Your most valuable documents, like passports and birth certificates, are pretty obvious to identify and the vast majority of people know to store these in a safe and secure place. Financial files, on the other hand, can be a little tricky.

Mercii Thomas bravely told her story of financial abuse on a recent episode of my podcast .

While many federal borrowers benefited from a temporary deferment of their loans, the New Year will likely require revisiting our balances and re-strategizing the pay off.