When it comes to credit card debt, especially with the passing of the CARD Act, there have been a lot of statistics flying around. I wanted to find a authoritative source, in this case the Federal Reserve, and see what the real numbers are.

One of the tricky things about averages is that it’s hard to make an apples to apples comparison. If you’re 25 and have $5,000 in credit card debt, is that good or bad? It’s certainly worse than having no credit card debt, but what if you’re responsible for providing for a family? A single person with $5,000 in debt is “worse” than a family with $5,000 in debt, all in one person’s name, right? It’s questions like these that make the whole “average credit card debt” question, and others like it, so tricky.

Despite these difficulties, it’s still valuable to understand what the average is as well as what the various trends are. If nothing else, it’s fun too right?

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I remember the first day I set foot at college, it was a mixture of excitement and fear at the prospect of being on my own. I arrived in Pittsburgh, PA a few days early and had the opportunity to wander around an empty campus. Carnegie Mellon University, especially in 1998, wasn’t a large campus, you could walk from one end of the campus to the other in less than twenty minutes, but it was still intimidating. After five years, a few degrees, and a great experience, I departed for the “real world.”

One thing I wish I had when I started college was a list of things I had to do for my finances like I did for my academics. College is where you set many of your life’s foundations. Whether it’s spiritual, physical, academic, or financial, your foundations are laid in your youth but set when you’re in college. I was fortunate enough not to make too many missteps and managed well enough, but I wish I had a list… so I wrote one, I hope it can help you whether you’re starting college or just starting over. I hope it helps. (and it sure beats reading another list of best paying careers!)

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Dave Ramsey is a polarizing figure. Some people love him and swear by his advice and others think he’s a hack. Which one is he? Unfortunately that’s a question only you can answer but hopefully I will provide you with enough information about his flagship book to make your own decision.

The problem with personal finance is that there are multiple solutions to any one problem. If you think it’s simply about math, you’re wrong. Someone in credit card debt understands that when you use your credit card and don’t pay your entire bill, you’ll go into debt. They aren’t stupid, they know how interest works, but there is a non-math reason why they’re in debt.

If you had to boil down the book into a single sentence, then I’d say that Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover is a book that gives you a good framework to get yourself out of debt and back on solid financial footing.

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A couple years ago, you could play the balance transfer arbitrage game over and over again. Apply for a credit card, get a 0% balance transfer, and then transfer that right into your 5% APY online savings account. Man, those were the days!

Now, balance transfer periods are shorter, transfer fees are higher, and, most insidious of all, the interest rates after the 0% promotion ends are higher. With the recent credit card laws, I’m betting those offers will become even less inviting. While this will take all those balance transfer arbitragers out of the game, they can still be effective tools for people looking to catch up on their credit card debt. A 0% interest rate, even for only a few months, can give you a little bit of breathing room so here’s how you should compare balance transfer offers.

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A few weeks ago, I discussed How Debt Settlement Works, and today I wanted to talk about another debt related topic – debt management programs or debt management plans.

A debt management program is similar to debt settlement in that you pay a third party who will, after taking their fee, pay your creditors. You are still responsible for your debts but the third party will help you stay disciplined in keeping your obligations. However, that’s where the similarities between the two differ.

A debt management programs or plans may be able to help you negotiate for lower interest rates on your debts, get your late fees waived or reduced, work out a payment schedule, and potentially consolidate your various monthly payments into one payment. Like debt settlement, these programs are not cheap and some places will charge you a lot in fees. The goal with a debt management program

Over two years ago, one of the first Devil’s Advocate posts I wrote was that you shouldn’t adjust with your payroll deductions. Back then, as it is now, conventional personal finance advice told you to adjust your withholding so that you don’t have too much tax withheld from your paycheck.

How do you adjust your withholdings? You adjust your withholding by submitting a W-4 to your company’s HR or payroll department with an updated number of exemptions. To determine how many exemptions you should put down, I would use the IRS Withholding Calculator because recent laws have made numerous “rules of thumb” obsolete.

Now that you know how, let’s talk about why!

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Manifest Destiny was the general belief that the United States was destined to expand from the United States’ current territory all the way to the Pacific Ocean. This belief, which was never codified into law or even an official government policy, was the guiding principle for a lot of the government’s policies and actions. It provided guidance in terms of expansion and helped bring about westward expansion. It’s important to note that the term wasn’t used until 1845 by an American newspaper editor, John O’Sullivan, and that westward expansion had occurred in earnest long before then. However, it gave the idea a name and ideas with names are very powerful.

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This article is part of the series, The Summer of George- The Most Productive Summer a College Student Will Ever Have.

Do you think that you don’t earn enough money have to worry about managing your finances? If so you are dead wrong. If you get into the habit of properly managing your finances at an early age then these habits will hopefully follow you into your 30s and so on. Let this summer be known as the time where you finally took control of your financial situation.

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It looks like the Complete Idiot’s Guide franchise has expanded into the personal finance world with their latest offering, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Out of Debt by Ken Clark. I normally associate their books with specific products, like how to use Quicken or how to get the most out of TurboTax, but this one talks about the steps you need to take to put your personal finances back on track and get yourself out of debt.

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Each year, Sallie Mae does a national study on how undergraduate college students use credit cards and their usage trends. 2009’s report was released this week with a bang because they discovered that credit card usage has increased to levels never seen before.

Here are some staggering statistics:

• Students have an average of 4.6 credit cards!
• 84% of students have at least one credit card.
• The average (mean) balance is $3,173, the highest ever recorded in the study’s history.
• The median balance was $1,645 with 21% of students having between $3,000 and $7,000 in debt.
• 39% of students already have a credit card before they arrive on campus.
• Median debt of those students was $939, up from $373 in 2004, with only 15% having a $0 balance.
• Students graduate with an average of $4,100 in credit card debt with almost 20% having more than $7,000 owed on credit cards.
• A third of students rarely or never discussed credit card use with parents.

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