Personal Finance Advice

One of the risks in putting money into your child’s name is when he gets older and the money becomes his, you no longer have control over it. That is what one reader has found out and wants to know if there are any options that she has: I have been placing money into a [...]

We all have money secrets that we keep to ourselves. I gave some people the opportunity to anonymously share some of their money confessions, and this is number 18 in the series: “I’d give up all my money and success to know who my birth mother is.” Other confession already listed: Children’s Savings Work Money [...]

If you want to save money, watch your prices! Watch them figuratively by shopping around for the best deals, but also watch them literally when they are rung up at the cash register. If a scanned price is different from the price marked on the shelf, you may get that item free. Mass merchandisers, grocery [...]

This is an ongoing series of anonymous money related confessions that I have gathered over the last couple of months from people that have attended talks I have given. This is number 17 in the series: “My job is convincing people to buy things they don’t need. I’m good at it, but I hate myself [...]

I think almost every week I hear someone who makes over $70k a year mention their wonderful student loan interest tax deduction. It’s time to take a few minutes to educate the masses about the student loan interest. Plain and simple, if you make a good wage you will not qualify for the student loan [...]

This is one of a series of money confessions from people who attended some of my speeches. I asked each person to anonymously write down a money confession and these are some of the more interesting money confessions I received. This is number 16 in the series: “My father thought that money would buy my [...]

When people ask me what was the best decision I made when I decided to create this website, they are often surprised when I tell them that it was my decision to quit watching TV. There is no doubt that TV costs people far more financially than they believe. For most people, TV is a [...]

This is a series of money confessions which I received from audience members after some speeches I have given recently. These are some of the more interesting money confessions that I thought would be worthwhile to share with everyone. This is number 15 in the series: “You know those Nigerian scam artists you read about? [...]

Bad things can happen in an instant. Last year, while everyone else was celebrating and enjoying the 4th of July, an errant firework burned down an elderly man’s house. Like other depression-era folks who long ago lost faith in financial systems, he liked to hide his money in cash around the house and in the [...]

This is an ongoing series of money confessions that I have gathered from speaking engagements I’ve been asked to give. The series consists of some of the more interesting money confessions that audience members have anonymously written down. This is number 14 in the series: “The biggest mistake I ever made was choosing money over [...]

Money-Back Guarantee on Cancer Treatment: an interesting development in the UK where Johnson & Johnson made a proposal to the Britain’s national health care system where the system will only have to pay for the drug when it actually works and helps reduce the size of the cancer tumors it’s supposed to fight. The Litter [...]

One way to reduce the amount you pay in credit card interest is to do a balance transfer switching your high interest credit card rate for a much lower rate, often times 0% for a certain number of months. The problem is that it’s often difficult to tell what all the fine print means when [...]

There is a story making it’s way around about a waitress that received a $10,000 tip and what a wonderful gesture it was. No doubt about it, except that because of the way it was given, the waitress is going to have to pay taxes to the IRS for it. Granted, if the person giving [...]

Knowing the best course of action to take on your student loans is often a difficult maze to work your way through. That is the question from this reader: I was looking into federal student loan consolidation on a $12,828.19 student loan (now at 7.22% – pretty high). I was offered 7% after consolidation and [...]

What if you were given a chance to make a money confession that you had never told anyone before? I asked an audience I was giving a speech to do just that. This is a series of their confessions that I thought readers might be interested in seeing. This is number 13 in the series: [...]

Recently, two different family members from the big city visited us here in suburbia. Both commented that the prices at the stores and restaurants were too low. Cheapskate that I am, I found the idea absurd. How could a price be too low? My husband’s brother, a bachelor with expensive taste who believes that city [...]

This is one of a series of money confession photos that people gave to me when I asked for them at a speech I gave last month. There were a surprising number of money confessions that made me realize that many people hide their money problems that I thought were worth sharing. This is number [...]

This photo is one of a series of money confessions I gathered from audience members from a speech I gave last month. I felt a number of these were worth sharing and hope that you will give your opinions on them. This is number 11 in the series: “I steal things even though I have [...]

Budgets are a main foundation for a lot of people trying to get their finances in order, but is a budget always necessary? That is a question from one of the readers: I keep reading about the importance of having a budget and I’m wondering how important it really is for someone that is spending [...]

This is part of a series of money confession from people that wrote to me at the end of a speech I gave last month. The confessions were quite interesting and these are some of them I felt worth sharing. This is number 10 in the series: “When my wife asked where I got the [...]