Achieving and maintaining financial freedom involves making the right decisions about your finances. It’s about choosing the right mortgage with the lowest interest rate, deciding with each purchase whether you want or need that item or service, and picking the right insurance company and policy options and coverage.

One important decision is where to do your everyday banking. Where do you keep your money? What institution has the best services, lowest fees, convenient branches, and the like. But it is also important to decide whether to go with a traditional bank or a credit union. So in this episode of the podcast I talk about the advantages and disadvantages of a credit union, and who should bank with one.

A lot of people do that one stupid thing in their lives that they’re not proud of. It’s that youthful indiscretion, that one brush with the law encountered by that otherwise law abiding citizen. Sometimes it’s that joint in your pocket or your car; sometimes it’s an impulsive grab for goods in a store that leads to shoplifting charges.

Fortunately, courts in New Jersey recognize this and give you a one-time "out" for these charges, called a "diversion." Two of them, Conditional Discharge and Conditional Dismissal, are used for minor charges in traffic court, while another, Pretrial Intervention, is used for more serious charges in county court.

In this episode of the podcast, I will discuss diversion for minor charges, as a criminal record can cause real problems for your financial freedom, often leading to the inability to get a job or a higher paying one!