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Our Money Coach, Bill Stanley, said that handling our money isn't exactly rocket science. In fact, he says it's easier than rocket science – we just need two things to be successful.

First, he said we need the right attitude.

“I heard someone talking to a group of inner city, hard to employ people,” Stanley said. “He said that even if someone looking for a job could type 100 words a minute and knows every computer program known to man, he wouldn't get a job if he is a jerk.

“The same applies to your money. If you are a jerk when it comes to your money, you won't be successful.”

Now, what exactly constitutes a money jerk?

“A money jerk blames someone else for his money problems, and he relies on the good faith of others to handle his money,” Stanley said.

Having the right attitude is very important to your success, both in finances and in life, he said.

“If you say to yourself: 'I will never get out of debt,' you never will,” Stanley said. “If you say: 'I can't possibly save,' you never will.”

The second important thing we need to be successful is education.

Stanley said that education comes in many forms: The more formal education you have, the more money you will make in a lifetime. The more you learn about your job, the better you will do on your job and the promotions will come quicker. The more you learn about how to handle your money, the better you will do with your money.

However, Stanley said sometimes the best education is free.

“It comes when you fail at something,” he said. “Try something and if it doesn't work, don't do that again. There are many, many sources of information about money matters. We all need to spend less time watching the reality shows and focus more effort on learning the reality of money – learning about budgeting, about spending, and about saving.”

Stanley said his job as a money coach is to help motivate people into being better with their finances.
That can be done if we stick to these simple rules:

1) We need to have the right attitude about money and educate ourselves about money.

2) We need to understand the basic fact that each person is responsible for his or her money. It's not something we can leave to our spouse or some financial person.

3) Finally, we need a schedule so we know when to start taking charge of our money. The answer is: "start right now."

Bill Stanley and Money Matters airs every Tuesday on FOX21 Morning News.
If you have a question for Bill, contact him directly: MoneyCoachBill@aol.com