1. Don’t spend more than you earn. That means you need to live below your means. Remember, if you make $250,000 a year and you spend every penny of it—you are not well off!

2. Create a savings program. Get a system that works for you. Most people probably don’t think they can save $500,000—but those same people believe they can win a lottery of that amount, and they spend money trying despite the terrible odds. But the truth is that if you invested $50 a week over 40 years and earned 9 percent interest you would have saved and earned $1,026,853. If it’s hard for you to save even after reading those numbers—you might want to have an automatic deposit taken directly from your paycheck and put into a savings account.

3. Invest in stock mutual funds. The average annual return is much higher than in a passbook savings account.

4. Open a Roth IRA if you qualify. The bottom line is you’ll never have to pay tax on the interest, dividends or gains if you follow the rules.

5. Pay off your credit cards.

6. Set up your will or a trust. More than 50 percent of Americans die without a will.

7. Get life insurance—it’s not for you, it’s for your loved ones. Make sure you check out all the different options and select the ones that are appropriate for you.

8. If you don’t know the ins and outs of the tax breaks available to you—hire someone who does.

9. If you’re going to live in the same area for a while—buy a house.

10. Be prudent. If something sounds too good to be true—it probably is.