Personal Finance Advice

My friend, Speedy, is quite possibly the best horse trader within a 200 mile radius. In all the time I’ve known him, he has never held a job and yet seems to do quite well for himself. No, he doesn’t actually trade horses. He uses a system of bartering. He has a knack for trade. [...]

It’s that time of year again. My kids had only been back to school for less than a week when they brought home the fundraiser brochure. This year my daughter was selling jewelry, boxed candy and “Michigan” themed products. My son’s school was pushing cookie dough and coffee. My 9 year old daughter immediately showed [...]

My husband loves the movie, Forrest Gump. He can almost follow the script word for word. This is a football, beer and pizza loving man, we are talking about here. When I asked him why he liked the movie so much, he couldn’t explain it. So the last time it was on TV, I really [...]

Written by an animal welfare volunteer If you are going through hard times financially, have already cut back on your expenses where you can, and have made efforts to increase your income, but still feel that you can no longer afford to keep your pet(s), you have my compassion. I am a huge animal lover, [...]

I’m growing very tired of the word “consumer.” Every time I turn on the TV, the talking heads are discussing “the consumer.” Consumers aren’t spending as much, consumers are cutting back, consumers are hurting, consumers need to increase their spending to save the economy. It’s as though consumers are the only component of the economy. [...]

There have been many articles published which address ways to save money at the grocery store. For the most part, I believe that most of us already know how to save money at the grocery store. There are even more articles and books published on our relationship with food. Whether you want to lose weight [...]

It’s that time of year. The Holidays are just around the corner and it’s time to think about gift-giving, parties and such. On top of it all is the ongoing meltdown of our financial institutions. I was already considering how to handle the holidays with my children and their “gotta haves” from Santa when the [...]

We are under constant media barrage about checking our credit report and we all know it’s important to have a high credit score. With the new legislation, it’s possible that a great credit score will be more important than ever. But does the average Joe really understand what goes into the calculating of a credit [...]

At any given time in your life you may find yourself in a financial situation not of your making. The recent credit crisis in America is a prime example. It is a uniquely perfect storm to be sure, the kind of economic crisis that comes along once every 50 -100 years perhaps, but that doesn’t [...]

Weekend reading is a round-up of personal finance and money related stories that caught the eye of our forum members this week: Why Asian Foods Save You Money Where the pros are putting their cash U.S. may take stakes in banks Iceland’s Banking System has been Nationalised Will a freezer save you money? Top 10 [...]

Are you one of the many who have retired early? Do you regret not waiting until later so you could get a larger check every month? Well, you may be in luck. There is a little-known process you can go through to get a larger Social Security benefit check every month. It’s just as if [...]

If you value saving money more than keeping friends, I have the perfect article for you. Follow these 10 simple steps and you will not only save money, but also drive away those pesky friends. Depending on how close the friends are, you may have to complete all 10 items on the checklist and possibly [...]

Not long ago I wrote about low hanging financial fruit. These are the easy things you can do to save money that don’t require a lot of time, effort, specialized knowledge, or lifestyle alterations. Now I’d like to move on to the high hanging financial fruit. Once you’ve gotten into the habit of saving money [...]

We are looking for someone in debt that is willing to blog about it. We recently purchased the Blogging Away Debt Blog and are looking for someone to take over the blogging from Tricia once she has paid off all her debt. Tricia will still be around blogging for awhile, so you would be blogging [...]

If you own a home, you probably already know that maintaining it costs a lot more than you expected it would when you bought it. Even if you are not living in the first home that you bought, every house I have known has cost me more time and money than I anticipated. Every time [...]

I have demanding hair. It’s thick and curly and tends toward frizziness if I don’t beat it into submission. Like many women, I’ve fought a lifelong love/hate battle with my hair. At times I’ve wanted it straighter, shorter, longer, thinner, thicker or (rarely) curlier. As I’ve aged, however, I’ve mellowed toward my hair and realized [...]

What Do You Call a Bus Full of Lawyers Going Over a Cliff? A Good Start… America has an interesting love affair with lawyers. On the one hand, television shows about lawyers capture our interest year after year. On the other hand, in daily life I cannot think of any profession that is criticized or [...]

As the economic decline slides further into uncertainty, we have to take a hard look at our own familial finances and begin to ask some serious questions. It’s time to take off those rose-colored glasses. First, we all need to understand what we, as individuals, can and cannot control. We can control how much we [...]

Weekend reading is a round-up of personal finance and money related stories that caught the eye of our forum members this week: Buffett: “We had an economic Pearl Harbor hit” September Madness Opinion From A Well Run Bank (pdf) Renting Makes More Financial Sense Than Homeownership The Case for Doing Nothing Main Street’s Rage at [...]

I’ve written before about dressing and looking your best to succeed in the workplace and life, and I still believe this one hundred percent. However, I overheard an interesting discussion that illustrated the desire for casual dress and how people seem happier when they don’t have to “dress up.” First, I’ll give you a little [...]