Below is an edited excerpt from his new book, “The Little Book of Main Street Money: 21 Simple Truths that Help Real People Make Real Money.”

It may be a shotgun wedding. But trust me, you and Wall Street could learn to love each other.
In 2008 and early 2009, we were hit with what was arguably the worst financial debacle since the Great Depression of the 1930s—a devastating mix of plunging share prices, crippling consumer debts, slumping home prices and rising unemployment. More recently, we’ve had an astonishing stock-market rally, with the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index soaring 50% since early March.

All this market and economic turmoil comes amid an era of increasing financial uncertainty. Over the past few decades, traditional company pensions have been disappearing. Retirements have grown longer and hence more expensive. Financial choices have become more befuddling. Job security has faded. College costs have soared.

What to do? We don’t have much choice: We need to seize control of our financial lives, embrace the markets, and be smarter about money than ever before. For most of us, this is a daunting proposition. Wall Street is tough to love. Markets skyrocket one moment, plunge the next. The lingo is baffling. The complexity can be mind-boggling. And the stakes are huge. Feeling nervous? Fret not. If we can keep some simple truths in mind, we could make this marriage work.

In fact, a firm grip on financial basics has rarely been more important. This has been a period of extraordinary doubt—about the stock market, about the housing market, about the economy, about our future prosperity. To rebuild our finances, we need to cast aside yesterday’s fanciful thinking and profligate ways, and get back to first principles. Don’t let today’s economic mayhem distract you: The value of time-tested financial truths still endures.

What financial truths? Here are seven key beliefs I harped on again and again during my 13 years as the Journal’s personal-finance columnist.

1. Money is a means to an end.
It isn’t an end in itself. Before we buy a mutual fund or purchase an insurance policy, we need to figure out why we’re amassing money and what we are looking to protect. If we don’t know what our goals are, we may not settle on the right strategy and we’ll be less inclined to make the necessary sacrifices.

2. We shouldn’t neglect today.
We’re often encouraged to save for distant goals, like our toddler’s college education and our own retirement. But this is an awfully long time to wait for financial nirvana.
My advice: Also strive for peace of mind today. That means getting our debts under control, living comfortably within our paycheck, ensuring we have the right insurance, devising a plan for financial emergencies and spending our money on the things that matter most to us. Indeed, if we take care of today, we will likely find we are also taking care of tomorrow.

3. We need to think harder about what we want.
We imagine that our lives will be somehow transformed if we win that next promotion or we buy the bigger house. But even when we get our heart’s desire, eternal satisfaction eludes us. As we take care of today and prepare for tomorrow, we need to think much harder about how we spend our money and how we spend our time.

4. Money is emotional.
We struggle to save regularly and we find it difficult to invest rationally. There’s the prudent, unemotional strategy. And then there’s the plan that we can live with. If we’re going to be contented stewards of our money, we need to settle on strategies that will get us to our goals—and that we’ll stick with along the way.

5. Our financial lives are bigger than we think.
Managing money isn’t just about our stocks, bonds and mutual funds. There are also our debts, our homes, our financial promises to our children, our income-earning ability and so much more. To handle our finances wisely, we need to consider the whole as well as the parts, so we can make key tradeoffs, spot opportunities and figure out what’s missing.

6. We should focus on the things we can control.
We may not be able to influence the inflation rate, the direction of bond yields or what happens to stock prices. But there’s much we can control, including how much we save and spend, how much we pay in investment costs and taxes, how much investment risk we take and how we react to the markets’ ups and downs.

My suggestion: Let’s stop worrying about the things we can’t control and focus on the things we can. This is a humbler approach to managing money—and yet one that’s often more rewarding.

7. Simplicity is one of the great financial virtues.
Most of us may never understand credit-default swaps, commodities backwardation and mortgage derivatives. But we don’t have to. It’s possible to make good money using straightforward strategies and plain-vanilla mutual funds.

In fact, simpler is usually better, because it will often involve lower costs and less chance for foolishness. Moreover, if we stick with simple strategies and simple investments, we will likely understand what we own—and that should make us more tenacious when we’re tested by turbulent markets.

Excerpted with permission from The Little Book of Main Street Money, copyright 2009. Published by John Wiley & Sons. The views expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily those of Citi or its other employees.

