United States treasurer Anna Escobedo Cabral believes that soap operas can serve as a valuable tool for educating the masses about financial literacy. According to The New York Times, "Ms. Cabral said last week that her department is talking to producers of English- and Spanish-language soap operas about weaving financial education issues into story lines. Telemundo, the Spanish-language television network owned by NBC Universal, has indicated that it would be willing to incorporate such information into its telenovelas, she said."

What a great idea! Given that money woes are widely seen as a cause of relationship strife, there's plenty of drama to be found with financial issues. Here are a few of my ideas for money-related subplots in daytime soaps. Hollywood producers: If you're looking to hire me, contact AOL for my number: ;)

• A hunky young male model attempts suicide after his phone rings day and night with angry collection agencies looking for a piece of the $50,000 in credit card debt he has run up. After his girlfriend finds him unconscious and rushes him to the hospital, she tells him she loves him for who he is, and that he doesn't need to spend like a drunken sailor on shore leave to be an amazing person.
• Enrique and Jennifer's relationship hits the rocks after Jennifer becomes a distributor for a multi-level marketing company. Enrique is convinced it's a scam, but Jennifer spends all her time listening to motivational tapes and drives their friends away with her constant sales pitches.
• Krystal finds out her boyfriend is embezzling at his job, and doesn't know what to do.

Princeton Survey Research Associates International conducted a study into the personal finance habits of 1,003 Americans on behalf of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. Here are some of the findings:

• Less than half have ever ordered their credit reports.
• Less than 40% use monthly budgets.
• Almost 1/3 don't know the interest rate on their credit cards.
• Nearly half saw no need for further financial education (A deadly combination of arrogance and ignorance)
• 1/3 expressed a desire to learn more about money.
• Four in ten credit card holders don't pay the full amount due each month.
• 59% reported that they usually pay the full balance rather than incur interest and finance charges on their credit cards.
• More than 1/3 of respondents had received financial guidance from professionals.

These numbers are pretty scary -- With the vast majority of credit reports containing errors, people are flushing money down the toilet in the form of higher interest rates by not making sure their credit scores are as high as they should be. The survey indicates that 1/3 or respondents didn't know the interest rate on their credit cards, and I have a hunch that a large percentage of that third are part of the four in ten credit card holders who don't pay the full amount each month. People who aren't knowledgeable about their finances tend not to be responsible either.

If you're reading this site, chances are you at least make an effort to be on top of your financial situation. But you also probably know someone who isn't. If you have knowledge of financial matters, offer to help those less fortunate. You could be the difference between poverty and a comfortable retirement for them.

As Barack Obama said in a recent speech, "Eighty percent of African-American teens in a city like Washington think that they'll be rich and over half think they'll be famous." Assuming that these optimistic predictions hold true in other cities and among other groups, it's clear that young people have pretty optimistic hopes for their future. If only their competence matched their confidence.

According to a recent survey (PDF - may take a minute to load) released by Schwab and written up on Yahoo! by Carrie Schwab Pomerantz, 73% believe they'll be earning "plenty of money" when they're out on their own. Based on the career that interests them most, teens believe they'll be earning an average annual salary of $145,500.

Those of you who read my posts frequently know that, when necessary, I have no problem naming names and going after specific companies that I think consumers and investors need to avoid. That is precisely what I'm going to do today. My brother is a junior in college and frequently receives offers in the mail for credit cards and other "financial services" (which reminds me of the old joke about military intelligence). Yesterday, he received a catalog from a company called Peach Direct (bad name, bad company), which boasts the slogan "Making Luxury Affordable."

Well who doesn't want affordable luxury? Surely I do. So I opened the catalog and began browsing the offers. Among the "deals" available are Gucci sunglasses for $10 per month, a 50" DLP Wide-screen HDTV for $48 per month, and an Xbox 360 for $14 per month. But my personal favorite is, by far this gem: Quicken 2007 Deluxe for $10 per month. Ladies and gentlemen, take it from me: If you don't have the $49.99 in cash that it takes to buy your own personal finance software, you probably don't need it. One of the savviest financial decisions you could make in that situation would be to not buy the software on installment, paying the 23.99% APR my brother was "pre-approved" for -- which is sort of like being pre-approved to take a vow of poverty. What's second prize? Fifty shares of Enron stock?