By KARA MCGUIRE, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Your nest egg is looking healthier these days, but it could still use a makeover.

Fed up with the stock market? Sick of greedy megabanks and Wall Street bailouts? Then take your money and invest in what you eat. That's the idea behind slow money, a movement coming into its own at a time when interest in local food is rising and exasperation is high over a global financial system gone wild.

For students who don't have access to a money class, this column's for you. I asked a handful of professors and financial aid directors what every college student should know about money going into this school year. Here's their list:

Bea Anderson and her siblings have always made decisions about their shared cabin with a handshake.

With just a brother and a sister and their spouses to consult, that wasn't so hard. But the cabin on Minnesota's Lake Vermillion, which has been in the family for more than 50 years, will pass to seven families in the next generation.

Since the credit crisis and this economic downturn took hold, most credit card companies are re-evaluating risk and changing the terms -- even for their best customers. A week doesn't go by without a reader sharing a nightmarish story about a closed card, a lowered credit limit or jacked-up interest rates and higher fees.

It's about time. This week, Americans will finally start to benefit from the first wave of credit-card reforms enacted by the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009.

If you're saying "I do," you also need to say "I will" when it comes to talking about finances with your future spouse.

But the focus tends to be on big-day money matters (Who's paying for the wedding? The dress is how much?), not money matters that can affect a couple's happiness throughout life.

Our clunker flunks the rebate test. Fortunately, it's a great time to buy. But that doesn't change the fact that a car is an expensive purchase.

Like cars, college has a sticker price and then the price a student actually pays.

Take control of your finances.
That's my No. 1 piece of financial advice in this economy. Examine your spending. Pay down your debt, however slowly. Set realistic financial goals. Take calculated risks.
Come to think of it, I would have recommended the same in 2006 -- when some days I felt everyone but me was spending lavishly and leveraging themselves to the hilt.