Guide books, application fees, charges for taking standardized tests, charges for sending said test scores to schools and actually visiting the schools in question can easily cost the families of college-bound students a few thousand dollars. While some of those costs are unavoidable, there are ways to trim expenses without hurting Junior’s chances of getting into Favorite State University. Here’s how:

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Using college guide books from the library or hand-me-downs from older siblings can save an easy $100. Don’t rush to buy this year’s guide to the top 300 schools — little has changed from last year, other than the price.

One inevitable expense families incur when on the college hunt comes from exams, as most colleges require a score from at least one standardized test. Registration for the SAT and ACT costs $45 and $32, respectively. Students are allowed to send SAT scores to up to four schools for free but must shell out an additional $9.50 for each school after that (plus $27 for rush reporting); the ACT charges $9-$13.

Students with extraordinary need (those who receive free or reduced-cost lunches at school) can contact their college counselors about obtaining fee waivers. John Boshoven, counselor for continuing education at Community High School in Ann Arbor, Mich., recommends other needy students ask their schools to forward test scores to colleges along with official transcripts. High schools get the scores automatically, and some universities will accept those scores as “official.”

Fees to take Advanced Placement tests, a veritable requirement these days for students looking at top-tier schools, take another big bite out of parents’ wallets. The tests cost $86 each, and many students take a half-dozen throughout high school. Boshoven says students can ask their schools to cover AP test costs – after all, high schools like to boast of high scores on these high-profile tests.

Application fees are even more brutal than test fees. Ranging from $25 for in-state residents at Arizona State University to $70 at Dartmouth College, these charges add up fast for seniors applying to a wide variety of schools. The most obvious way to cut expenses here is to do loads of research up front and limit the number of applications you send out.

Most schools will waive the application fee for those who qualified for the SAT or ACT waiver or who have a letter approved by the National Association of College Admission Counseling, signed by their school adviser.

But even those who aren’t eligible for waivers can save. Some schools, like Seton Hall University, allow students to apply for free online but charge $55 for a paper application. Others, such as the University of New Orleans, charge differing amounts depending on when you submit your paperwork. Check school Web sites for their specific policies.

In the midst of this paperwork frenzy is a mad dash to actually visit the schools, perhaps the most expensive endeavor of all. Once again, there are ways to cut costs. If a school doesn’t conduct personal interviews and doesn’t consider campus visits as a factor in admissions process, it might make sense to hold off on visiting until you’ve been accepted, says Bill McClintick, director of college counseling at Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Penn., and president of NACAC. Once you’re accepted, then you can trek cross-country to see if the quad feels like home.

If you must check out a school before applying, see if the college will foot part of the bill. “Minority students should never have to pay to visit a school, especially if they’re good students,” Boshoven says. And everyone can take advantage of free dining vouchers from admissions offices, dorm sleepover programs and on-campus guest houses to minimize hotel stays and Amtrak deals in which high school juniors or seniors traveling with a guardian get half off their companion ticket. And hey - now’s as good a time as any to visit relatives, right?

Everett

Summer may be waning, but you might want to hold off on packing up that beach umbrella.

The months of September and October are loosely defined as the “shoulder season”, that mellow time between the expensive and busy summer travel season and the full-blown holiday mode. If you have the time, it’s a great time to travel. Here are some pointers on how to score deals:

Research your timing. As my colleague Scott McCartney points out at the Middle Seat blog, tools like Bing Travel (formely Farecast) and Yapta can help you decide when to book. He also points out that midweek prices are often lower than weekends. General money-saving airline tips apply, too. Avoid checking bags, bring your own food for the plane, etc. (MoneyNing has some other good pointers.)

Pick an off-peak destination. After the Labor Day rush subsides, destinations like Hawaii, Europe or the Caribbean can be greatly reduced says Anne Banas, executive editor of SmarterTravel.com. The site recently ranked Germany as its top pick for an off-peak travel destination this year. Colorado, Orlando, Ireland and Curacao also made the list. (If you’re booking somewhere in the Caribbean, it’s hurricane season, so you may want to buy travel insurance.)

Package deals might be worthwhile. Bundling airfares and hotels can often pay off, Ms. Banas says. She recommends GoToday.com, a site that displays combined deals and how the prices vary depending on the date. On a smaller scale, sometimes cities bundle together things like museum tickets.

Get a local deal. If you’re considering a weekend getaway to a nearby destination, there also may be some deals available. Check out sites from the city’s Convention and Visitors Bureau. If it’s a smaller town, get information from the Chamber of Commerce or State Department of Tourism.

