I continue to be impressed with efforts the state government and other organizations in Ohio are taking to teach people, especially teens, about personal finances. Last week a local credit union taught teens about real life finances,which was an eye opening experience. Today the Ohio Attorney General announced that it would be running a video PSA contest for high schoolers, focused on making "Smart Money" choices.

Several suggested themes include:

• reading the fine print
• free isn't always free
• avoiding offers too good to be true
• building good credit
• preventing identity theft
• safe Internet shopping and networking

The winning public service announcement will be reproduced professionally at the Best Buy headquarters and aired throughout the state in 2009. Winning teams receive Best Buy gift cards as well as a recognition plaque and the winning school also receives a $5,000 Best Buy gift card for computer equipment. The contest is open through December 1st and the first 100 teams to enter receive a $25 gift card just for entering.

While we read the dismal news on the state of marriage in the US, a new survey from Parade Magazine reports that more couples are happily married than previously thought. According to the findings of a new national poll, about 88% said they were happy or reasonably content in their marriages. Only 12% ranked their marriages at the bottom of the scale.

Respondents also offered positive explanations for why they've stayed married, with 71% choosing "deep love" as a reason and 73% citing "companionship." On the negative side, close to 30% of the respondents admitted that they remain married either because of financial reasons or because "it's too much trouble to get out."

No matter why people stay in a marriage, it is good for the pocketbook. The longer people stay married, the greater their wealth accumulations. At retirement, a typical married couple has accumulated about $410,000 compared to about $167,000 for never married, about $145,000 for divorced and just under $96,000 for the separated.

It is simply cheaper living together. There are economies of scale and access to insurance, annuities, pensions, and social security. Even in-laws have value as they often leave assets to their offspring. Especially if you are older, it may be better to stay married even if you are no longer feeling "deep love." Better yet, work a bit and rekindle the feelings that brought you together in the first place.

Barbara Bartlein is the People Pro. To sign up for her webinar to improve your relationship, visit: Webinar

Americans are cutting back on purchases of liquor in bars and restaurants, according to top executives at Pernod Ricard SA. They are also purchasing cheaper brands when buying alcohol at stores, although sales at grocery stores and retail outlets continue to grow.

Makes sense to me. Why drop the extra bucks at a bar or restaurant when you can get a bottle of wine, rent a movie, and stay home for a whole lot less money. I have always thought that expensive restaurants were a waste of money and you pay a premium for a drink. Often, a glass of wine will cost you as much as buying the whole bottle at a retail center. And watch out for designer drinks such as Cosmos and fancy martinis -- they can cost you $20 or more.

When we do go out, we like to find local restaurants that serve good food at a cheap price. We never go to chains, they tend to be overpriced and too homogenized for my taste. No, give me the $5.99 fish fry, served in a plastic basket with coleslaw and fries and I'm a happy South Sider.

Remember, there are two ways to be rich. Have lots of money or have simple tastes. We like to keep our expense chassis low so we have money when we want it.

Barbara Bartlein is the People Pro. For her free e-mail newsletter, visit: The People Pro.

If health risks can't convince you not to start smoking, maybe future poverty will. The financial costs of this nasty habit are far more than the cost of a pack of cigarettes. Smokers pay more for insurance, dry cleaning, and dental care. Their homes and cars have less resale value and they are at higher risk of having a fire.

Smokers also don't make the bucks. They earn less and receive less in pension and Social Security benefits. They often have to pay additional premiums for insurance coverage. And they may have trouble getting a job. More and more employers are announcing they will no longer employ smokers.

• Kalamazoo Valley Community College in Michigan stopped hiring smokers for full-time positions at both its Michigan campuses.
• Alaska Airlines requires a nicotine test before hiring people.
• Union Pacific won't hire smokers.

Don't miss the rest of our series on 15 Ways to Ruin Your Financial Future!

So why on earth do people ever start smoking? That's easy--to feel "cool." I should know, I am an ex-smoker. Like most smokers, I started as a teenager. Approximately 80% of smokers start in their teens and the American Lung Association estimates that every minute four thousand eight hundred teens will take their first drag off a cigarette.

