Personal Finance Advice

It was a busy morning (for me in Japan - only 11:00 AM here) as we switched this site back to wordpress - hopefully we have all the glitches worked out and I can go on my happy way writing without bugging Nate every two minutes. There are still lots of little cosmetic tweaks to [...]

Well, it looks like this software isn’t going to cut it either. We tried wordpress to start, but couldn’t get it to work. This one was working fine except for a few minor glitches I was willing to put up with EXCEPT we can’t get the RSS feed to work (which is unacceptable). Any recommendations [...]

Both the Carnival of Personal Finance (#17) and the Carnival of Debt Reduction (#4) are live.
If you aren’t familiar with carnivals, they bring together posts from various authors on a specified subject. This gives you a good opportunity to sample a variety of posts from authors you may not have known about on [...]

“A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it.” - Bob Hope

There’s an article over at Kiplinger - nothing really new, but I did find the first paragraph rather interesting:
America is the richest country in the world, yet, ironically, we have the highest percentage of people living paycheck to paycheck. A recent study from ACNielsen revealed that about one in every four Americans say they don’t [...]

Having a savings cushion is much more than simply having money in the bank. There is a sense of relief (not having to worry day to day how your going to pay for the next necessity) and empowerment (you have options when you have savings that you don’t when you’re in debt). I was having [...]

“I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor: Rich is better.” - Sophie Tucker

For those of you that have mastered your own budget and are ready to move onto bigger and better things, you may want to check out The National Budget Simulation
This simple simulation should give you a better feel of the trade-offs which policy makers need to make in creating federal budgets and dealing with deficits. [...]

We went to visit our friends this weekend and I was playing with their young son when he asked me the following riddle:
“How do you eat an elephant?”
I couldn’t come up with the answer, so I finally asked him to tell me.
“One bite at a time!” he said laughing with delight
So what does any of [...]

So you thought $3.00 a gallon gas was bad? Make sure that you don’t rent a car and take it back with a partially empty tank. According to an article at usatoday.com, you can pay close to $7 a gallon at some rental car companies to have the tank filled.
When you rent a car, you [...]

“I’m not a paranoid derranged millionaire. Goddamit, I’m a billionaire.” - Howard Hughes

The story that heating prices this winter are going to be skyrocketing over those paid last year is becoming a common story in the news these days. While usatoday.com reports that energy bills may increase by 90% this winter, what caught my eye in the article was something else that is going on for many [...]

It seems that the President and Congress are finally getting the hint that the Avian Flu Virus might be something to prepare for ahead of time. Living in Japan where I’m living a lot closer to where they predict the outbreak will first occur, I’ve been thinking about how to prepare to lesson the risks [...]

“If you would like to know the value of money, go and try to borrow some.” - Benjamin Franklin

Bank of America will be coming out with a new program later this month called Keep the Change. Basically what they have done is set up a “change jar” for you without ever having any coins since it’s all done through debit card transactions.
Once you sign up for a checking and savings account with Bank [...]

With gas prices and the increased cost of driving because of it, you might think that the largest cost for owning your car is gasoline. If you think a bit harder, you might consider finance charges or insurance to be your biggest cost. Another good guess would be repair and maintenance costs. These would all [...]

“Money isn’t everything, but it sure keeps you in touch with your children.” - J. Paul Getty

A peak at what the new nickel will look like:

It should be no surprise that usatoday.com is reporting that banks received a record amount in fees last year:
…Last year, banks, thrifts and credit unions collected a record $37.8 billion in service charges on accounts, more than double what they got in 1994, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the National Credit Union [...]

I don’t think there has been an article I’ve written in the past that has produced more mail from readers than Get Paid To Drive. There seems to be a fascination that one could be paid to drive their car around and I still receive a couple of emails a week from people wanting know [...]