We all know that doing our fair share of work around the house makes for an efficient home. Taking responsibility for the tasks that we enjoy (or dislike the least) seems to work best. The same method can be used with great effect when handling all aspects of your personal finances.

It has repeatedly been shown that a group of castaways on the proverbial desert island are best served to play up to their strengths. Rather than having everyone do a small portion of each task, the community benefits from each person specializing and doing a large portion of certain tasks. Dividing work by skill and interest proves to be more effective than simply dividing work by time.

Your personal finances can benefit from this idea in a number of ways. The spouse with better math or computer skills can run the personal finance software. Whoever has better organization skills can collect and manage coupons and receipts. Tasks where both spouses are inexperienced, such as making your first investments, can be handled jointly. In addition to the skill-based division of tasks, personal preferences can be accommodated. I hate to make returns, but my wife doesn’t mind, so she handles that any time the need arises.

Unlike other areas where labor is divided, with personal finances it’s important to keep everyone informed about the work that’s being done and the state of financial affairs. Having a regular discussion about the results of your tasks will keep the system running smoothly even in the case of an illness, death, or time away from home. Going back to the island scenario, you wouldn‘t want one person to hold the secret of how to build a fire, in case something were to happen to him! This person could handle the actual work of building all fires, but should keep others informed about how it is done.

Members of a thriving family have to wear many hats. Within the financial realm, you’ll find that completely handling the tasks you do well, and sharing responsibility for those no one is particularly good at, will be more effective than having everyone try to be partially involved in every activity. Take some time to list the financial tasks that need to be done in your household and ensure that each of them is being handled as efficiently as possible.

Insurance is one of the things that most people don’t like to think about but need to purchase. For students attending college, most of the insurance is provided or paid for by parents or the college.

Upon graduating, however, it is time to think about and purchase your own insurance since the insurance provided by the college will lapse, and your parents will probably want you to purchase your own policies. Insurance can be what stops you from having a financial crisis before you’re even up and running financially. We here at the Lending Club blog want to help you understand the major types of insurance that you should consider.

Health Insurance

Health insurance often includes dental and prescription coverage and will most likely be provided by your employer. Talk to the HR department and they will provide you with the necessary information and options. You can also read this government guide. If you’re self-employed or the company does not offer insurance, you can purchase your own. Research sites like BankRate.com or eHealthInsurance.com are helpful. There are many different options and choices to make when selecting health insurance coverage, so make sure to do your research before purchasing. But don’t delay, because your health is the most important thing you have.

Auto Insurance

Auto insurance is required in all states to operate a vehicle. Comprehensive or “full coverage” covers your car and any liability, while “liability only” plans cover only the damage that you might cause. There are many options with auto insurance, so make sure to talk to an agent who can answer your questions before buying a car or making changes to your current coverage. Read this guide from Kiplinger for some valuable tips.

Life Insurance

If you have any financial responsibilities after graduating from college (those college loans), make sure to look at term life insurance. This is an inexpensive way to purchase a lot of coverage for a “term” or a time period (10 years, for example) during which you can better your financial position.

Renters Insurance

Renting an apartment might expose you to different risks to your property; purchasing renters insurance can reduce some of those risks. It protects your property while you are a renter. Nobody expects to be robbed or have to have his or her apartment broken into, but it happens. Here’s an excellent article explaining why you need renters insurance.

There are other types of insurance out there, but this covers the basics. It might seem like insurance costs a lot, but when something goes wrong (and many times it does), you will most likely be saying that you should have purchased more of it.

Are you under 30? If so, you have a great chance of building a large nest egg if you start investing wisely now.

Here are 9 rules for young investors to keep you out of trouble as well as on the path to a healthy investment portfolio:

1. Don't Be Afraid of Risk

One of the biggest mistakes young investors make is allocating too much of their investments in cash or bonds.

A good rule of thumb is to subtract your age from 100. Allocate that % of your portfolio to stocks. Me being 25 (100-25 = 75), I would want to allocate around 75% of my portfolio in stocks.

2. Don't Overweight In Your Employer's Stock

If you can get stock in your company subsidized, by all means invest as much as you can. That is free money.

But don't overweight your portfolio with company stock. What happens if your company goes under? Not only is your job income gone, but your investment portfolio is shredded as well.

3. Start Yesterday

Yes, we are young, but even the difference between starting at 20 vs. 25 or especially 30 is huge in the long haul.

Developing smart investing habits now vs. later in life pays out exponentially in the future because of the "magic" of compounding returns.

4. Question Advisers Mercilessly

Your financial adviser is not your friend. He or she may actually be your friend, but their first responsibility is to managing your investments.

