Last week Northwest Ohio Credit Union invited more than 700 local high schoolers to learn more about money in Finances 101. The event was a crash course in personal finances and credit scores for the teens and also provided them with quite a few surprises about bills. The event reminded me of the popular board game LIFE, only with more consequences!

As students arrived they were handed a checkbook which contained their salary and current debts. From there they traveled to different tables picking out cars, insurance and dealing with other expenses that come with living on your own. There was even a table dedicated to unexpected expenses such as a car breakdown, which forced students to adapt as well as emphasized the need to plan ahead.

Students quickly learned the importance of budgeting and the consequences of not sticking to a budget. After working her way through the "month" one student had to write a bad check just to get her groceries; ending up $300 in the hole. The best news from the event was that many of these teens realized that it is important to spend money not on the things they wanted, but on the things they actually needed!

I think this is a great opportunity to show teenagers what it means to be in charge of your own finances, if only for a few hours. A program like this will go well with the mandatory personal finance classes for Ohio high schoolers set to graduate in 2010. Overall I think compact, hands-on programs like this have real a chance at impacting the future of teenagers everywhere. My personal thanks goes out to Northwest Ohio Credit Union and to the schools who allowed their students to participate. Keep up the good work!

Now that Apple has launched the App store for iPhones it is easier than ever to get a hold of your personal finances. Numerous companies have stepped in to fill the app store with personal finace applications ranging from free tip tools to $15 expense trackers. David at MoneyNing.com put in the effort to create a listing of many though not varied personal finance apps for the iPhone.

While there are enough tip calculators to let you eat out every night and still not have to use the same program to go dutch, split the tip and make sure you hit 20% there are quite a few worthwhile apps out there.

Applications which MoneyNing recommends include:

• Bloomberg - Free app which keeps you up to date on stocks.
• Budget - A nice budgeting tool with graphs.
• Expense2Go - Free expense tracking app which makes use of the iPhone camera.
• Mobile Banking - Free banking app for Bank of America customers.
• Pocket Money - A feature rich expense tracking program.
• Save Benjis - Free price comparison tool.

There are many more programs and further analysis of the pros and cons of each app, which is very useful since the App store currently doesn't offer any way to try out applications.

One part of successfully managing your personal finances is the ease with which you can do just that. Spending $5 to enable your iPhone to track your spending may be one of the best investments you make. Especially once you consider how much your new iPhone contract will cost you over the course of your 2 year agreement!

Mint.com is a personal finance site which provides the ability for you to link together all of the parts of your financial life. In order for the service to work you need to provide all of your banking passwords and account numbers to Mint so that it can work all of its behind the scenes magic. With a treasure trove of financial information like this sitting in one place, you'll want to be sure that your information is secure. Ryan Taylor of Money Millionaire Habits did just that and has provided a simple rundown of the security features utilized by Mint.com to protect your money.

First off, it is important to note that you don't make any transactions from inside Mint, which affords solace to some wary users. The most impressive piece of information about Mint.com's security is that the back end that runs Mint, called Yodlee, is also used by many of the top banks in the industry. All of these precautions should combine to give most users the same sense of security when using Mint.com to manage their personal finances as they have with their own bank.

Even though I am part of the younger generation which seems at time to jump on new technology, I have been hesitant to start using any of these third party online budgeting systems mainly due to security. Thankfully, it appears that my fears were unfounded and Mint.com appears to be using good policies and software to safeguard users' information and money. Stay tuned, in the near future I'll be looking into the security behind a Mint.com competitor, Wesabe.

Personal finance is everywhere. If you are anything like Seb, the author of Pinching Copper, then you can even learn about personal finance while playing a video game. Seb recently shared three things that Grand Theft Auto 4 has taught him about life and personal finance.

Grand Theft Auto 4 has been shown in the news recently for the violence which is a part of the daily life in Liberty City, the game's fictional location. What you likely missed is that GTA IV also reinforces three life lessons about personal finance; save money, budget, and how to advance at work.

