Personal Finance Advice

Who hasn’t fantasized about quitting their job and striking out on their own? The desire is perhaps especially strong for Americans, since doing it yourself and creating your own successes are so ingrained in our value system. As someone who has worked for many small business owners, I’ve witnessed the drawbacks of running your own [...]

Whether you pursue one hobby or one hundred, equipment and supplies can get expensive. Thankfully, there are ways to have money to spare while enjoying your spare time. These ten tips can apply to a variety of hobbies, although each tip works better for some hobbies than others. Try renting first: If you’re starting a [...]

Did You Know That There Is A National College Personal Finance Competition? I didn’t until I ran across this article. Sounds interesting, but sure would be nice if it got a lot more press than it does (I only found two small articles about it in Google news): The 22 teams had to research a [...]

$2.2 Billion Waiting To Be Claimed: There are 1.8 million people that have $2.2 billion waiting for them who failed to file a federal income tax return for 2003 and they only have until April 17 to claim it or it goes to the government. Over half the people would receive more than $600. In [...]

You’ve probably wondered why your bonuses are so heavily taxed. It’s all in the tax law. There are two methods to determine bonus withholding. One method is called the Percentage Method; the other is the Aggregate Method. Which method is used to tax your bonus is determined at the state level. The Percentage Method is [...]

Being an informed shopper can go a long way towards saving money. With that in mind, I’d like to dispel some little-known facts about hair care products that I learned from reading Don’t Go Shopping for Hair-Care Products Without Me by self-proclaimed “Cosmetics Cop” Paula Begoun. Begoun is well-known for her extensive, ongoing research and [...]

Anyone who has ever been online can tell you the same two things about the Internet: 1. There are a ton of tools, toys, and time-wasters available 2. It is mind-bogglingly immense and you will never be able to see it all With this in mind, I have set out to bring you the best [...]

In God We Trust Missing On Coins: The US Mint is apologising for leaving the words “In God We Trust” off of some coins it sent into circulation: The United States Mint has struck more than 300 million George Washington Presidential $1 Coins. We have recently learned that an unspecified quantity of these coins inadvertently [...]

When it comes to trying to reduce the amount you spend on prescription medication, most people focus exclusively on where to get their prescription for the best price. While this is a good step to take, it ignores a handful of other opportunities at reducing the cost of prescription drugs. From my latest article in [...]

Information Explosion: We’re creating more information than has ever existed before, and apparently we’re doing it on a daily basis. Technology firm IDC determined that the world generated 161 billion gigabytes – 161 exabytes – of digital information last year. “That’s like 12 stacks of books that each reach from the Earth to the sun. [...]

One of the biggest mistakes that people make when getting insurance for their household possessions is not making an inventory of everything they own. That’s because if a claim does have to be made, the insurance companies are going to want proof and not just your word: Without documentation, one of two things will usually [...]

Top Online Banks: You hear a lot about online banks ING and Emigrant Direct in the the personal finance blogosphere, but neither of these two banks are even in the top 10 these days when it comes to interest rates given. Here is a list of the top online banks and the interest they’re paying. [...]

With my previous post The Best Place To Hide Money – Conversation With A Burglar being one of my most popular posts ever on this site, there wasn’t any hesitation when I was at another gathering over the weekend and spotted the former burglar that had given me the information. I went straight up to [...]

Get Charged A Fee For Having A Credit: I just had to shake my head when I read this one – credit card companies are beginning to charge a fee if you have a credit on your credit card. Yes, you read that correctly. If you pay too much and have a credit, you can [...]

There are a number of new tax laws in recent years when it comes to charitable contribution deductions. These are some pretty significant changes, so keep in mind the following as you do your taxes in regard to the cash and non-cash donations you’ve made. Cash Donations: For cash donations, the big news in 2007 [...]

When it comes to your garden, you need more than just plants to keep it alive. You also need the tools to keep the garden healthy and vibrant. I could survive with the first five tools if I needed to be really frugal, but I expanded my list to include the last five that most [...]

What If Your Net Worth Was Public?: Stop Buying Crap asks an interesting question – imagine if your net worth was public. It would probably change the way you personally do a lot of things as well as give you a different impression of others. Certainly a fun read imagining how different the world would [...]

What’s A Penny Worth? The 400% Profit Scenario: The penny is currently worth more for its raw materials than its face value – copper (pre-1982) pennies contained metal worth 178% of its face value while nickels contain material worth 155% of face value – one solution to this problem would be to to rebase the [...]

My wife loves the smell of lemons so she incorporates them whenever possible to make our house smell lemony. An added benefit is that using lemons instead of store bought house cleaners and fresheners is a lot less expensive and better for the environment. Here are some of many ways she uses lemons around our [...]

What Type Of Shopper Are You?: Stores (specifically Walmart in this instance) has pigeonholed you into one of the following three groups: brand aspirationals, price-sensitive affluents or value-price shoppers according to this New York Times article. “Brand Aspirationals” are individuals with a low income, but have an affinity for brand names. “Price-Sensitive Affluents” are individuals [...]