joy. But be brave this holiday season and trade toys for tuition.

No, I’m not talking about the alleged 13-year extramarital affair with Ginger White. Cain has denied her claim. But we do know that Cain had what could be called a financial affair. In various interviews, Cain has said he paid some of White’s monthly bills and expenses. He also has said his wife of 43 years didn’t know about the relationship or the payments.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York says that overall consumer debt dropped about $60 billion, to $11.66 trillion, in the third quarter. But as consumers cut their mortgage and credit card debt, they apparently were loading up on student loans.

To hear him tell it, he’s the last kid in his eighth-grade class who doesn’t have a phone. When his father upgraded his 3G iPhone to the 4S version, my son had visions of a smartphone hand-me-down for Christmas.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created specifically to look out for the interests of consumers, has undertaken several initiatives to simplify loan products that have tripped up consumers.

We never had a clothes dryer. Big Mama didn’t want to increase her electric bill. In the winter, we hung our wash in the basement. When we would beg her for a dryer, she would say she didn’t need one because that’s why God created sunlight.

But from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, a number of organizations have decided to do more than shake their heads. They have come together to open three telephone lines in a nationwide effort to prevent seniors from becoming victims of financial fraud. The Prevent Elder Financial Abuse Call-In program, manned by certified financial planners, heath-care professionals and adult protective services professionals, will be giving out advice and guidance on how to protect yourself and any senior you might know against fraud.

“Most people don’t have a money problem,” he said. “They have a management problem.”

I had the opportunity recently, as part of a financial literacy ministry I direct at my church, to see and hear how many people allocate the money they put in their 401(k)s or other plans. And this made me very concerned that many employees don’t know what they’re doing when it comes to investing for their retirement.

Even after so many lost so much betting on technology stocks, the search is still on for another great growth sector.

Could it be green-energy investing?

All this Internet openness has made it much easier for people to be preyed upon by con artists who specialize in affinity fraud, using someone’s connection to certain groups to gain their trust and ultimately their life savings.

Con artists and business owners who use shady practices know that desperate people will spend all their resources and even go into debt if they think it will help them out of a financial jam. So the scammers devise plans that promise jobs, access to government grants, debt relief, medical discounts or work-at-home opportunities. The worst of the schemes involve false promises to help homeowners modify their mortgages.

People are trying to make money any way they can in a stock market where constant turbulence is the new norm. But because investors can be so gullible, it’s still necessary to issue warnings to protect their irrational exuberance.

So why all the fuss about Bank of America’s announcement that it would start charging some customers $5 a month — $60 a year — for debit-card purchases?

But it’s because of my work that I meet a lot of people who don’t like what they do. They complain and yet do little to change their situation. I made a promise to myself that if I ever stopped loving my work, I would quit my job. Of course, I made that promise when I was unmarried and childless, and when the unemployment rate wasn’t hovering near double digits. I’m now in the camp of get a job before you leave a job, even if you’re unhappy. (The exception is if your working conditions are causing serious psychological and or physical problems.)

“Take off your bedroom slippers, put on your marching shoes,” President Obama said at the CBC Foundation’s annual dinner Saturday night. “Shake it off. Stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying.”

At the height of the housing crisis, when foreclosures across the country began a troubling increase, Congress passed the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, designed to provide at least some consolation to folks who had lost their homes.

They are for some.

But for many, things are still bad.

The Census Bureau just released household income data noting that last year, median household income was at $49,445, a 2.3 percent decline from 2009.

Rule changes by the Maryland Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, are being hailed as a significant effort to stop debt collectors from getting judgments based on flimsy evidence.

The resulting actions against employers and employees should be a warning to companies trying to restrict social media postings by employees and to workers who use the medium to air their grievances.

Following a recent discussion, one issue in particular caught my attention. It deserves a response.

ne of my favorite movies is “Failure to Launch.” Not because it’s great cinema; I just like the premise.

It’s about a 35-year-old, played by Matthew McConaughey, who lives at home and has no intentions of leaving. So his parents hire a woman who specializes in getting grown men to leave the nest. There’s much more to the story, of course, but the takeaway message for me is that parents need to help their adult children launch into adulthood. Unfortunately, there are many parents who fail at this task.

So it’s understandable that the hundreds of thousands of homeowners who finally realize they can no longer hold onto their homes worry about how turning in their keys to the house through various transactions with their lender will affect their credit scores.

It’s the price of gold bursting.

Oh, gold prices may go up again, but investment advisers and regulators are warning investors to be careful about putting too much of their money in gold.

As the stock market has vaulted up and down day after day, investors have fled to gold. But have all these investors chasing what they think is a secure investment created a bubble?

Some parents feel that their children will not appreciate their college education if they don’t contribute or pay everything themselves. Others feel, as I do, that it’s part of the cost of raising a child to pay as much as you can, if not all, of college expenses.

“I think my wife and I have found the answer to having enough money at retirement,” a reader wrote.

You go through the Sunday advertisements looking for bargains at your grocery store. You see some great sales and head to the supermarket. You search the shelves, but the one sale item you really want is not available. You either huff out the store, or you find something else to buy.