I AM AMAZED OUR schools don’t require kids to learn three important life skills: the basics of nutrition, a thing or two about parenting, and how to handle money. I’m no expert on nutrition and my parenting is a work in progress. But I do have a background in personal finance: When folks ask me what to read to deepen their financial knowledge, I have a ready list of titles.
Recently, however, someone asked me for a more advanced list—a “201”

I RECENTLY LEARNED a new expression, TL;DR, which stands for “too long; didn’t read.” Twitter users and bloggers use it when they want to summarize an idea for readers who are short on time. It’s the modern equivalent of saying, “Here’s the executive summary.”
Coincidentally, this week, two people separately asked me what I see as the most important principles in personal finance. In other words, they wanted the TL;DR version, without too much commentary.

IF THERE’S ONE NUMBER that drives our financial lives, it’s our fixed living costs. We’re talking here about regularly recurring expenses that are pretty much unavoidable, such as mortgage or rent, car payments, property taxes, utilities, insurance premiums and groceries.
Why are fixed living costs so important? There are five reasons:
1. The lower our fixed living costs, the easier it is to save. I believe many Americans would love to save more, but simply can’t,

HAVEN’T GIVEN MUCH thought to estate planning and charitable giving? Here are 10 questions to jumpstart your thinking:

Can you afford to give away money now? You shouldn’t gift large sums to your children or charity unless you’re confident you have enough for your own retirement. There’s no limit on gifts to charity, though your annual tax deduction may be capped. For gifts to family members, you might take advantage of the annual gift-tax exclusion,

GOT DEBT? TO GET a handle on the situation and figure out whether you’re handling your loans and credit cards properly, here are 10 questions to ask:

What’s your net worth? You might have a home and sizable financial accounts. But what are you worth once you subtract all your debts?
Are you taking the necessary steps to stop thieves from borrowing money using your identity? To protect yourself, regularly check your credit reports for errors and accounts you don’t recognize,

WE MAKE ALL KINDS of financial mistakes: spend too much, borrow too much, buy expensive investment products, try to beat the market. To be sure, there are some folks who simply don’t know better. But others give the issue serious thought—and still act foolishly, justifying their behavior with cockamamie arguments. Here are five such justifications that I’ve heard in recent months:
 1. “It’s okay to spend money if it cheers me up.” This is the crack cocaine school of budgeting.

TALKING TO A BROKER or insurance salesman? Here are 10 things you’ll likely never hear:

“Wow, your 401(k) has great low-cost institutional funds. There’s no way you should roll that money into an IRA.”
“Do you know that you could buy these funds outside a variable annuity and pay a fraction of the price?”
“Sure, you could make that trade—but probably the only person who will get richer is me.”
“My hunch is, this closed-end fund you’re buying will be at discount within a few months of the IPO.”
“Given the markup on that bond you just bought,

WANT TO BOOST YOUR after-tax wealth? Grab copies of your latest tax return and investment statements—and ask yourself these 10 questions:

What’s your marginal tax rate? That’s the tax rate on the last dollar of income you earn each year. It’s a crucial piece of information as you decide which retirement accounts to fund and how to invest your taxable account. You can get a quick estimate using Dinkytown’s calculator.
Do you expect your marginal tax rate to be higher or lower once you’re retired?

IF WE HAVE DINNER with half-a-dozen others, we might all share the same meal and yet each of us will have a different experience—sometimes radically different. Even as we talk politics, crack jokes and swap gossip, we’ll each have our own thoughts whirling in the background: errands we can’t forget, work issues we need to resolve, incidents from the day we keep replaying, worries we can’t put behind us.
For me, those whirling background thoughts often concern financial notions I want to write about.

REVIEWING YOUR investment strategy? To get you started, here are 10 questions to wrestle with:

How much cash you will need from your portfolio over the next five years? That money should be out of stocks and riskier bonds—and invested in nothing more adventurous than short-term bonds.
What’s the total sum you expect to save between now and retirement? If you look at that future savings as a cash holding and count it as part of your portfolio’s conservative investments,

IF YOU DON’T SAVE diligently, you are highly unlikely to amass a decent-size nest egg. Time to make amends? Here are 10 questions to ponder:

Do you regularly spend more than planned? Try writing down every purchase you make. That’ll tell you where your dollars are going—and make you think twice before spending.
How much of your income goes toward fixed living costs? We’re talking about items such as mortgage or rent, car payments,

COULD YOU SQUEEZE more happiness from your dollars? Here are 10 questions to ponder:

Which expenditures from the past year do you remember with a smile? Which prompt a shrug of the shoulders and maybe even a twinge of regret? Use those insights to guide your spending in the year ahead.
Could you commute less? Research tells us that commuting is terrible for happiness. You might move closer to the office or try to work at home a few days each week.

WANT TO MAKE SURE your family is adequately protected against financial disaster? Try grappling with these 10 questions:

What’s the minimum dollar amount you need each month to keep your household running? That’s a useful number to know if you’re forced to slash living costs because, say, you lost your job or you need to cover a large, unexpected medical bill.
How would you cope financially if you were out of work for six months?

GOT COLLEGE-BOUND kids? Make sure you and your children are on the right track financially—with these 10 questions:

Can you afford to help your kids with college costs? It’s important to talk to your teenagers early on about how much financial assistance you can offer—and that’s doubly true if they’ll need to shoulder much or all of the cost.
Will your family receive needs-based financial aid? Use the EFC calculator at CollegeBoard.org to figure out how much aid you might get.

“STOP PULLING MY leg, Grandpa. You’re kidding, right? Is it really true that people:

used to believe they could beat the market?
paid 2% of assets and 20% of profits to hedge fund managers?
got their stock picks from a guy screaming on the television?
thought cash-value life insurance was a good investment?
believed that brokers would act in their best interest?
studied stock price charts to figure out what would happen next?
bought and sold exchange-traded index funds like crazy?