“Personal finance is more personal than finance.”  There are so many factors that affect a person or family’s finances: where you live, what career path you take, how much financial support you receive from family, good luck, bad luck, how much money you make, poor choices, hard work, student loans, healthcare spending, a lack of education or understanding about how to run your own finances, what your lifestyle inflation looks like, what your personal relationship is with money and the list could go on and on. Ben Carlson offers some common-sense guidelines.