Arizona - Credit Cleaning:  First, obtain a current report, you are entitled to one free credit report per year from each of the three (3) reporting agencies.  You can obtain one or all 3 by going online to www.annualcreditreport.com.  You do have to pay if you want your actual scores, the number tally each agency assigns based on your history.  2 of the 3 providers charge $5.99 for the score, the other, Equifax charges $7.99.  The score is important, because essentially that number is what lenders & creditors primarily focus on when you apply for credit/loans.  Be sure to scrutinize your report carefully, and if you find anything erroneous, follow the instructions to dispute the information.  Even minor errors can affect your final score, so demand perfection, your credit score is your greatest asset.
 
Savings Accounts:  No matter what your age or circumstance,  if you earn any money at all you should have 2 savings accounts.  1 designated as the savings account that saves me,  (money to use in the event of an emergency); The other designated as:  “A part of all I earn is mine to keep for life” account.  Most credit unions do not attach a lot of rules of activity in their savings accounts, but banks sometimes do.  Be aware of all the rules before opening any account.  Put 5% of your net paycheck in your Savings A – designed to save me account  and  5%  of your net paycheck in your Savings B – A part of all I earn is mine to keep for life account.  Many people disregard this strategy believing that it takes too long that way to “save up” anything.  Those people generally have no savings at all.  If you follow this strategy, and discipline yourself to righteously do it, you will find more motivation, and more creative ways to earn and save more money.  They will grow faster than you think.  It’s best to make these actually 2 separate and different accounts. **Always contribute to them equally**

Investments:  For the need to be truly safe attitude, I recommend CD’s.  Most financial institutions will open them with as little as $500.  I recommend having them, and locking them for only 1 year.  They will try to lure you with higher interest (very little higher) to lock them in for longer.  With the economic conditions as they have been, lock them in for only 1 year.  That way as interest rates rise, you’ll be in on the action.  I use the money from my “mine to keep” savings account, to purchase CDs.  Just keep rolling them over, including their earnings.  CD’s pay higher interest than savings accounts, and there are penalties for cashing them early. 

Drips:  When it comes to stocks, some of the safest known to Wall Street are that of utility companies.  Not known to grow at extraordinarily fast rates, but generally pay fair dividend yields.  PNW is my favorite such stock, it is the parent company of one of the local electric companies here in Arizona,  Arizona Public Service  AKA  A.P.S.   You can purchase this stock direct from Pinnacle West through the Bank of New York for a small initial investment of $50.00.  Sign up for the DRIP -  Dividend Reinvestment Plan -  they are currently paying $2.00 per share per year,  which translates to 50 cents per share every quarter.  Once you open the account, you are not required to make subsequent investments, but you can if you want to, and in any amount $5 and up.  If you sign up for the DRIP,  then when it pays Dividends, it purchases you more shares or partial shares. This compounds your investment on a quarterly basis.