When the results of the latest international test measuring American kids against the rest of the world in math, reading, and science came out back in December, it felt like the country snapped to attention. Kids from China came in #1 in every area, while American students lagged far behind.

Love them or hate them, the co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform have released their draft proposals to slow the quickly growing national debt. Many politicians say the ideas will never, ever be approved by any future Congress. With proposals that call for major cuts in domestic and military spending, bumping the age to qualify for (decreased) Social Security benefits, and a simplified but much broader tax base with fewer exemptions, the plan is guaranteed to be unpopular among politicians and voters alike. But as unpalatable as these notions are to politicians, is it time to start getting serious about painful cuts?    

We frequently talk about retired people living on limited budgets. But what about their adult children?

It turns out that many people with aging parents are struggling financially, and even facing professional setbacks. But are their sacrifices really for the best? And is there a time when they should just cut their aging parents loose to fend for themselves?

Gone are the days of credit card recruiters on campus giving away stuffed animals to any first-year students willing to sign up for easy credit: New regulations on card issuers require any cardholder under 21 years old to have an adult co-signer on the card.

It's our final installment of our Do It Yourself Bailout series. Takeaway contributor Beth Kobliner has taken us on a financial journey; she's helped us learn how to invest the right way, trick ourselves into saving, and understand the art of negotiating. Today, we talk about a big piece of your financial and personal life: your spouse or partner. 

If you’re like a lot of people, the idea of investing seems overwhelming, mysterious and downright frightening. The wild ride, you reason, just isn’t for you. That argument may make sense for money you know you’ll need to get your hands on within the next ten years. But for money you don’t plan to touch for longer, it can be riskier to keep your cash in a savings account that does not keep up with inflation.

After you pay off high-rate credit card debt, put money into tax-favored retirement plans (particularly those with company matches) and save six months’ worth of living expenses in a bank savings account (to bail you out if you lose your job or have a major emergency), you should consider investing at least a portion of your money. Some steps to consider:

We are closer than ever to getting our financial life in order here on The Takeaway. This is week nine of our series, Do It Yourself Bailout. Since the beginning of the series Takeaway contributor Beth Kobliner, author of "Get a Financial Life" has tackled our trickiest money issues in order to help us all get on sound financial footing. We have talked about how to trick yourself into saving more money and whether you should prioritise your retirement savings over saving for your kid's college, among many other money questions.

It's week eight of The Takeaway's Do It Yourself Bailout with our friend Beth Kobliner, author of "Get a Financial Life", and we're taking a good long look in the mirror at our spending habits: where we're saving, if we're saving enough and whether we can do more to bail ourselves out of the financial mess that many of us are in.  This week's question to ask yourself: are you spending too much on insurance? Or not enough?

If you’re looking to tighten your belt, you may be eying your various insurance policies and wondering if you’re just throwing money down the drain. The answer is: You might be! There’s insurance you may have too much of, and insurance you don’t have enough of. Here’s how to sort it out:

We've been talking with Takeaway contributor Beth Kobliner, author of "Get a Financial Life", about how to get ourselves on strong financial footing, with our Do It Yourself Bailout series. This week, Beth helps us with a big dilemma: If we can't afford to do both, should we sock away money every month for retirement or save for our kids' college?

Even if you don’t have kids yet, you’ve heard the scary numbers: the parents of an entering college freshmen this fall can expect to pay $161,000 for a four-year private college education and $121,000 for four years at an out-of-state public college. And the once bargain-basement priced in-state colleges don’t seem like such a steal anymore: in-state freshmen heading to the average four-year public college can expect to pay roughly $66,000 over the next four years.

All that being said, you still need to put your adult-self first and save for your retirement before you save for college. Here’s why:

Even though many economists are proclaiming the "Great Recession" ending or over, the nearly 10 percent of Americans who are unemployed probably find it difficult to imagine exactly what a prosperous, post-recession America will look like. Richard Florida, author of "The Great Reset: How New Ways of Living and Working Drive Post-Crash Prosperity," says that's because the crash has fundamentally altered how we feel about spending and saving. He says we're all in the process of resetting the way we work and live.

We started the conversation by asking the question: Have you remade your life because of this recession?

Everyone has at least one family member who loves to negotiate, whether they fight for a good deal on a new car or a free dessert: They just don't stop until they've gotten a concession on the price. Well, Takeaway contributor Beth Kobliner, author of "Get a Financial Life", thinks we should look to that family member for inspiration in making our very own DIY Bailout. She says everyone should aspire to the art of deal making.

Day-to-day purchases in this country are generally pretty straightforward: Instead of haggling we look at the price tag, decide if it’s worth it, and make our decision. That means we don’t build up a lot experience negotiating, so when it comes to discussing salaries with potential employers or calling up our credit-card companies to ask for lower-rates, we’re tongue-tied. Still, negotiating is an important skill. Here are some tips on how to do it right.

The government bailout of the big banks on Wall Street is still headline news. But nobody we know got a bailout, and lots of people are trying to figure out how to make it through the recession. Takeaway contributor Beth Kobliner, author of "Get a Financial Life", is helping us construct our own bailout; this week, she teaches us now to trick ourselves into saving money.

Each week in our "Do-It-Yourself Bailout" series, we talk about how we can all get into better financial shape and bail ourselves out of debt. This week: credit scores.

It's two week until April 15, that dreaded day when taxes are due. As a part of our "Do It Yourself" series, financial expert Beth Kobliner suggests more people handle their own taxes though the process may be intimidating. She helps us sort through all those important tax credits and deducations for which one may qualify.

Only two weeks and a day until tax time! If you had a rough 2009, however, there may be a silver lining. If your income went down last year, you might qualify for more deductions and credits than you did in 2008. And even if you didn’t lose your job, there’s a lot you can do to help save yourself some cash:

One of the personal finance questions I get asked the most is “How do I set priorities?” In fact, the first conversation I had with Celeste was about this very topic. To quote the Takeaway co-host: “I hear what you’re saying about an emergency fund, paying off credit card debt, and starting an IRA ... but what do I actually do first?” It’s no wonder people are confused: with so many things to do with money, it’s hard to know where to start!

This past year we’ve heard a lot of talk about the bailouts that America’s big banks got in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage debacle.  And the question keeps coming up: what about the little guy?  Who will come in and bail me out?