7 financial hacks everyone should know about

By Libby Kane, LearnVest

This article comes from our partner LearnVest.

Just before the Enron scandal broke, the company's CEO immediately put his money into annuities—in his wife's name.

Why? Because those assets are creditor-protected, so they can't be seized (in this case, by the government).

This is just one example of many—remember the 14% tax rate Mitt Romney paid on his $13 million income?—illustrating how extremely wealthy people get the most from their money. And most of them do it legally.

Much of their success comes from knowing where to find loopholes in the financial system—"hacks," if you will. While we would never recommend any illegal or dishonest money moves (seriously, don't break the law!), there are a handful of legal personal finance hacks that are available to all of us—like these seven incredibly useful, low-profile tricks.

By Tim Sullivan

Credit cards have made it easier to spend money today than any time in the past. Before credit cards, you had to go to the bank and fill out a withdrawal slip whenever you needed easily spent funds. But now we have our money available to us 24 hours a day, which can be both a blessing and a curse.

Imagine making a few bad financial decisions while out on a Saturday night. Back in the day, if you spent all your money on Saturday, you wouldn't have it on Sunday. The banks were closed on Sunday, so unless you could find a place that would accept a check, football would be accompanied by whatever was in the fridge instead of a pizza delivery.

These days, with the easily available funds offered by credit cards, you can continue your spending unabated throughout the weekend. Because of this, many personal finance experts (and others) feel that credit cards are a saver's worst enemy.

But it doesn't have to be that way. Ease of spending doesn't have to come with lack of consciousness. Credit cards can make you a smarter spender as well. By keeping a close eye on your credit card records, you can use your card to improve your spending habits and realize more of your financial goals.

A helpful record

Unless you are saving every receipt and keeping a watchful eye on your budget, having cash in your wallet can lead to untracked spending.

By Justin Boyle

The spring equinox is approaching, and thousands of people are getting ready to rid themselves of clutter that has piled up over the previous year. While everyone's getting their houses in order, take the time to open the dusty door on the storehouse of your personal finance and credit habits. It might be time for spring cleaning in there too.

The beginning of spring is a great time to check your life for pockets of stagnant energy, like the corners of the garage or the back of your closet, and clean them out so that new and good things can take over. Spring is the season of new growth, after all, and new growth tends to thrive when old and needless things are removed from its surroundings.

Some of us approach our credit cards and personal finance habits in the same way we approach the clutter under the bed: If we don't look at the mess, it isn't there. Take a cue from the closet-cleaners and garage-salers this season and see if you can't vacuum some stagnant energy out of your wallet. Here are four tips for getting started:

1. Consider consolidation

I know from personal experience that it can be hard to keep track of multiple credit bills each month. If you can find a zero- or low-interest balance transfer credit card offer with a high enough limit to shoulder the lion's share of what you owe on credit, it might be prudent to shift your smaller balances over.

As far as what to do with the cards whose balances you empty, take a look at tip number two.

By Jennifer Goforth Gregory

When we returned from a recent family vacation, my 11-year-old daughter's carry-on bag was crammed with colorful trinkets that she had purchased with her vacation money. My 9-year-old son, on the other hand, boarded the plane with pockets full of cash that he had decided not to spend and instead save for an iPad mini.

I have always been fascinated by the nature vs. nurture discussion, especially when it comes to spending habits. My kids are 19 months and 17 days apart (not that anyone counted) and have been raised in the same middle-class house where we try to instill good money habits. But each of their attitudes toward money has been apparent since they were preschoolers.

When my daughter received money for her third birthday, she immediately launched a campaign for one of us to take her to the toy store right that minute. And even as a toddler, my son put any money he was given directly into his piggy-bank.

The power of DNA

Recently I stumbled upon a study backing up what I have observed in my own kids. A 2011 study of 15,000 sets of twins by finance professors at the University of Washington and Claremont McKenna College showed that a high percentage of identical twins had the same investing patterns as each other -- even if they were raised apart. The researchers concluded that genetic factors account for one-third of an investor's behavior on average.

But even if our genes shape much of our money personality, that doesn't mean spenders are destined to a life of debt and savers can't learn to loosen their purse strings a little.

By Peter Andrew

One of my favorite films is "Le Dîner de Cons" (The Dinner of Fools). Yes, it's French. But it comes with subtitles, and I can read. And it's about the funniest movie I've ever seen.

In it, a group of ghastly, elitist Parisian businessmen meets for dinner every week, and its members take turns to invite the most boring and/or stupid person they can find -- just so they can make fun of him or her. One week, one of these insufferable snobs brings along a minor civil servant, whose hobby is (guffaw, guffaw) making matchstick models of public buildings. Unfortunately for the group, the man is also a tax inspector, who subsequently sets out to wreak righteous revenge through his job. Add in troublesome wives and mistresses, and you have all the ingredients of a truly hilarious farce.

Tax audits may be funny when they happen to other people (especially, perhaps, if they're European snobs), but they're a whole lot less amusing when you're the one on the receiving end of them. You can't eliminate the chance of your being audited, because a small number of filers are chosen at random each year by computer. But here are three ways in which you can keep improve the probability of your flying below the IRS's radar:

1. Check your work

Nobody enjoys filling out tax forms, but it pays to take care when you do. One of the commonest audit triggers is incorrect math. Unless one of the characters in "The Big Bang Theory" was based on you (and not the ditzy neighbor), use a calculator or specialist software.

By Tim Sullivan

According to a 2012 survey by CareerBuilder.com, two in five American households are living paycheck to paycheck. We could blame this on the state of the economy or the scarcity of jobs, but in reality, saving money often has more to do with psychology than it does with external factors.

In order to save money, you have to take in more money than you spend. If you've struggled to save in the past, you must adopt one or both of the startegies below to finally build your savings account to what it should be. Which option will you choose?

1. Cut your spending

Years ago, I started saving because of a banking error. I forgot to endorse a check before putting it in my account. The next day, I went about buying groceries, lunch, and a coffee, not knowing my bank had taken the money out of my account and sent the check back to my address for endorsement. After $105 in overdraft fees ($35 for each purchase), I was cursing the bank. Why didn't they simply reject my card!? After all, I didn't need that coffee.

After I paid the bank off and put my ego back together, I realized that month, I had made $105 available to pay off those overdraft fees.