Haggle. The success rate for haggling might be best at hotels. Ms. Banas suggests booking a lower-priced room and asking for free upgrades, especially as many higher-end rooms go unbooked. It also might be worth asking for a room rate deduction or getting benefits, like meals, thrown in for free. The hotel’s incentive here is to create loyalty.

“It’s cheaper now to travel than it’s been for years,” she says. “If you’ve ever had a dream trip, now is the time to go. Prices are incredible.”

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Those most likely to use coupons? Those who make $70,000 or more a year.

Personal Finance:
-Borrowing money from friends is a recipe for disaster. How to navigate the situation, if you must. [WiseBread]
-Cut costs without being miserable. [Simple Dollar]
-Even in the current economy, it’s possible to ask for a raise. Some tips on making it happen. [FiveCentNickel]

Investing:
-A list of low-cost, high-grade stocks. [CNNMoney]
-Is it time to put more emphasis on bonds instead of stocks? [MarketWatch]
-Evaluate how healthy your network is with these eight questions. [Yahoo Hot Jobs via Free Money Finance]

Other Lint:
-Surprise: affluent consumers are the heaviest coupon users. [Reuters via Consumerist]
-Is that membership to Costco worth it? Why you don’t need to shop at warehouses. [WiseBread]
-A roundup of the iPhone apps for making your school year easier. [Gizmodo]

Stephen Voss for the WSJ

To be or not to be a landlord? That is the often-expensive question.

Another ripple effect of the sour housing market: a slew of reluctant landlords, my colleague M.P. McQueen writes in today’s Journal.

Becoming a landlord isn’t an easy proposition, and some homeowners may be better off with a short sale. She writes:

Landlords have to pony up money each year for property taxes, insurance, maintenance and repairs. Meanwhile, demand for rentals in many parts of the U.S. isn’t strong: Apartment vacancy rates nationally are the highest in more than two decades and rents are falling in some areas, compounding the difficulty of finding a good, steady tenant.

For those considering renting out their homes, M.P. has a sidebar with some great tips.

On the other hand, some are making the case that now is a good time to dive into the housing market. But not as speculative investors, as was the case a few years ago. “Instead, it’s about buying something that you can touch, feel and see—and imagine holding onto for a long time,” writes Dave Kansas.

The rent vs. buy question still looms for young, first-time buyers. Anna Prior offers up some things to consider when weighing your options.

As for the renters, remember, the market is soft, even in the priciest of cities. Go out there and write your rent reduction letter!

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Dunkin’ Donuts ranked #1 in a 2009 in Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index

Nearly a year on, the financial crisis has changed the way companies and consumers view the brand names in their wallets.

But is this a temporary change, or will it stick?

Some consumers, including those who have had their credit cards canceled, limits lowered or mortgages left in standstill, all say the same thing: “I’m never doing business with company X ever again.”

But some consultants and financial institutions say they aren’t worried about consumer ire toward brands today. They say that consumers have short-term memories and are fickle. And when the economy turns around, people will drift back to brands that they once dismissed.

Robert Passikoff, founder of Brand Keys, a research consulting firm, disagrees. He says that in the past it was easier for companies to win back consumers, but thanks to the Web, it’s easier for more consumers to get more information about brands before they buy. “This is not going to be a forget-and-forgive society,” he says.

For companies, it pays to have loyal customers. Loyal customers are more likely to give a brand the benefit of the doubt in tough times, buy stock in that company and recommend the brand to friends, Mr. Passikoff says. He notes that many of Brand Keys highest-rated companies, which include JetBlue, FedEx and Tom’s of Maine, also turn out to be leaders in overall profitability.

Gauging consumer sentiment toward brands can sometimes be confusing. Even though Journal readers are eager to discuss their ire toward companies like American Express, AmEx ranked number one on J.D. Power’s 2009 Credit Card Satisfaction Study. Chase, also an object of commenter hatred, ranked high (number five), in the same survey.

Many things influence why embrace or reject particular brands, says Aric Rindfleisch, a marketing professor with Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Our relationships with brands can be deeply psychological and rooted in our personal experience with a company.

“Some of these brands were security providers for many Americans,” Prof. Rindfleisch says. “We’ve lost some of the traditional forms of security, family, religion. Those brands are meaningful to a lot of people.”

