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In 2018, Americans’ debt hit $13 trillion, with the average American carrying more than $38,000 in debt – not including home mortgages. For many, debt is simply a way of life, with more Americans living from paycheck to paycheck.

For those consumed by debt, Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy is an option, with Chapter 7 wiping out eligible debt, and Chapter 13 reducing debt and allowing filers to make monthly payments to pay off the rest.

Time certainly goes by fast. One day you’re interviewing for your first job and the next thing you know you’re a few short years from applying for Social Security.

If you’ve planned for your retirement, you’ll likely have a good stash of funds saved.  But the unfortunate news is that according to the ​Insured Retirement Institute,​ 42 percent of baby boomers have nothing saved for retirement, and even those that have saved don’t have nearly enough to survive on.

Personal finance, like just about everything else, is mainly common sense. Advice like “don’t spend more than you make; start investing while you’re young; don’t loan money to friends with the expectation of getting it back,” have been around for generations, and most likely will survive the next few generations as well. Even money mistakes that are corrected early enough will have little impact on your wealth going forward.  What you do want to avoid are money mistakes that can be hard to recover from. Here are just a few:

With the rise in popularity of financial planning robo-advisors, many experts predicted the beginning of the end for financial advisors. But as many investors are starting to see, there are distinct advantages to speaking with a live person when determining just how you should invest your money.

While robo-advisors can be a good solution for those with limited funds who want to get their feet wet in the investment arena, the problem is the lack of a personal relationship can prove to be detrimental.

We all have certain causes that we choose to support monetarily. In fact, in 2017, Americans gave more than $410 billion to charities, breaking the $400 billion mark for the first time in history.

But anytime that we give our money to an organization, it’s important to do our due diligence, ensuring that the funds that we give will be used effectively.

Reverse mortgages have been around for a long time, but in recent years they have become more popular. Though some experts consider a reverse mortgage a last resort of sorts, depending on your own financial situation, a reverse mortgage may be helpful.

Investing in the stock market can be extremely rewarding, but not without risk. While most investors understand that market volatility is a given in the stock market, for those trying to decide whether to invest in stocks, the volatility alone gives them pause. A lot of people are too risk averse to be comfortable investing in the stock market. They want a sure thing when it comes to investing their hard-earned cash. Unfortunately, a sure thing that also offers dividends is hard to find.

While it may not seem so, there are a lot of painless ways to save money. Not just for those who have a limited cash flow, but also for those with plenty of surplus cash who will appreciate ways to cut back on monetary waste.

Here are just a few things you can do to save:

There are a variety of financial management tools and applications available today that can be used to help you manage your money. From software applications to phone apps, there’s no shortage of help available.

Unfortunately, those apps and software programs can only do what you set them up to do. And all the apps and software products in the world will make no difference in your financial situation if you don’t do the following:

Whether you like it or not, a good credit score is essential. Your credit score factors into everything from insurance rates, to whether you get the job you applied for. A good credit score is also needed to buy a house, obtain cell phone service, rent an apartment, and buy a car.