"Hi. I'm Tom and I'm a compulsive spender."

The recession has run a few drivers off the road, at least when it comes to keeping their auto insurance coverage.

Call her the matriarch of money management. For more than 30 years, Jane Bryant Quinn has been writing, opining and advising consumers on all aspects of personal finance. Next month, the author and former Newsweek columnist will be speaking in Sacramento during the annual "Perspectives" event (see box).

Hidden behind the stories about highly paid female CEOs, business owners, politicians and athletes, there remains one stubborn financial fact.

Every natural disaster sears us with the same images: Forlorn families sifting through ashes for treasured heirlooms and possessions. Business owners peeling open the charred remnants of payroll records and money bags.

As millions of students head back to colleges, they're facing one of the tightest financial worlds in recent years.

Life with a credit card presumably got a little easier this month. Under new federal regulations, credit card companies have to give more warning before upping your interest rate and more notice before your bill is due.

Air Force wife Denise Fernandez wants to help high school and college-age kids of military families get financially savvy. Sacramento-area retiree Bart Aspling, whose wife recently deployed to Texas, hopes to offer financial counseling to families stressed by frequent military relocations.

For millions of Americans, getting a paper check from Social Security or SSI in the mailbox each month is a regular ritual. In the Sacramento region, about 65,000 of those government-issued envelopes arrive every month.

This week, we're dishing up a little midsummer financial smorgasbord. A taste of this, a dab of that:

It's not like hitting the lottery, but it beats hunting for spare change in the couch cushions.

You came. You saw. You saved.

When Wall Street financier Bernard Madoff was carted off to prison in disgrace last week, he left behind thousands of investors in financial ruin. His estimated $65 billion global Ponzi scheme – which the court called "extraordinarily evil" – robbed individuals, banks, universities, even charities.

Psst. Found your $1,000 yet? There's still time.

Last month, in honor of Mother's Day, we shared the best money tips that readers learned from Mom. Today, it's Dad's turn and we asked readers for their favorite fatherly financial wisdom. Here's what they told us:

It's the season for graduation gifts. And for most high school, college and grad school grads, there's one gift that's king: cash.

Save $1,000 in four weeks: Can you do it? Ramit Sethi thinks so.

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