Daylight saving time (DST) was the brainchild of founding father Benjamin Franklin as a way to conserve lamp oil in the salons of Paris. More recently, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was passed by Congress to extend daylight savings in an attempt to lower the national energy bill.

But does it work that way? In the current issue of BusinessWeek, two economists offer their opinions on this timely topic.

In favor, from Steve Calandrillo of the University of Washington School of Law:

Instead of turning Daylight Saving Time (DST) off, Congress should turn it on year-round.

First, despite the contrarians, DST saves energy. Why? Far more oil, electricity, and energy are used during evening darkness than morning because more Americans are awake at 5 p.m. than at 6 a.m. Hence, shifting sunlight to the evening causes a significant reduction in evening peak load, which outweighs a small increase in the early morning load caused by DST.

And against, in the words of William F. Shughart II of the Independent Institute:

Although Daylight Saving Time (DST) has been justified as an energy-conservation measure, it is no such thing. …

Economists typically value the opportunity cost at an individual’s wage rate. The Bureau of Labor Statistics preliminarily estimates that the average American’s hourly wage was $22.45 in January 2010.

Assuming it takes everyone 10 minutes to change all of his or her clocks and watches, the opportunity cost equals $3.74 per person. The one-time opportunity cost for the nation (based on total U.S. population over 18 years old, excluding residents of Arizona, which doesn’t observe DST) therefore is $836,117,536. Since clocks are changed twice yearly, the total must be doubled.

We would gladly pay $3.74 for an extra hour of sleep, but unfortunately we’ll have to wait until November 7 for that.

Amazon.com may be the best thing that ever happened to those of us who don’t want to be seen perusing the self-help section of the local bookstore. If you’re in need of a money makeover, these bestsellers can point you in the right direction.

1. The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton. This no-nonsense guide shows that even blue-collar workers can fill their piggybanks to bursting — all it takes to start is saving 10 percent of your income for the long term.
2. Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach. Here’s one for the ladies: Women are statistically more likely to let the men in their lives handle the money, but this unintimidating book shows that financial savvy can be empowering.
3. The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko. The secret to getting rich is not frittering your money away on the trappings of wealth, write Stanley and Danko, who extensively surveyed people with more than $1 million in the bank.
4. Your Money and Your Man by Michelle Singletary. This book is a must-read for any couple combining their finances. Singletary spells out the three C’s — communication, compromise, and common goals — that will help you avoid endlessly fighting over money.
5. Pay Yourself First by Jesse B. Brown. Written for an African-American audience, this book explains how to get and stay out of debt, start investing, and avoid financial pitfalls (especially if you make less than $30,000 per year).

We’re now less than two months away from April 15th, the day the tax man gets his due. You may not even be thinking about your 1040 yet, but there are some very compelling benefits to filing early. Make your money work for you!

1. Luck favors the prepared. By not waiting until the last minute, you can spend a little extra time finding all the tax credits you’re eligible for. For example, you wouldn’t want to miss out on the Making Work Pay tax credit, which gives single filers an extra $400 and married couples filing jointly $800 (assuming they meet the income requirements).
2. Get your refund faster. This is the obvious one. If you’ve paid too much in taxes in 2009, get the IRS to cut you a check now before the agency is inundated in April and it may be weeks until you see your money.
3. Pay off bills sooner. It’s tempting to use that refund for something flashy and exciting — because hey, found money, right? — but if you put it toward high-interest credit-card balances or student loans, you’ll save yourself some money and get that much closer to living debt-free.
4. Avoid late fees. If you have the time now, it’s better to file your tax return early than risk filing late, especially if you owe (since you’ll have to pay interest on top of penalties).
5. Bring home a bigger paycheck. Now is a good time to review your withholdings. If you’re getting a whopper of a refund back for 2009, consider increasing your federal withholdings — you’ll get a smaller refund next year in return for a bigger paycheck now. After all, why knowingly give the government an interest-free loan?

This week, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote about what the country really needs instead of yet another economic stimulus package:

What the country needs most now is not more government stimulus, but more stimulation. We need to get millions of American kids, not just the geniuses, excited about innovation and entrepreneurship again. We need to make 2010 what Obama should have made 2009: the year of innovation, the year of making our pie bigger, the year of “Start-Up America.”

On that note, and in the spirit of getting the year started on the right foot, here are five ways to teach the next generation about the American Dream.

1. You’re never too young to learn. TIME magazine recently profiled Chicago’s Ariel Community Academy and its K-8 investing program. Each incoming kindergarten class is given dominion over an investment portfolio worth $20,000; by seventh grade, the young investors are allowed to pick what and when to buy and sell. Any profits at eighth grade graduation go toward a college scholarship fund that benefits the graduating class.
2. Even lemonade stands are teaching tools. Watch our video for just a few of the lessons this classic summertime activity provides young kids.
3. Encourage teens to start their own companies. The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s flagship program is a contest at middle and high schools nationwide (mostly in low-income communities) that helps 24,000 participating students start their own businesses.
4. Avoid the “Freshmen Financial Fifteen.” College students are particularly at risk for not budgeting properly, signing up for expensive cell-phone plans, and abusing their credit cards. If they are aware of the responsible use of each, they are primed for a financially secure adulthood.
5. Finally, take the Econ4U Entrepreneurship Quiz. Even adults may be surprised at what they don’t know about starting a business.