Companies, hoping to create brand loyalty, market accordingly. The insurance industry is one such example, Prof. Rindfleisch says. The ads can make us “think of the impending doom of our existence,” he says, questioning whether or not a company can help us protect our families. If a brand goes through a crisis, like some of the credit-card issuers or insurance companies, it can spark a mini identity crisis for us, too, he says. The longer you’ve been a proud, card-carrying member of a rewards program, the more likely you are to be angered if your rewards are scaled back.

Most consumers are not brand-monogomous. Households, and individuals, have multiple flavors of plastic in our wallets, boxes of cereal in our cupboards and shoes in our closets. Some of these connections are more deeply rooted than others. The brand of laundry detergent we use might not be as important to us as where we bank.

Historically, some brands have been able to recover from brand disasters. In spite of the infamous New Coke debacle, lots of people still drink Coca-Cola around the world today. But winning back customers can take time and money.

“I think brands need to be far more careful about what they do,” Mr. Passikoff says. “You can’t just throw marketing dollars against the problem and expect it to go away.”

Wallet readers: Has your attitude toward a particular brand changed dramatically in recent years? Would you ever go back to a company that you were unhappy with in the past?

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Why are people so fanatical about Trader Joe’s?

Personal Finance:
-Getting the most from your retirement money. [Get Rich Slowly]
-It takes money to make money, right? How are you spending during your job hunt, and is it tax-deductible? [WSJ]
-Whether student loans or a mortgage, many people shoulder debt, but here are 11 stupid reasons to take on debt. [Financial Highway]

Investing:
-What it means to sell a stock short and how to do it. [SmartMoney]
-Trader Joe’s has a cult following. Here’s how you can build a cult following of your own. [ABDPBT]
-Five worry-free and safe investments, according to one blogger. [Out of Debt Christian]

Other Lint:
-A great infographic showing the state of U.S. automakers. [MintLife]
-The psychological impact of unemployment. [BusinessWeek]
-Student debt is at its peak, affecting futures after college. [WSJ]

The value push makes sense, considering that 55% of teens have altered their college plans because of the economy, according to a spring Junior Achievement/Allstate Foundation survey. Since investment accounts haven’t quite recovered from last year’s tumble and parents are still losing jobs at an alarming rate, an increasing number of colleges and universities are marketing themselves as the best bang-for-your-buck option rather than the best place to lounge in a lazy river or perfect the art of late-night pizza orders for four or five years.

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More than a half-dozen schools, including Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y., and Lipscomb University in Nashville, have launched new three-year degree options to help families lessen the inevitable debt load. The programs picked up steam when Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) promoted them during a February conference of the American Council on Education, likening accelerated degrees to fuel-efficient cars. Most of the programs require students to take summer classes or more courses during regular term, but they promise savings of at least a year of room and board.

Others, such as Southern New Hampshire University, are touting no-frills satellite campuses. Students there can study at an offshoot location for two years, saving 40% on regular tuition. They can transfer to the main Manchester campus, at full price, for the final two years. The students have access to the same professors, but there are no dorms, high-end gyms or cafeterias at the Salem branch. Classes meet in an office building. University president Paul LeBlanc has likened the program to a “low-cost airline.”

Then there are the schools that are simply cheaper than the competition. Augustana College, a Lutheran school in Sioux Falls, S.D., has a sitewholly devoted to touting “The Augustana College Value Proposition,” including a chart comparing its tuition with that of nine similar nearby schools. (Augustana wins by an average $9,460.) The school has even posted a half-dozen billboards in and around the St. Paul-Minneapolis metropolitan area, promoting the school as “a great private college without the sticker shock” and directing viewers to the Web site. Bob Preloger, vice president for marketing and communications, calls the effort, which launched last winter, “a pretty aggressive campaign.” Preloger said the freshman class is a little bigger this year than last and retention is very strong.

If talk of bare-bones campuses and mandatory work-study piques your interest, BusinessWeek has a list of tuition-free colleges.

Most career counselors advise unemployed job-seekers to get out there and make contacts — as the conventional wisdom goes, you’re more likely to find a new gig from a personal connection rather than an online job application.

But the cumulative costs of all the coffees, lunches, drinks and events can quickly add up, stressing already-tight budgets. It’s remarkably easy to spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on a job hunt, so job seekers should be clear on what makes a good investment in their future, and what’s really just discretionary spending in the guise of career-building.