Unlike many other games the character you control has to save the money he makes for his numerous illegal deeds in order to be ready for a rainy day, or a lengthy police chase. Secondly, the article points out that in the game you cannot live beyond your means, even though you are taking part in illegal activities, you need to budget the proceeds, asking yourself, "What's more important, a taxi ride across town or saving up for body armor?"

Experts on the Today Show offer some insights on how best to teach your children about money. It's no secret that plenty of adults have money management issues, so why not start early with your kids and help them learn about personal finance?

Giving a child an allowance is a great idea, because they immediately start learning the value of money, and they are forced to start managing the money. They have to make choices with their own money, and as a result, they will be better prepared for adult money management. The kids will probably make some mistakes early on, maybe choosing to buy a candy bar and then not having enough money for the DVD they wanted. But that's how they learn about budgets and choices!

Listen to what the experts have to say below. And I agree with them: Children should have to earn their allowance. Money isn't free, and there's nothing wrong with people (even children) working for what they want. There's always a trade-off, and kids need to learn that early in order to become more responsible with their money.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

It can't predict what you'll be when you finally grow up, or whether that tall dark handsome someone is on your horizon, or whether the baby you're expecting will be a boy or a girl, but Voyant claims it can help forecast the financial impact of going back to school, getting married or having a baby.

The new Java application, available for free download and use, is designed to evaluate personal finance in the context of "life stages," like child-rearing, retirement and marriage. Wizards help users set up timelines that can can be revised to reflect the vagaries of fate and desire.

Consider my husband's 40th birthday, when we learned I was unexpectedly pregnant with our third child. Voyant could have quickly run the new scenario against our pre-existing financial data and thrown up a visual snapshot of the feasibility of him retiring before 65. If the application's claim of "game-like usability" extended to animated graphics, it might show snowballs, melting quickly in hell.

Perhaps some knowledge is best left to sink in slowly.

But for those who can handle a glimpse of the future, Voyant promises to make the implications of key life decisions more concrete.

The application also marries social-networking with number crunching, permitting users to engage with others over the platform. Other features include individualized recommendations and referrals to financial planners in specific areas. Voyant supports both Windows and Mac OS.

What follows is a "My View" column that I wrote for the Cape Cod Times while I was in high school. I am posting it here as my response to Tennessee's decision to require financial literacy classes:

We are approaching a retirement crisis. The average baby boomer household has a net worth of about $100,000, less than one-sixth of what most experts agree is needed for retirement. According to a recent article by actor, economist and writer Ben Stein, retiring baby boomers are headed for a decline in their standard of living similar to the one that swept this country in the 1930s. With the Social Security system that was supposed to serve as a safety net in limbo, pundits are lining up to blame just about everyone for the boomers' dismal financial situation. Some blame the politicians. Others blame a materialistic consumer culture characterized by conspicuous consumption. But I think there's one institution that no one is talking about that deserves a giant share of the blame: schools.

Americans have made poor decisions with money (a savings rate of zero, compared with the average Chinese household's 40% savings rate), landing themselves in the precarious position they are now in. That's largely a result of financial illiteracy. Far from correcting this problem, the schools have ignored it, and kids still know nothing about money.

An article on Consumerist today, Report Card on Personal Finance Education Nationwide stirred up memories for me. The article was prompted by the decision in Tennessee last week to require a personal finance class for all graduating high school students, starting with this year's 7th graders. This is a decision that adds Tennessee to a list of LESS THAN 20% of states that currently have a personal finance education requirement.

Through most of last year, I listened to my son, then a high school senior, rant and rave about the curriculum at his high school. The school requires four years of a foreign language (and at the time there were only two choices, French or Latin) but, you guessed it, not an hour in the curriculum on personal finance. What this means is that students might graduate proficient in translating the Aeneid, but knowing essentially nothing about compounding, investing, stocks and bonds, mortgages etc. Huh?

It's hard to believe that in all of New England, the only state that seemed to actually require financial literacy is the State of Maine.

