Katt Williams has had an enormous amount of problems lately. He was arrested for burglary and owes back taxes although he earned over $50 million last year. Most recently his $400K Bentley was repossessed.

In this economy it’s so funny to me how prices work. Gas may fluctuate, yet entertainment has stayed the same or even increased. I just paid $15 to party in a lounge a couple of weekends ago.

With that being said, why are these celebrities avoiding taxes and their bills, when we’re scrimping and saving to go to their shows?

Word of advice: don’t be like Katt Williams. Or Nicolas Cage. Or Wesley Snipes. We need to get our money right.

There are tons and tons off books out there to help with finances. You got authors like Suze Orman, Dave Ramsey, among others. I believe the best one, however, is I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. (Check out his website here.) He’s young, so it’s not like your parents telling you what to do with your money. He gives extremely useful advice. With the help of his book, I’ve been able to save a good chunk of change in four months. Here are some of the helpful highlights:

1. The first step is always the hardest in getting your finances together, but it’s very important. You need to know your credit score. Our credit determines what kind of loan we get for mortgages and cars, as well as how much interest we’ll pay for our credit cards. The sooner you get your score the better (even if it might not be great) because it gives us the greater opportunity to improve it.
2. Look at your bills. It only takes one day a week to set aside some time and dig in. Start paying off your debt. If you have a high-interest credit card, double your minimum payment to get it paid quickly, without paying much interest. (He gives great examples in the book.)
3. Automate your money. This is one of the best tips that I followed. As soon as you get paid, automatically transfer that money to pay your bills so you don’t have to worry about it later. For example, with every paycheck I receive, I transfer half of my rent into savings. I also set up online banking for my car insurance and other bills.
4. Another important tip is not to budget because budgeting is boring. Chances are, you’re just going to go crazy after a while and then splurge and spend wildly as before. What Ramit says to do is to exercise conscious spending. Set goals you can actually reach. Don’t set goals for the short term (“I’m not going to go shopping for a month”) because when that period is over, you’re just going to go back to the bad habits. Don’t cut something completely out. If you like to eat out at restaurants, by all means, do it, but to spend hundreds of dollars is crazy if you can’t afford it. Strategize and revitalize. That’s it.

He gives other great points on how to invest, save for retirement, how to negotiate with credit card companies (he literally has scripts to follow), buying a house, and lots of other good stuff.  Seriously, go out and get it!