Personal Finance Advice

Weekend reading is a round-up of personal finance reading that has caught our eye that may be of interest to you:
Discussions From The Forums
These are threads started this past week within the forums which have created quite a bit of discussion:

Changing ones mindset to save more?
Went to see this house today…
Worst Justifications [...]

When you take a vacation away from home, you spend enough to get there (especially with the higher gas prices this year) and to stay there (even if you camp) that you might not want to spend a whole lot on attractions. Thankfully, most areas have at least a few fun and interesting things [...]

When people think about the best financial advice they have ever received, it usually comes from a family member, a close mentor or a financial guru. So it’s with a bit of embarrassment that I must admit that the best financial advice I ever received came from a call girl I slept with in my [...]

With the economy slowing, everyone is looking to cut back in many ways. Some people are eliminating their daily coffee, others are combining trips to save on gas. These and similar strategies are great and will help you save money. However, there is more money to be saved by learning how to do some simple [...]

Frugality and thrift are far from the predominant mindsets in our culture, even among the multitudes of people who are taking control of their finances and paying down debt. In times past (the Great Depression comes to mind), “thrift” was seen as a virtue, but not so much anymore. Frugality could, however, become [...]

I’ll say it simply: I’m disgusted by the amount of advertising in the world today. I’ve been gradually working up to this fit, but the tipping point came the other day in a public bathroom. It was in a mall and the toilet paper was pre-printed with the name of a restaurant that is located [...]

I’ve tossed a couple parties in the direction of my backyard from grilled gourmet, hanging out and birthdays, but none were quite so successful, or quite so affordable, as my no-reason-at-all box party. I entertained for a good hour and a half having only purchased some packing tape.
In my happy green world, there [...]

Weekend reading is a round-up of personal finance reading that has caught our eye that may be of interest to you:
Discussions From The Forums
These are threads started this past week within the forums which have created quite a bit of discussion:

Self-defense
Does buying financial books make sense?
why pay for it when you can [...]

When most people think of the word debt, they immediately think of credit cards, auto loans, student loans and mortgages. Those seem to be the most common debts in our society today. But there is another kind of debt that doesn’t get as much attention as the previously mentioned, and that is personal [...]

Most financially prudent people search for a good balance of price and quality when shopping for televisions and groceries and automobiles, but few consider value when shopping for higher education. Though tuition costs alone are often a factor in choosing a college, the overall value — the quality of education received for the price — [...]

We are friends with a couple I’ll call the Joneses. The Joneses are exactly what they sound like. They are the ones on the block with the latest cars, toys, and gizmos. Despite that, they are nice people and we’ve been friends for years. Each year we go on vacation together to a small resort [...]

Conventional wisdom says that you should have a budget to get the most out of your money. While I believe a budget is a good thing to have when money is tight and you are first learning how to take reign of your personal finances, the ultimate goal should be not to have a budget [...]

Several years ago, my husband paid for a pizza entirely in change. It wasn’t that he didn’t have any money left at the end of the week; on the contrary, he had just deposited his paycheck in the bank that evening. He simply wanted to use his change and save his bills. Had [...]

If you’re interested in personal finance, you probably know who Dave Ramsey is. If you don’t know, he’s a television and radio personality (and author) who preaches a “common sense” approach to getting out of debt and creating wealth. His plan is built around seven “Baby Steps” that are designed to lead you to financial [...]

Weekend reading is a round-up of personal finance reading that has caught our eye that may be of interest to you:
Discussions From The Forums
These are threads started this past week within the forums which have created quite a bit of discussion:

What is your definition of middle class?
If total income is $80,000, then is [...]

I’m a huge fan of reading. I believe that reading, both fiction and non-fiction, is a great way to learn new things and be exposed to more than you typically see in your daily life. If you want to learn something new, like personal finance, you can’t beat a good book. You can go at [...]

By Jeffrey Strain
Have you ever thought about why you spend money? If you are like most people, you never have. The problem is that not understanding the motivation behind why you spend will make it much more difficult for you to limit your spending (if that is what you want or choose to do). While [...]

Every time I turn on the television or visit Internet news sites, I’m assaulted by bad financial news (and other bad news, as well). We all know that the media likes to focus on the bad and, “If it bleeds, it leads.” These days the financial news is filled with reports of foreclosures, high food [...]

A few weeks ago I heard someone say this when teaching about finances: “When we change the way we think about money, it will change the way we handle money.” This statement made me stop and think because I realized that it is so true. I know that when I changed the way [...]

It’s that time of year again. Some of us know it as spring; others call it the start of yard sale season. Yard sales (also known as garage sales, tag sales, rummage sales, and stoop sales) attract an interesting and diverse subculture of bargain hunters, environmentalists, and treasure hunters; they are an interesting [...]