Most of us want to put our best feet forward: nice restaurant, good outfit, travel across town if need be. The hopeful result of such networking is a job, permanent or even temporary. Job hunting has created a whole industry of high-price career fairs, networking events and web sites. And with the slow rate of hiring, the spending can go for months with no job offer.

So how much is appropriate to spend?

There’s no single formula or amount for everyone, says Lauren Locker, a certified financial planner with Locker Financial Services, LLC, in Little Falls, N.J. Things that figure into the calculus: Are you single or supporting a family? Are you interviewing for a six-figure executive position or something entry-level? What are your laid-off cash reserves looking like? How long have you been unemployed? The answers to these questions will vary, but Ms. Locker says that regardless of your station, it’s good to err on the frugal side.

Sometimes job hunters are posed with questions of calculated risk, such as hopping on a plane to meet a prospective employer. Companies, also feeling the crunch, aren’t as eagerly flying in job candidates. But Ms. Locker says that if you’re more than 60% confident that a job far away could work out, it may be worth buying that plane ticket. Make the most of your trip — schedule other meetings where you’re headed, and of course travel on the cheap. That means booking the lowest-price ticket available, staying with friends or family and taking public transportation, no matter how unpalatable or unglamorous. “The employer is not going to be looking out the window to see how you got there,” she says.

Closer to home, you can trim your networking costs by suggesting in-office meetings in lieu of lunches or drinks. Some prospective employers, squeezed for both budget and time, may welcome the opportunity to meet at an office instead of a restaurant. Or scale down a full dinner with drinks to a more modest cup of coffee.

Beware the slippery slope of spending under the guise of investing in your career. Ms. Locker says she sees clients who justify “job hunting” expenses like a daily latte or a new iPhone by arguing that their increased presence in a coffee shop or ability to stay in constant email contact greatly enhance their job hunts. Although this could be true in some cases, it’s more likely a way to avoid cutting discretionary spending. Beauty treatments and manicures — purchased in the spirit of keeping you looking tidy — can also be a frivolous expense, she says. (An emery board and a bottle of clear nail polish will almost always do the job.)

Some swear by industry conferences, which can run into the thousands, and networking sites such as TheLadders.com which costs $30 a month for a premium account. Before taking on those expenses, Ms. Locker advises that job-seekers ask themselves whether these methods have proven effective in the past.

She also notes that sometimes people have unrealistic perceptions of return on investment for many job-hunting expenses. For example, one may spend $5,000 on networking and so forth in anticipation of landing a job with a salary of $100,000 or more, when that person should really expect a salary closer to $60,000. Many industries are readjusting salaries, so do your homework and get a realistic picture of what you might earn in a new position.

When it comes to those networking sites, consider free options like LinkedIn. Ms. Locker also recommends checking out bulletin boards at local public libraries which can be hubs for free networking groups. Even if jobs don’t immediately sprout from the meetings, it might be helpful to know you’re not alone.

“Hey, it’s cheaper than therapy,” Ms. Locker says.

And remember to hang on to those receipts. Job-hunting expenses are tax deductible and may be considered a miscellaneous itemized deduction.

Wallet readers: How much would you recommend spending on a job hunt? What expenses are worth the money, and what would you tell people to skip?

Further recommended reading:
Career Journal
What to do With Your Investments If You’ve Been Laid Off
One in Six Employers Looking At Your Credit Report, Study Finds
How to Protect Your Finances After a Layoff

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Is the Starbucks tall-sized order too tall for you? Try asking for a short.

Personal Finance:
-Fifteen Web sites that pay you to recycle. [WiseBread]
-Need a new wardrobe but don’t want to spend a ton? Four sites to help you find deals. [SmartMoney]
-Yes, the market sank yesterday, but hey, don’t let fear guide your financial decisions. [Frugal Dad]

Investing:
-What to look for when reviewing your 401k. [Financial Methods]
-Five industrial and tech giants that are surprisingly green. [MarketWatch]
-Reviewing the pros and cons of a Roth IRA. [Bargaineering]

Other Lint:
-Ever order a short cup of coffee at Starbucks? A roundup of 10 secret menu items at chain restaurants. [mental_floss via Lifehacker]
-Love getting DVDs in the mail? What about books? With Web sites, such as paperspine.com, you could. [WSJ]
-Ten effects of the recession on colleges. [Accelerated Online Colleges]