Between ballooning student loans, credit cards and money owed to family members, they are facing an average $35,200 in college-related debt, a Fidelity survey of 750 college graduates shows.

And for half of this year’s graduates, the amount of debt they racked up while in school comes as a shock.

“We’re tending to find people are still surprised at the level of debt they’re graduating with, which suggests we still have a long way to go in terms of having conversations about planning for college, saving for college and figuring out the best place to go [to college],” said Keith Bernhardt, vice president of college planning at Fidelity Investments.

The bulk of the class of 2013′s debt is in government loans, with graduates owing an average of $26,000. They also had an average of $19,000 in private loans, $18,000 in state loans, $13,000 in personal and family loans and $3,000 in credit card debt.

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There aren’t too many people today who don’t desire success in the areas of love and money. Unfortunately, people struggle with identifying principles to generate success in both of these key life areas. In an attempt to assist with this dilemma, I have identified one word that is a key to achieving success in both wealth and relationships. Allow me to introduce you to APPRECIATION.

According to dictionary.com, the root word appreciate has multiple meanings: to be grateful or thankful for, to value or regard highly or to raise in value.

I could stop the article here because the definitions really speak for themselves. However, allow me to further elaborate in order to ensure the point hits home.

When it comes to finances, the world’s wealthy understand the power of investing in assets that appreciate in value. Their knowledge has allowed them to master the art of creating a Return on Investment (ROI). Very rarely do you see wealthy people amassing a lot of goods (e.g. cars, clothes, etc.) that don’t add value to their financial lives. Notice I said wealthy and not rich. Rich people generally make a lot of money; whereas, wealthy people create avenues to grow their money. Many of the wealthy individuals I know live very simple and money savvy lives. They don’t pride themselves in purchasing the latest shoes, purchase depreciating automobiles or maintaining a closet full of designer fashions. Many are quite frugal.

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Let me offer this quick tip to you as a public service announcement: If you desire a truly healthy relationship with someone, focus more on their character than the amount of currency they make or have.

It seems that in today’s society, there is a lot more focus placed on income and not enough attention on people’s character. Unfortunately, a number of men and women have resolved within themselves to list income as an item on their future mate checklist. God forbid they run across someone who meets the majority of the core areas like love, respect, compassion, etc., but happens to work in education or in a factory. Is someone who meets all of the character requirements, but only makes $30-$50K automatically ruled out?

I know it sounds absurd, but I’m sure many of you have heard of stories where a friend, family member or co-worker may have eliminated someone from consideration because they didn’t make enough money. If you haven’t experienced this personally, consider yourself lucky to not have had to deal with such superficiality. I believe our culture’s infatuation with money and success has been one of the contributing factors to the decline of healthy relationships. However, that’s entirely different topic to deal with.

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Take a moment to go look in the mirror. The person looking back at you is the greatest asset in your possession. No matter what is going on in your career, relationships or financial life, the person looking at you in the mirror has the value and ability to create great returns in every area of your life.

Do you want a great career?

Invest in yourself. Enhance your current marketability by taking additional training courses or by obtaining certifications. In order to continue increasing your value and salary potential in the workplace, add skills and certifications to your resume. Even if you’re in the midst of transitioning careers, be willing to put in the necessary time and research for success in whatever area you choose to go into. No one can keep you from achieving your career aspirations as long as you’re willing to pursue your goals and NEVER give up.

Do you want great relationships?

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In the financial world there is a debt-forgiveness option known as bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is an option some people choose when they have acquired a considerable amount of debt and feel as if they’ll never be able to repay it in an expedient or efficient manner based on their current financial structure. There may be many reasons cited for the accumulation of the debt including, but not limited to, credit cards, medical bills, automobile purchases, etc. However, the bottom line is when the weight of managing debt becomes unbearable, people may select an alternative that simply allows them to start over.

Well, similar to the accumulation of debt from a financial point of view, many in today’s society are carrying a considerable amount of relationship ‘debt’ due to unforgiveness.

Recently, I’ve had discussions with individuals regarding their inability to forgive others who have wronged them in some way. After reflecting upon those discussions, the importance of exercising forgiveness towards those who are, or have been, a part of your life became very apparent. In order to set the foundation of my perspective, let me first define what forgiveness is.

Forgiveness is the process of relating to an offence committed directly or indirectly by yourself or an individual and releasing them from it.

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