Your grandparents (or maybe great-grandparents) were better than you at saving money. If you think long and hard about that, most of you will probably agree with that statement. There are a number of reasons why they were better and some things we can learn from those facts. Let’s dive right into those reasons. Awareness [...]
Weekend reading is a round-up of personal finance and money related stories that caught the eye of our forum members this week: International Central Banks Team Up Governement Planning to Transfer All Bad Bank Debt to Taxpayers SEC Plans to Temporarily Ban Short-Selling Government Buying Bad Debt Money market accounts not so safe Bernanke: “We [...]
Most of us recall what Ben Franklin told us in his Almanack. “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” In various forms, that proverb actually preceded Old Ben by about 300 years. The fact that we still quote it today tells us that it still has some truth [...]
I live in hurricane country and it’s the season for misery and anxiety for us. In the last couple of weeks, we’ve had two near misses with tropical systems. Others have had it far worse than us. When you live in an area that’s prone to natural disaster, whether it’s hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, floods, fires, [...]
I find budgeting unreliable. Whatever method you use to budget, there is a good chance you are wasting your time, and possibly money. Just to be clear, when I say “budget,” I mean trying to predict how much you will spend in specified categories over a certain period of time and allocating money ahead of [...]
Planning an effective date is both an art and a science. It is a science because successful planning requires both an understanding of your partner and an understanding of where you are in your relationship. It is an art because it must be creative and at times innovative. Moreover, a successful date must be planned [...]
If there’s anything designed to ruin a marriage, it’s money. Not only could tension be created by the amount coming in, but there could be different money styles – a hoarder vs. a spender. My husband and I, thankfully, have similar styles. He’s more of a tightwad than I am, but we can find the [...]
Have you poured a half finished glass of orange juice back into the carton? Have you taken toilet paper down from your trees after being TP’d to use for its original purpose? I have heard of people doing just that. Have you done outrageous things just to save money? Are you happy with this lifestyle? [...]
What I Know Among today’s financial headlines is the prediction that stocks will rise today because traders are optimistic about the Freddie and Fannie takeovers. The articles I read commonly noted this optimism, but none of them explained to me why government intervention was cause for optimism. Strangely enough, another headline noted that oil was [...]
With the holidays approaching, it’s time to think about Christmas shopping. We always talk about ways to save money on gifts, from hitting the sales to drawing names out of a hat. That’s all well and good, but these strategies only save money for the buyer. How about turning the savings around this year and [...]