Unfortunately, it cuts both ways. When the market is down in January, it’s a historically accurate predictor that stocks will perform poorly over the rest of the year as well:

A down January is a bad omen for the stock market. Yale Hirsch of the The Stock Traders Almanac suggests that since 1950, every down January in the S&P 500 preceded a new or extended bear market, or in some cases, a flat market. They go on to further suggest that down January’s are followed by substantial declines averaging -13%.

So far this month, the S&P 500 is down 1.4 percent since January 4 (the first day of 2010 that the stock market was open), but there’s still a full week of investing left in January. Keeping in mind there are no guarantees when it comes to investing, January is a great time to put money into undervalued stocks — especially if you’ve put off making your IRA contribution until now.

Like a college curriculum, you can advance from Stocks 101: Stocks Versus Other Investments up through Portfolio 502: Efficient Market Theory. Each section concludes with a quiz that earns you credits. With your credits you can buy free stuff, like a premium membership to their investing tips — which will come in handy once you know your stuff. So even if you’re not an investing novice, everyone can take something away from the program.

The stock market can seem daunting but it doesn’t have to be. Whether you’re investing megabucks for fun or squirreling away a few dollars a week for retirement, free online resources like these are great for allowing you to catch up to — and even surpass — your peers on a financial level.

Want more visualizations? MightyBargainHunters.com has even more ways to wrap your head around that many zeroes:

• $10 trillion in Lincoln cents would make a solid cube over half a mile on a side. This dwarfs the tallest structures in the world.
• $10 trillion in one-dollar bills taped end to end stretch almost 970 million miles. This is five round-trips to the Sun. It takes light almost an hour and a half to travel this distance.
• $10 trillion accumulates over $1 billion in interest per day at 4%.  It accumulates in four seconds more than the average US worker makes in a year.
• $10 trillion would last Montgomery Brewster over 27,000 years, and you could pay off a hundred Dr. Evils with it.

So why is it important to know just how much a trillion dollars is? Because the U.S. National Debt is currently closing in on $12 trillion. Time to begin work on another penny cube!

A CEEL survey conducted in December of 2008 found that a majority of those surveyed were unable to answer simple questions about borrowing, interest rates and even basic math. Our survey was referenced this week in the Triangle Business Journal in North Carolina, the Baltimore-Washington Corridor Business Magazine, and on the MSN.com Money Blog as widespread media coverage of the economy and of tighter regulation on the financial industry continues.

While some may be unknowingly hit by overdraft fees and increases in bank and credit card rates, a majority of consumers can prevent unnecessary charges from their financial institution by taking the time to read the fine print, assess their financial options, and keep within a budget.

Former Mets and Phillies slugger Dykstra filed for bankruptcy last week with reported assets totaling $50,000, despite claiming in April that he was worth $60 million.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

In the bankruptcy petition he said he owes JPMorgan Chase & Co. $12.9 million and Bank of America Corp.’s Countrywide and credit-card units a combined $4.2 million, according to Bloomberg News.

Dykstra also owes almost $1 million to jet charter services, about $342,000 to celebrity lawyer Daniel Petrocelli and $229,000 to literary agent David Vigliano, Bloomberg said.

Dykstra may have played an instrumental role in the Mets’ 1986 World Series win, but his financial endeavors have yielded few home runs. ESPN.com profiled his “business acumen” just three months ago. Television finance personality Jim Cramer has repeatedly hyped him as an investment savant: Dykstra will even sell you his stock picks on a website for a subscription fee of $999.95 per year.

But after years of living high on the hog, Dykstra has nothing to show for it. He purchased Wayne Gretzky’s mansion in Thousand Oaks, Calif., for $18.5 million in 2007, but his bankruptcy filing shows a combined $17.2 million in borrowing against it. He claims to own a Gulfstream II private jet, yet owes $1 million to a jet-chartering service.

Like Michael Vick, Lenny Dykstra serves as a grim reminder of how easily a fool and his money are parted — and how financial education is just as important for the filthy rich as it is for people of lesser means.

Our culture often glorifies financial success, but it is an illusion to think that, just because you’ve made money, you’re set for life. Highly paid and visible sports stars and entertainers seem especially prone to dramatic financial setbacks (perhaps because their money problems are more likely to end up in the news). But surely everyone knows someone who has suffered similar misfortunes.

There are tried and true ways to avoid such a fate, starting with the simple maxim to live within your means. Yet most, if not all, of the Madoff victims no doubt thought they were. Their mistake was assuming they could trust someone else to manage all their money for them. Mr. Madoff is fortunately an extreme exception. Yet the financial crisis has unmasked a plethora of examples of firms putting their interests above their clients, some of it criminal, most of it not.

The vast number of financial advisers and money managers rightly pride themselves on their integrity and devotion to clients’ interests, and render valuable services to their clients. Almost everyone can benefit from such a relationship. But no one should abdicate all responsibility for investing and monitoring their hard-earned savings. Simple diversification would have prevented any of Mr. Madoff’s victims from losing everything. The basics of personal finance aren’t all that complicated. Why isn’t such a course offered, at least as an elective, at every high school in the U.S.?

Until we address the fact that tens of millions of Americans lack the basic financial literacy they need to manage their own money, the Bernie Madoffs of the world are going to keep stealing it from them. Read the whole column here.