talking money

i've recently decided to go on a binge. i'm reading most of jean chatzky's books. i've borrowed five of them from my local library and decided to read them in chronological order. the first up was talking money.
this book was actually pretty insightful. i have read some of her writing before, namely her book making money, not excuses, so i was actually expecting a rehash of the same information. some of it was reminiscent of making money, but there was a lot of new information as well. (which bodes well for my reading the other four books.) the biggest things i got out of taking money were these three things:
1) how to set financial goals. now i have no money to start saving for my goals, but it's nice to know that i can start planning anyways. and that paying off debt can be a financial goal. the most helpful thing was the questions to ask yourself. i agree with her, that most people don't plan because they don't know where to start. and providing a short questionnaire allows the reader to formulate plans without having to start at nowhere.
2) debt relief. as i sort of hinted at earlier, i am pretty well in debt. granted little of it is credit card, most of it is in student loans. which, like mortgages, is a pretty easy debt to bear. but i have no income. that's the worst situation for anyone carrying debt on their credit cards.
3) saving safety. she talks about saving then she talks about safety. saving is something i think i'm pretty good at. i don't pinch every penny but i can pretty much tell you where 99% of my money goes. but something i had no idea about was safe was to save my money for the short term. i have no plans or thoughts about retirement, and i'll wait for a 401(k) to come my way or a serious job, before i give it real thought. but i am going to grad school and trying to pay for it. i could use short term saving methods in order to lower the amount of student loan debt i get myself into. the one thing that really stood out to me was money market accounts. essentially a savings account with limited access so you get a higher return. who would have thought? who doesn't want a larger return? and since i would only withdraw money to make a tuition payment twice a year, or at max once a money 8 months out of the year, i can totally deal with the limited access. a+ for that tip.
in addition to these three ideas, most of the rest of the book was interesting, if not helpful. though mostly for things that i'm not dealing with yet. but as a reference for the future it's definitely a place to start.