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When it comes to financial troubles, Liz Pulliam Weston has heard it all. As the most read personal finance columnist on the web, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, she has long been the recipient of "anguished emails and letters from people whose finances are in a mess." But as the author of three financial advice books – Your Credit Score, Deal With Your Debt and the upcoming Easy Money – Weston claims to have "a streak of Girl Scout" in her, which is probably one of the reasons why she sat down to answer our five questions.

1. In your book, Deal With Your Debt, you talk about how retirement planning needs to be a top priority for everybody, since "employers increasingly have shifted the burden of paying for retirement to their workers, and Social Security's future is uncertain." Where does this leave people 50 and older? Are we going to be seeing more people working past the traditional retirement age?

They're going to try. A whopping 79 percent of boomers told the AARP in 2003 that they planned to work at least part-time in retirement. The problem is that a lot of these folks will be derailed by layoffs, ill health or the need to care for a family member. The typical retirement age today is 62, and the Employee Benefit Research Institute says 40 percent of current retirees left the workplace earlier than they'd planned – often because of illness, disability or layoffs.

Planning to work longer isn't a bad strategy for coping with retirement costs. But it doesn't eliminate the importance of saving adequately and investing properly.

2. Your book also lists "Six All-Too-Common 401(k) Mistakes." Have you found people to be ignorant of what their 401(k) plans can and cannot do? What can people do to educate themselves about 401(k)?

Many people don't appreciate how powerful a vehicle a 401(k) can be for retirement savings, particular if you start contributing early, don't stop and don't cash out when you change jobs. If you use a 401(k) correctly, you can actually accumulate more for retirement than you could through a traditional pension (according to a study done by Alicia Munnell at Boston College's Center for Retirement Research).

The problem is that too many people delay signing up or don't take full advantage of the company match, or take too much or too little risk, or cash out. The cure – as you've suggested – is education. We also need to get across the message that retirement money is for retirement. Otherwise, keep your mitts off. Don't borrow against it or make early withdrawals. Leave it alone so it can grow for you.

3. There appear to be two kinds of financial experts out there: those who say the baby boomers are on the cusp of the greatest transfer of wealth in history and those who believe that boomers will create catastrophic debt for future generations. What do you think boomers' financial legacy will be?

Actually, both of those things may happen simultaneously. Social Security and Medicare have made promises to future generations they can't keep. There are no easy fixes for either system. There are going to have to be increased taxes, benefit cuts or both to keep the systems afloat. At the same time, our economy has created a tremendous amount of wealth, which will be passed along to future generations at some point. But much of that money is concentrated at the upper end of the economic scale.

Also, if you look at those wealth transfer figures closely, you'll see the bulk of the inheritances will actually be going from the baby boomers to their children. The Greatest Generation really aren't leaving all that much and most boomers won't receive any inheritance at all. I don't recommend that anyone count on an inheritance to bail them out financially, unless the money's already sitting in an irrevocable trust somewhere.

4. Is credit card debt a problem for people 45 and older? Or is it primarily a problem for younger people, who might have more trouble balancing a lower paying job with the increased pressure to spend?

You're more likely to carry credit card debt and to have bigger balances in your 30s, 40s and early 50s than you are either earlier or later in your life. The peak is really the 40s when, according to the Federal Reserve's most recent Survey of Consumer Finances, 56.3 percent of households carry some credit card debt, and the median balance is $2,900. Fewer than half of households headed by twenty-somethings have any credit card debt, and the median balance is $1,400. Only 35.7 percent of households headed by those in their 60s have any credit card debt, and the median balance is $2,200.

That said, the fastest-growing group of bankrupts in the 1990's was people 65 and over. Wisdom does not necessarily come with age, particularly when you're talking about credit. Credit standards are a lot looser than they were 20 years ago, so you can really dig yourself into a hole that's wider and deeper than was possible even a generation ago. That's why it's so important for people to set their own limits when it comes to borrowing. Mortgage, auto, student loan and credit card lenders are willing to let you borrow far more than you can ever comfortably repay.

5. Are you familiar with the term "bag lady syndrome," the idea that single women aged 40 and over are suddenly panicked at the idea of not being married and, having never learned the financial tricks that men supposedly learned, do not have any enough money saved?

Bag lady syndrome can strike anyone, including men and women who have been married for years. And it's sometimes more a mindset than any actual reflection of the person's financial circumstances. Whatever they have, these people are convinced it could be taken away in a heartbeat.

I do think there's a persistent problem with women who ignore their personal finances. I can't tell you how many smart, educated women insist to me that they don't understand money and don't feel that they can learn. Which, of course, is baloney. This is not rocket science. I always recommend they read two books, Eric Tyson's Personal Finance for Dummies and Barbara Stanny's Prince Charming Isn't Coming. In December I'll be able to add my own entry to the Personal Finance 101 field with a book called Easy Money: How to Simplify Your Finances and Get What You Want Out of Life.

Managing your money is part of being a grown-up. And it's not that hard, once you cut through the noise.

Want more? To read another interview with another great financial mind, click here.