FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- I hate to accept it as much as anyone else, but the fact is, the quickest way to financial freedom is rarely through the lottery, a get-rich-quick plan or an inheritance. Most of us main-streamers are limited to one way of creating a worry-free financial situation for ourselves, and that way is called responsibility.

We're not born with financial knowledge, and most of us didn't learn financial responsibility in school (though we should have, in my strong opinion.) Of course, you can detect that lack of knowledge and responsibility by looking around at the massive amounts of debt the typical American carries. According to the Federal Reserve's February 2008 statistical release on consumer credit, as a country our total outstanding credit equals more than 2,500 billion dollars. That's billion. That same release states that consumer credit "increased at an annual rate of four-and-half percent in the in the fourth quarter of 2007 and rose five-and-a-half percent over the year as a whole." In other words, it's getting worse, not better.

But that doesn't have to be you. Messages of an impossibly debt-ridden society, the constant lure of credit card companies and materialistic advertising do not have to foreshadow your financial fate. By taking financial responsibility back into your own hand and making wise, preplanned decisions about your financial present and future, you are absolutely able to move yourself toward financial freedom.

And right now, the military is leaping to help you. Military Saves Week is a bright opportunity for those of us (and yes, I do include myself) who want to delete our financial debts, build short- and long-term savings, save successfully for retirement and gain more sound financial knowledge. Have questions about your credit report? There's a Credit Report 101 seminar February 27. Want to learn how to invest in things you already purchase? Check out the Money Maker Workshop that same day. Starting to think about buying a home? The Home Buyer Workshop February 28 is for you.

Like I said, every one of us has the ability to move toward financial freedom; I am convinced of that. We may need a little knowledge and help to get there, though. Military Saves Week provides that help and shared expertise. Don't pass up your chance to start building your own fortune.


Editor's note: Information from the Federal Reserve site http://www.federalreserve.gov/Releases/g19/current/ was used in this article.