Saving money never goes out of style. For the wealthy and the not-so-wealthy, pennywise practices can go a long way toward spending less… “It’s important to save because it gives you a framework. People are looking for steps to take,” Barbara O’Neill, a Rutgers University professor and author who specializes in financial resource management, said… Having a financial goal gives direction and provides motivation, O’Neill said. She promotes a “stepping down” program whereby individuals are “not giving something up, but are finding a lower price.”… If one is buying pancakes, for example, there are a few options: At the top step is the most expensive choice- buying pancakes at a sit-down restaurant; a cheaper option is purchasing pancakes at a fast-food restaurant; another step down, saving more money, is buying frozen pancakes at the supermarket; and the least costly way to go is making pancakes at home from scratch.

U.S. millennials have more than $1 trillion in outstanding student loan debt, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education. In New Jersey, total student loan debt hovers around $30.8 billion, which is just shy of the amount that’s needed to run the state of New Jersey in 2015… The skyrocketing cost of education and the Great Recession forced many students to finance their education with loans. Officials say as they graduate into the real world with significant debt and, in many cases take low paying jobs they’re overqualified for, economic activity isn’t as significant as it’s been when past generations were coming into adulthood…”There are a whole lot of people out there living postponed lives,” said Barbara O’Neill, a personal finance professor at Rutgers University New Brunswick. “It’s got a dampening effect for people of all ages- not just the young people themselves. It ripples.”… Debt prevents millennials from forming households, which means they’re not renting apartments or buying homes. With 80 million nationwide, they could be boosting the economy, O’Neill said. But they’re not — and it’s because of their debt.