Steps you can take to live a “financially responsible” life

An article on CNN Money talks about living a financially responsible life. Instead of taking on the difference between living within your means or living below your means, the author chooses to focus readers on what it means to be fiscally responsible. I think this is right way to approach the subject. If we learn anything from this economic crisis, ti should be that we have to manage our own money. We can’t expect others to do right by us. AIG should be a prime example of this. While a lot of blame can be placed at the feet of Wall Street and government regulators, we have to own the fact that our blind trust in financial institutions and letting others take care of our financial destiny put us in this predicament. It’s time for us to be more engaged in what happens to our money and to do some of our own oversight of the institutions where we do our financial business. This may have helped the survivors of the Madoff ponzi scheme.
The two things the author says we should do to live a financially responsible life. First, we should make saving regularly a priority. Second we should control our debt. Neither suggestions are new but I think they need repeating until everyone finally makes them part of their daily life.