It's a common refrain that today's college graduates are entering into the worst job market and economy since Hoover was around. We're told that an undergraduate degree means less than what a high school diploma once was, yet we're investing more in school than ever before. Post college debt is a major emotional weight on the backs of this newest generation, and colleges encourage debt with ease — don't worry about it; you don't have to pay it off until after you've graduated and have a well-paying job.

We're sold on it and it's a hard sell, not only by schools, but by the banks' ad dollars, as well. Previous generations didn't start life with so much debt, and in the middle of a job-killing recession no less. You probably aren't going to pay off that kind of debt waiting tables. Realize that college debt most likely means postponing life goals such as mortgage, car, marriage, and maybe even children.

Good-to-know facts about college debt
How big of a problem is the cost of college? Consider the following:
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This is a guest-post from Tim Ellis, author of Seattle Bubble, a blog and forum dedicated to discussing real estate market conditions in the Seattle area. Tim is a long-time GRS reader. During my last trip to Europe, he shared a controversial article on renting vs. buying.

Given the fact that each year around sixteen million Americans move to a new county, it's likely that at some point in your life you'll find yourself moving to an unfamiliar area.

Starting a new chapter of your life in a fresh locale can be an exciting and memorable time, but it can also be rough on your personal finances. Many of the expenses associated with a major move are unavoidable, but there's one major mistake that is easy to avoid: buying a home immediately upon arriving.

Especially for those of us like me who are in the midst of the long, hard slog of debt pay-down, staying motivated can be tough. How do you keep your excitement up and your determination high when financial independence is barely visible on the horizon? Here are some methods for staying the course when your goals will take months or years (heck, even decades) to achieve.

1. Keep Your Goal Visible

This is one you tip with which you may be familiar. Let's say your goal is to move someplace tropical when you "retire" (sarcastic quote marks because there are so many definitions of retirement). However, even early retirement is years or decades away. How can you keep your goal at the forefront of your mind? Turns out there are plenty of ways!

You could make your computer's screen saver a picture of a hammock on the beach. You could pick a personalized design for your credit card that reminds you of what you really want when you're tempted to spend. I read a blog recently that suggested making passwords incorporating phrases that remind you of your goals, like RetireInBelize2045. Finding a way to make the far-off a part of your everyday life may help you keep your eyes on the prize.

When I was a boy, we lived in the country. That is, we lived five miles from the nearest town (Canby) and 25 miles from the nearest city (Portland). We were surrounded by farmland. Life was quiet. Pastoral. Bucolic.

The road we lived on was especially quiet, with very little traffic. Even from a young age -- five or six, I think -- I was allowed to walk the quarter-mile to visit my grandparents. (My father's parents lived "next door" to us, but next door was across a large field.)

Visiting grandma and grandpa was fun. As quiet as life in the country was, life at their house was even quieter. There was a stillness in their place unlike anything I've experienced since. Their home seemed stuck in time.

One of my jobs at The Motley Fool is to serve as the internal financial planner for Fool employees. Lately, however, I've been answering more questions my colleagues have about their parents — and it's more likely about their mothers or mothers-in-law. The truth is, women face a more difficult task when it comes to retirement planning, for several reasons:

Women earn, and have, less. According to the Census Bureau, women earn just 77% of what men make. They are also more likely to interrupt their careers to raise children or take care of older relatives. According to the Social Security Administration, the typical woman spends 12 years out of the workforce. This results in lower retirement benefits and smaller portfolios. On average, a female's 401(k) is 40% less than a male's.

Women live longer. Generally, retirement begins when a person leaves the workplace and ends when life leaves the person. The longer someone lives, the longer retirement lasts — and the more assets will be needed. On average, gals live five years longer than guys, which means they tend to be retired longer. Add to this the fact that, with most couples, the wife is a few years younger than the husband, and you can see why most women should plan on spending their last few years on their own. Which leads us to…

Last week at the Financial Independence forum on Reddit, a user asked for podcast and audiobook recommendations related to personal finance, financial independence, and self-improvement. Livealegacy wrote:

I have about two hours a day that I spend driving and I'm looking to invest this time in myself...I'm looking for everyone's favorite investing/PF podcast or audiobooks. Might as well get smarter every day so if you have others you recommend outside of FI, this is about investing in myself so please share.

As an audio junkie myself -- I like to listen while I exercise or, sometimes, as I'm falling asleep -- I thought it would be useful to catalog all of this info in one place. There's a lot here. Let's get started!

As you gaze at your newborn or newly adopted son or daughter, one of these thoughts may run through your head:

• "Will I be able to afford to put you through school?"
• "Am I required to put you through school?"
• "Right now it's all I can do to pay for Pampers and child care. I'll worry about college later."

Time has a way of sneaking up on us. Seemingly overnight, that gurgling infant morphs into a 12th-grader looking at college or vocational education.

According to The College Board, tuition and fees (but not housing) at U.S. colleges in academic year 2014-15 ranged from $9,139 (state residents at public college) to $22,958 (out-of-state residents at public universities) to $31,231 (private colleges).

Over the weekend, a friend and I were enjoying a couple of beers in my neighborhood. As we sat outside people watching, he drooled over every fancy car that drove by.

"That's a whatever-whatever," he would tell me. "It costs $100,000."

I live in Los Angeles, where these symbols of affluence are common.

This article was written by David M. Carter, a graduate of the master of applied positive psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania, and the first graduate of the program to emphasize the inherent link between increased well-being and sustainable consumption.

A recent story in my local newspaper dealt with a sad-case family. The son was in jail for drugs, and his mother was trying desperately to find a way to give her son hope. The story described her stark home, which she shared with her son before he went to jail, containing four cats, a 50-inch plasma Panasonic and little else. The mom was particularly motivated to get back her son's 2000 BMW and 2001 Audi Quattro, both of which were recently stolen by his “friends”. She felt that by getting his cars back for him, it would give him some hope for the future.

The newspaper story addressed how this family is dealing with a lot of deep-seated issues. Yet, the plasma TV and European cars stand out as symbols of an illness that exists in our society that few want to think about, and many don't even know about.

Other than when the stock market crashes or another ten thousand people get pink slips, you never hardly hear anyone mention the economy, do you? Most people (you, perhaps?) view the economy as some external force over which nobody has any control. You feel like a victim of this capricious force and you can "only hope for the best".

Wrong on both counts.

The economy "happens" whether the news mentions it or not. No, it's not capricious. And no, you needn't be a victim.