Every other Saturday was a big money moment.

My first financial adviser was George W. Wanner, the teller at the old Citizens Savings and Loan, where I had my first savings account. Every two weeks my dad and I would walk into the bank and peer over the counter as Mr. Wanner opened, then emptied, my savings bank, counted the pennies, nickels and dimes, and recorded the deposit in my passbook.

See also: Saving Medicare.

During our visits, he shared his four savings essentials: (1) regular deposits — small steps achieve big goals; (2) compound interest — there's nothing more reliable if you're a saver or more costly for borrowers; (3) lockbox — my bank required a key, which made withdrawals difficult, just as they should be; and (4) balance — deposits should exceed withdrawals. You get in trouble if they don't.

The scale has changed, but not the lesson. As a reporter, I spent years following the money — from scoundrels and scammers on Long Island, to town and county budgeteers, to Washington tax writers and big spenders. That journey included a seat at the Senate Budget Committee hearing on Jan. 25, 2001, when Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan famously concluded that the federal government faced a huge $5.6 trillion budget surplus over the next decade, and the nation needed a tax cut. Congress leapt at the opportunity. But the lawmakers missed the rest of his message. "Economic relationships," he told them that day, "are different from anything we have considered in recent decades," and the projections could be wrong. His conclusion: Consider a short-circuit for the tax cuts if targets in the surplus trajectory aren't hit.