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As I was growing up and in my early professional years, I would often hear financial advice from people in my life who wanted to steer me down a smart path. Most of it was good. Some of it was disastrously bad.

Since I started The Simple Dollar – and especially since I’ve gone full-time with it – the amount of advice has actually increased (I think people figure they’re simultaneously helping me and also giving me material for articles). Again, most of it was good. Again, some of it was disastrously bad.

Recently, I was asked by a person interviewing me for the single best – and the single worst – piece of personal finance advice I’ve ever heard. The best was easy – spend less than you earn. The worst? I listed several, and thought of more later on.

Dealing with any student debt is challenging, but what about when the amount is simply overwhelming?

About one in five borrowers owes more than $50,000 in student loans, and 5.6% owe more than $100,000. It’s no wonder studies are showing that this generation of debtors is putting off marriage and having children, forgoing homeownership, and unfortunately defaulting on their loans.

How can you land a $400 room on the Celebrity Reflection for just $62 a night? Keep reading. Photo: Celebrity Cruises

Imagine finding a luxury hotel room that costs just $62 a night, a price that includes all of your meals and a view of the ocean from your private balcony.

Sounds like a pretty great deal right? Well, it’s for real.

That’s the kind of nightly room price you can find when booking a vacation on a repositioning cruise.

One-Way Cruising

Haven’t heard of them? They’ve been around for a very long time. And when you think about it, they make perfect sense.

As Sarah and I roll along the path to financial independence, it naturally has some degree of impact on our parenting. The financial choices and decisions we make, like it or not, are different than the average American family and thus likely different than the decisions made by the families of their friends.

Our goal as parents is to have any financial success that we enjoy never result in any sense of entitlement for our children. We want to imbue in them a strong sense that you need to work hard for what you have and that you need to put away for the future in order to preserve what you’ve earned.

How can you do that successfully when you’re on the path to financial independence? How do you balance giving your children lots of opportunities and experiences with a sense that you also need to work hard and save for the future?