Say you’re shorter on cash than you think and are paying for a latte and a donut with your debit card. Would you prefer the transaction to go through even if you don’t have enough cash in your account, digesting a hefty overdraft fee along with your breakfast? Or would you rather the transaction be declined?

I definitely fall into the latter category. I will skip a donut to save $35.

But currently, consumers aren’t given that choice. Banks just let the transaction go through and laugh all the way to the, er, bank.

The Federal Reserve is currently looking at whether this should change. Should banks give consumers the chance to opt-in to pricey overdraft programs. Or should they have the right to opt-out?

Opting-in is preferable to opting-out because inertia will have more people sticking with the protection by default, even if they can’t afford to.

Have an opinion? You have until March 30th to share it with regulators.

Shoot an email with the subject R-1343 to: comments@federalreserve.gov. Or use this form created by Consumers Union.

I read Brett Arends’ WSJ column today with interest: A Tip for Overseas Travelers– Leave your Cell Phone at Home.

Anyone traveling abroad this summer must be reeling from shock. Places like Europe were expensive even in the old days. And that was before the Almighty Dollar had become the Yankee Peso.

But your biggest sticker shock may not come until you get home and open your cellphone bill.

How true. When Matt and I went to Mexico in February, we lost our car keys.

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I had lunch with a group of financial advisers today who want to figure out if there’s a way to profitably serve clients with lower incomes or investment account balances. They typically work with clients who have hundreds of thousands to invest.

The conversation kept returning to two questions: How much are advisers willing to earn to work with the less than affluent? and How much are we willing to pay for that relationship?

Some people pay $100+ for cable and internet $40+ to work out each month. You’d think a relationship with a fee-based financial planner who picks your investment mix, helps you with your will, gives you tips on mortgages and balances your budget would be worth at least that, right?

How much would you pay to have a qualified financial planner at the ready? $150 an hour? 1 percent of your salary? “Free” advice thrown in from your stock-picker? $0 because you can do just as well on your own?

And if you have an adviser, how much do you pay and is it worth every penny?

My colleague Jackie Crosby wrote a story about a new report on overdraft fees . The report, released by the Center for Responsible Lending this week, found that banks and credit unions generate $17.5 billion in fees each year from charging consumers $35 bucks for buying a latte when over the limit.

The authors recommend that banks be required to warn customers when an ATM withdrawal or debit card transaction will put them in the red.

Banks argue that that would be an inconvenience and an embarrassment to consumers.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be $34 richer and have a sales clerk know I’m skating close to zero in my bank account than in negative territory with a burger in hand (My few overdrafts have resulted from some ridiculously small purchase that I made just hours before a deposited check cleared).

Like all financial endeavors these days, finding the best place to open a Roth when nearly any money-related institution sells one