The Consumerist article includes a map so that you can see where your state stands. Consider sending an email to your superintendent's office.

Ken and Daria Dolan are widely known as America's First Family of Personal Finance.

A $10,000 tip for your waiter? Even for The Donald that sounded too good to be true!

But this is the time of year when figuring out how much to tip your paperboy, hairdresser and such for the holidays can pose a dilemma. Too little is an insult with potential consequences -- some NYC doormen are notorious for holding a grudge for a bad tip all year long -- but you don't want to go overboard either.

Don't risk a bad haircut or "lost" newspaper by tipping like a Scrooge! Just follow our rules of thumb and spread some holiday cheer without breaking your bank.

Ken and Daria Dolan have hosted their own national radio program for 22 years, anchored their own television shows on CNN, authored six books on money matters, served as money contributors on CBS This Morning and have now launched a comprehensive web site and free e-letter at Dolans.com.

With the Christmas shopping season in full gear, it's important to remember these three basic money rules, so that this shopping season doesn't bring a lump of bankruptcy coal for your stocking.

Cash is King
While it sounds simple to spend only the money you actually have, in practice it's much more difficult. With consumers being bombarded from every angle to spend spend, spend and pay the consequences later, the easiest way to ensure that this holiday season doesn't bring personal economic collapse is to use cash. Make your gift list, and then withdraw cash, and use it to make purchases. This will give you the discipline to spend only what you have. Each spending decision will need to be analyzed as to its importance. If you hear the call of the amazing special in aisle four, and decide to impulsively buy the special, you may have no money left to get your best friend a gift. Just like your mother told you; it's all about consequences.

Don't keep up with the Joneses
It's very tempting to try and keep up with our well-off friends. We know that they are not only going to buy presents for anyone and everyone, they are going to spend a small fortune in doing so. While we all enjoy the spirit of giving, we can't get carried away by it. Before you think about shopping, make a budget and see just how much money you have to spend this season. If you go into your shopping adventure knowing how much you can spend, chances are that at the end of the day, you will be able to stick to that plan. However, If you wing it and make it up as you go along, well that's when trouble hits. Before you know it, you will have incurred credit-card debt that will take months or even years to pay off.

No Quick Fix
Don't plan on paying for your holiday excesses by thinking that you are going to "get rich quick." Chances are that you aren't going to win the big lottery, or pick that stock that will return 1,000% next year. We need to live in reality, and thinking that your financial happiness is going to ride on winning the lottery isn't particularly rational. The key to growing wealth is to save regularly and invest. There are no shortcuts.

Acting financially responsibly may be the best gift you can give -- to your family, and to yourself.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com.

Ken and Daria Dolan are widely known as America's First Family of Personal Finance.

QUESTION: My wife and I are trying to get our finances in order headed into the new year, and we feel like it's time to sit down with someone who can help, but we don't know how much a financial planner will cost. What should we be prepared for cost-wise?
--George, MN

George, first of all, congratulations to both of you for focusing on your finances!

You've taken a big step toward financial success in the new year! The answer to your question about costs depends on what kind of financial planner you choose.

There are typically 3 ways planners charge:

1. Commission only:

This type of planner doesn't charge you a fee for the plan he creates for you. Instead, as with a full service broker, he makes money only when you purchase one of the financial products that the planner recommends. His entire compensation is the commission on the sale.

As you can see, there's a potential conflict of interest by your financial planner: is he recommending a product because it is the right one for you and your unique needs, or is he recommending it because the company behind it will pay him a big fat commission when you buy it?

Ken and Daria Dolan are widely known as America's First Family of Personal Finance.

Did you see the headlines this week? Congress is finally airing some of the credit industry's dirty laundry and threatening to get tough with it over the sneaky-and sometimes downright unethical ways some credit card companies squeeze consumers.

We say it's about time. Just thinking about the way some companies offer you the "opportunity" to rob your own future makes us livid. But let's be real -- credit card companies are in business to make money.

And if consumers keep taking what they dish out, a Congressional hearing isn't going to change that.