If you choose a financial adviser, know exactly how he/she gets paid and exactly how much of your money they are getting. Every dollar they get is a dollar less what you could be investing.

Ideally, try to ditch the adviser and learn the basics of investing yourself.

5. Invest in yourself

Running your own business is risky. It's also one of the best ways to achieve financial freedom. Start a side-project in the evening while you keep your W-2 job.

Starting a business as young person has never been easier or cheaper. Heck, a personal loan borrowed through Lending Club can even help you fund your idea.

6. Think Long-Term

You don't need to check your investments every week. A quarterly checkup is a good idea.

Focus on the long term, and remember time is on your side!

7. Max Out Retirement Plans

Never pass up free money. If your employer matches retirement funds by all means take advantage of it. Again here, the earlier you start the better.

8. Invest Like a Robot

Automation, automation, automation. Set up all your investments to get deducted automatically from your paycheck or your bank account. If it's not automatic you'll make excuses and not put away as much as you should.

9. If You Don't Understand It, Don't Invest In It

Complex options, annuities, oil wells, currency, any "investment" that you don't understand completely should be avoided.

My recent post, Foreclosure Filings Still Rising, contained links to foreclosure avoidance tips and noted that a P2P loan could help those facing foreclosure.

Taking a look at my own monthly expenses, I made a list of some items that could be cut to avoid losing my home:

• Cable
• Internet
• Home phone
• Unplug my TVs, computers, etc., to save on power
• Stop watering my lawn, conserve water in other ways
• Cancel my gym membership
• Live without AC
• Never eat out
• Temporarily stop all clothing and entertainment expenses
• Sell my second car
• Reduce my pre-tax withholdings (401K)
• Postpone vacations

Many of these expenses would be uncomfortable to live without and some would be quite difficult. Facing the alternative of losing my home, I would probably have no trouble dealing with the loss of these expenses. Thinking back to how people lived just a generation ago, many of these current “necessities” were luxuries or non-existent back then.

Some of the cuts would be temporary in nature, either until I got back on my feet, or I ultimately lost the battle to stay in my home. Living without others during those lean times might help me to realize how unimportant (and unnecessary) they really are.

Your list of potential cuts probably has some overlap with mine, but likely also has some expenses specific to your situation. When faced with truly tough choices, we quickly realize which things are true necessities, and which are not. Making a list of potential cuts is valuable even if you’ll never face foreclosure because it may help you to identify some unnecessary expenses that you could easily live without.

As we’ve often noted here on the Lending Club blog, consumers, particularly those of the frugal mindset, delight in getting a great deal. In the quest to get everything for the best possible price, or the maximum possible value, there occasionally comes a time when our ethics also come into play.

The question of the day is: When does a steal of a deal become just plain stealing?

As an example of an unbelievable deal, I remember being a young boy and finding a shrink-wrapped case of baseball cards marked with the price for the individual packs contained within. I unassumingly brought the case to the register and gladly paid $2.99 for the case, rather than $2.99 for each of the 30 packs within. This was clearly a mistake on the part of the store, but begs the question of whether I should have rejoiced in capitalizing on the store’s error or felt guilty for knowingly getting an unfairly low price.

I’d like to think that I’d act differently now that I’m an adult. I came up with the following scenarios to try to define the grey area between finding a great deal and acting unethically. What would you do in each case?

1. You notice that a cashier giving you change for a $5 purchase gives you back $1 too much.
2. You notice that a cashier giving you change for a $5 purchase gives you back $100 too much.
3. After getting an unbelievable deal (the unethical type), would you return to the store to try for a repeat performance? Assume that your intent was to sell the second purchase on eBay for a substantial profit.
4. After finding a Canadian quarter in your coin jar, you try to pass it off with US coins for a small purchase.
5. An automated register takes 10% off of your most expensive item 5 times, instead of 10% off of your total purchase of 5 items. Assume you are using a coupon for 10% off your entire purchase.
6. Your saving account shows a $0.50 error in your bank’s favor.
7. Your saving account shows a $0.50 error in your favor.
8. You present a coupon that you know has expired.

One final thought to consider is whether your answers would change if you were shopping at your local Mom and Pop store, versus a big box retailer. In other words, is it wrong to do something to a local business but OK if it’s a (thoughtless, greedy, etc.) corporation?

Defining ethical behavior for a large group of people is often difficult. One’s personal situation and individual morals make “ethical” a highly subjective word. Even though there may not be correct answers to each of the preceding questions, evaluating each one will help you better define your own ethical boundaries.