No free rides: This means you

All this doesn't mean, as some of you thought, that I'm letting lawmakers, regulators and corporations off the hook. I think it's scandalous that:

• 45 million Americans, including 9 million children, have no health insurance and that premiums are soaring for those who still do.

• Lenders of all stripes are allowed to charge usurious interest rates, trapping many borrowers into unpayable debt.

• Wall Street behemoths get bailouts while people trying to save their homes can't get their lenders to return phone calls.

• Incomes and wealth have become so concentrated, to the point where the wealthiest 1% of the population now reaps a bigger share of income than at any time since the Great Depression, at the same time that inflation-adjusted incomes have fallen for most workers.

Those are the things that tick me off. I think they should tick you off, too, regardless of how well you manage your money, and I think we should push to get those problems fixed.

But I don't think you should wait for others to act, and I certainly don't buy the idea that you have no choice but to be broke.

Get smart and keep an open mind

There are situations, of course, in which it's all but impossible to get ahead financially:

You're in poor health and can't work. If a chronic illness or disability prevents you from earning income, your options dwindle. You can reduce your expenses, but you'll have a tough time advancing economically. The people who really can get ahead are those who can work more hours, find a better job or start a side business.

You're convinced you're helpless. In my experience, a closed mind is a much bigger barrier than an unhealthy body. You may ask for help but then reject every solution offered. You may insist you're ready to change, but you keep doing the same old stuff that keeps you where you are. Or you may just decide that your problems are too big for you to solve, in which case your attitude is pretty much a self-fulfilling prophecy. Unless and until you understand that you're responsible for your own rescue, not much can change.

If you can't see a way to improve your finances, post your situation on the Your Money message board and discover what other people have done in similar circumstances. If you keep an open mind and are willing to try, you may well find the help you're seeking there.

If you have your health and even average intelligence, you have a shot at improving your life. If you don't take it and figure out a way to get on top of your money, you're the one who's going to pay the price. There are no free rides.

Liz Pulliam Weston's latest book, "Easy Money: How to Simplify Your Finances and Get What You Want Out of Life," is now available. Columns by Weston, the Web's most-read personal-finance writer and winner of the 2007 Clarion Award for online journalism, appear every Monday and Thursday, exclusively on MSN Money. She also answers reader questions on the Your Money message board.

Published Aug. 7, 2008

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