Whomever first proclaimed that money doesn't buy happiness probably had money. That's my nickel bet.

In any case, making and managing money can mean all the difference in attaining and retaining quality of life. Being able to afford housing beats getting booted from your digs. Same for food, transportation, fuel.

Ask anyone who's found themselves out on the street or out of a job.

Bankruptcy filings are up. Americans charge more than they earn. More than four in 10 student cardholders carry a balance, month to month, of a median $1,000, reports the American Council on Education (ACE) analysis. Many respondents to surveys on investing know-how admit they're clueless.

Meanwhile, expenses are rising -- with larger ensuing gaps between the haves and have-nots, between what we'd like and what we can afford, between what we should spend and what we do spend. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey is using her substantial influence to push her new Debt Diet, bringing forward couples not only burdened with money issues but shame. One couple was spending $100 a day on takeout. Oprah will, no question, get the word out.

But so are some advocates right here at home, and we're lucky for their presence.

American Credit Counseling Service Inc. is offering financial education workshops in Plainville on subjects such as `` Credit and Divorce.''

They've had a good turnout for the overall thorny topic -- money woes and debt -- with its many manifestations.

`` It can have a devastating impact. I know there are solid statistics that money problems can lead to depression, divorce, addictions,'' said a spokesman. `` Drowning in debt can even affect performance at work.''

Also in Plainville, young people just studied personal finance subjects such as banking, identity theft, and credit cards, a project of the Financial Enrichment Summer Program, the idea of Attleboro's Attiya Chaudary, CEO of Plainville-based National College Assistance Services.

`` Just the way we educate them in Algebra I, shouldn't we be educating them in credit card debt?'' Chaudary told The Sun Chronicle.

Yup.

More than half of college students have at least one credit card billed to them, shows ACE. Already behind, I'd wager, before they've started out, and that snowball will just keep on rolling.

In Attleboro, the Women at Work Museum's financial education classes continue on, covering topics such as `` Singled-Minded'' and `` Socially Responsible Investing.'' Museum Treasurer Kelly Fox, a Certified Financial Planner with Ameriprise Financial Services, is coordinating the series. Women can greatly benefit since many still find themselves without savvy about the business of personal solvency. This subject is increasingly being addressed by money gurus such as therapist Olivia Mellan of Washington, D.C., co-author of `` Money Shy to Money Sure: A Woman's Road Map to Financial Well-Being.''

Well, a couple of Princeton researchers have just announced that more income does not change a person's sense of well-being. It doesn't `` buy happiness.'' OK, OK, that may -- or may not -- be so.

We'll each be the judge of that.

But money will help you get those bills paid, and that's worth something.

Ask the people in the know if you need help getting it done.

BETSY SHEA-TAYLOR is associate Opinion Page editor. She can be reached at 508-236-0439 or at btaylor(at)thesunchronicle.com.