With this downturning economy, even governments are having a hard time. My own city is facing at least a $4 million dollar decrease in revenues, and my state is facing more than $140 million in shortfalls. One alternative to getting out of the situation is to raise taxes, a solution that no one likes. Thus, [...]
I have been out of work for a few months. At first, I enjoyed having a bit of stress free time. As I look back on the most tranquil times of my adult life, they were almost certainly the summer after I finished college, the summer after I finished my law degree and the summer [...]
Baby boomers remember a time when airline travel was a luxury and a reason to dress up. But these days, does anyone look forward to flying? Passenger complaints have been increasing along with consumer activism and lobbying congress, but the myriad annoyances involved in taking a commercial flight aren’t expected to get better in the [...]
There’s a lot about our consumer culture that worries and, sometimes, shocks me. Sometimes things even worry me. Like this: Lately I’ve noticed that things are becoming substitutes for actual experiences. We’ve taken to buying rather than doing. I see this in every sector, but it seems to be extremely prevalent in the sporting goods/outdoors [...]
Dave Kansas of the Wall Street Journal has what I like to see in a capitalist economy: optimism. Talking about the year ahead, he described the stock market as looking “to the future, rather than the past.” Isn’t that exactly what we should do with our money? We save for the future, we plan for [...]
I went for a drive today. I did not go very far – just the distance of two subdivisions so that I could drop my son off at a friend’s house. I must have seen at least ten or twelve kids riding bicycles, roller blading and skateboarding. It was a beautiful day so that is [...]
There are those who get up and get things done and those who sit and complain. If you’re a get-r-done type of person, then you’re probably considering a second job to help you through financial problems. Sometimes things are not always as easy as they should be, such is the case with a second job. [...]
When you move into a new apartment, you will undoubtedly need or want some items that you didn’t have in your previous apartment. Every apartment has a different layout, different windows, different amounts of storage space, and other subtleties that can invoke the desire to buy something that solves a problem-whether it’s a new couch [...]
Children don’t usually learn money management skills in schools, but don’t think that means they don’t learn about money. Children are like sponges. They soak up everything they can at an early age, and learn much more than we’d like from example. This is why positive role modeling is so important. It’s also why you’re [...]
We all know that staying healthy saves us money. The healthier you are, the lower your insurance and medical expenses are likely to be. We are encouraged to eat right, exercise and sleep well in order to remain healthy. But one area that is often overlooked when we talk about the health/money relationship is keeping [...]