I remember my first drag. Some kids were passing around a cigarette and I tried it. I was hooked almost instantly and up to a pack a day within months. I felt cool and wiser when I smoked and it helped me belong with a group at school. Like most teenagers, I didn't worry about the health implications, those problems were a million years away.

It's not only middle-class Americans who are feeling the recession's pinch -- there are new signs that the affluent and wealthy are increasingly feeling frugal, according to a new survey that evaluated the sensibilities of the wealthiest 10 percent of U.S. households.

So while many of us make regular visits to Wal-Mart, Costco, Target and all manner of dollar stores, it seems that wealthy Americans are starting to feel more frugal as well. The survey, conducted at the end of June by Harrison Group and American Express Publishing, polled households with discretionary funds of at least $100,000 after taxes, mortgage, education costs and regular, monthly payments and found that 80 percent said they were monitoring all spending categories to see where they could save money. That's up from 68 percent in April.

In addition 56 percent of those polled said they were purchasing fewer expensive items than they did six months ago, and 82 percent claimed to wait for an item to go on sale before buying it. Of course many of us never buy an item unless it's on sale. This is a regular practice. How about your household? Do you ever buy something that's not on sale? Of course, when it comes to groceries or drug store items, you buy what you especially like and what you absolutely need. But a silk blouse, a new pair of jeans, those Adidas sneakers you've been eyeing? No way.

Now there are certain items that never go on sale. You know, that Hermes tie or the Coach bag (okay, so you can go to the Coach outlet store and it'll be a little less expensive). You can buy namebrand disposable diapers with some coupons, right?

Yet more signs that the luxury market has softened: Neiman Marcus reported that its sales at stores open at least a year declined 1.4 per cent in the three months from May to July. And while diamonds may be a girl's best friend, elite jeweler Harry Winston reported that U.S. sales declined in the first three months of the year. Some advice: Purchase a good fake...

A tragic case in Taunton, Mass., where a 53-year-old wife and mother fatally shot herself after faxing a letter to her mortgage company, demonstrates a common issue in many marriages; secrets about money. According to police, Carlene Balderrama fax read, in part, "By the time you foreclose on my house, I'll be dead."

"I had no clue," said spouse John Balderrama. He further explained that his wife had handled all the couple's finances and he no idea that she hadn't paid the mortgage in 42 months. But, in fact, there were clues. According to court records, Mr. Balderrama had filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy three times from 2004 to 2006. Obviously there were long-standing financial issues that this couple were not facing together.

This is not unusual. Spouses more often lie to each other about money than any other issue. From hiding purchases and bills to opening single accounts, spouses often minimize their own spending. And in many households, only one spouse is actively involved in handling the family finances.

Wesabe is an amazing useful personal finance site which provides access to all of your checking and savings accounts under one site in order to better track your finances. I had a chance to chat with Marc Hedlund, the CEO of Wesabe about security, user rights, features, upcoming and the community focus of this excellent site. This article is longer than our normal fare but stick with it if you want to get to know your money using a cool online tool.

The first thing you'll want to know before handing over your banking information to a company is how secure they are. Wesabe provides its users with industry standard encryption to protect your financial data. Unlike their competitor, Mint who uses a third party to handle security and data Wesabe has taken the processes in house and developed their own system. The decision is actually a great one when it comes to security and the rights you have over your data. Marc shared with me that one of the main reasons they built their own system was to be able to offer users a Data Bill of Rights, allowing you to completely delete your data at any time, something third party vendors would have kept. Aside from keeping your passwords and financial information from a company you don't have a business relationship with the Wesabe system also has the ability to get updates about your transactions as often as your bank provides updates providing you with more accurate information.

Another cool feature of being a Wesabe user is that there are currently 4 ways to upload your data based on how much information you want to trust Wesabe with. Three of these methods don't require that you provide Wesabe with any of your banking credentials and the fourth is an automatic uploader which logs in and updates your account information throughout the day after you provide your login information to Wesabe. Many users begin with the manual upload and as their trust in Wesabe grows, move to more automatic methods of uploading. The fully automatic uploader came about from user requests and is the method that Marc uses to upload to Wesabe.