In honor of Financial Literacy Month, we created a microsite that offers 30 simple steps to financial wellness–one for each day of the month. To enrich the experience, we asked some amazing people to guest post during the month on a topic that is related to the day’s step. Their dedication to financial literacy is truly inspiring! Today, Wise Bread blogger Julie Rains talks about the cost of credit.

Calculating your net worth is the best way to know exactly what your starting point is, in any financial plan you develop. It's essentially the foundation of your financial plan and goal setting, and needs to be updated at least several times a year so that you can track all of your progress. Putting together a balance sheet is quick and easy, even if you aren't a finance expert!

A while back, I participated in a televised call-in show about kids and money with members of the Jump$tart Coalition . In preparation, I posed questions to a group really talented, dedicated people from organizations like Young Americans Bank , The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants , and the Financial Planning Association . The result is one heck of a resource on kids and money with topics covering budgeting, credit, cars, school/college, and jobs.

I recently met a 30-something woman who was selling her home so that she would have more money to repay her student loans. As she put it: "I finally realized that this debt was not going to go away." She's right—there is no statute of limitations on government-guaranteed student loans, giving Uncle Sam unlimited time to collect.

You can call them Boomerang Kids . You can call it Failure to Launch Syndrome . Whatever you call it, the fact is this - young adults are coming back home more than ever before. The question for you is can you afford it?

A reader asks if getting married means you're responsible for each other's debts.

A recent study revealed that Millennials have significantly worse credit than Generation X or Baby Boomers. It doesnt have to stay that way, however. Heres how young adults can improve their credit scores.

Becoming financially savvy before going off to college will prepare you for the expensive college years ahead and will help you enter the workforce as debt-free as possible.

Budgeting tactics are like diet plans, there's no one-size-fits-all approach that works for everyone. Take an inside look at the budgeting approach that works for this 20-something MMI employee!

Managing money is a tricky thing. It's hard enough when you're doing it solo, but when you add the complexities of a relationship to the mix, it can get downright messy.