Personal Finance Advice

Summer is coming. By the time you read this, your kids or grandkids, if you have them, may already be on summer vacation. Back when I was a kid, that meant endless days of hiking in the woods with my friends, playing baseball, shooting baskets and generally trying to make myself scarce so that I [...]

Oh, the joy of a high school reunion. The time when you get to see that most of your former classmates have done better than you, at least on the surface. My reunion was last week (let’s not discuss how many years it’s been) and I debated long and hard about going. Part of me [...]

I hear many people complain that they aren’t creative. “I can’t paint or write,” they say. They assume that creativity is only relevant if you are creating some piece of art, music, or design. But creativity isn’t limited only to the arts. Plenty of creativity is required in everything from manufacturing to accounting to the [...]

This video from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart is funny and great entertainment: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M – Th 11p / 10c CNBC Financial Advice thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor But it’s also an important lesson in financial management. The lesson to be learned from this video [...]

Yesterday, I got a dog. We named him “Peter’s Lucky Biscuit” and he is adorable. That’s him in the photo to the left. Biscuit is a pure bread labradoodle. We had to get a pure breed because we needed a hypoallergenic breed that would be more likely to be compatible with our son’s allergies. We [...]

After following sales and coupons religiously for several months, I’ve started to get a sense of the best prices for various items. The best way to get these prices is to use the Coupon Mom method of combining a store’s loyalty card discount with sales and coupons. However, over the last several months, it has [...]

I may have written about my dad in the past. Dad is a retired dentist. He grew up during the Depression, barely got through high school while he worked multiple jobs to support his family and joined the Navy at age 17 during World War II. My Dad was truly part of the “Greatest Generation.” [...]

I see many people who set big financial goals for themselves. Get out of debt. Save up six months worth of expenses. Pay cash for a car. Save up a twenty-percent down payment for a house. Some goals are even bigger than that. Save two million dollars for retirement. Pay cash for a house. All [...]

I live about two miles away from “Restaurant Row,” a road that has an amazingly high concentration of restaurants from Mickey D’s to fine dining. I generally do not visit any of them, with only a few exceptions. Nestled among all of the high end chains (Roy’s, Morton’s, Ruth’s Chris, etc.) there are a few [...]

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about our decision to remain child-free and how that decision (while not based on money) has made it easier for us to remain out of debt. Several respondents wondered who would take care of me in my old age if I didn’t have kids. Wasn’t I giving up [...]

I’ll admit to loving movies and certain TV series. As a result, I buy a lot of DVD’s. Someone once told me that I was wasting my money on all those DVD’s, since I could rent them for free or watch the same movies on cable. I didn’t think it was a waste of money, [...]

I truly love to write. I enjoy self-expression. I enjoy giving advice. I enjoy the feedback I receive from my readers. I love the power that the written word has to motivate, to intrigue and to inspire. We all have stories worth telling or knowledge and experience worth sharing. With a little effort, we can [...]

Lean economic times breed a kind of desperate rush to do something to save money — right now. While it’s always better to take a breath and think out practical steps to reach personal goals, there are basic changes we can all make immediately to begin to live within our means and to take full [...]

With insurance rates rising, I know more and more people who are choosing to insure themselves. Rather than paying premiums to an insurance company, they choose to instead save those premiums and other funds in order to cover any damage to their cars or property or, in some cases, to pay for health care. I [...]

I know someone who was recently visited by the repo man. He lost his job several months ago and hasn’t been able to find work that pays anything close to what he needs to pay his bills. He’s in pretty serious debt, having bought two cars, a house, and a lot of “stuff” that he [...]

I, like a lot of people, have a list of things that I would like to own. There can be a lot of fun in fantasizing about all the things you’d like to have and the fun you’d have owning them. However, the smart consumer understands that reality is somewhat different. The things that we [...]

Last Sunday, my son overslept and could not go to church with the rest of the family. Accordingly, he went to a later service by himself. When I dropped him off at the church, I said to him, “Remember that you may sit down next to a girl who you may someday marry or a [...]

Who couldn’t use some extra money these days? I’m guessing you have a skill that people would pay you for, and freelancing can be a great way to earn some extra cash. What work can you do as a freelancer? Take into account what you like to do in your spare time. Do you love [...]

The only thing I used to do to save money on groceries was to make a list before each shopping trip and stick to a monthly grocery budget. I didn’t use coupons because I figured I saved more money by purchasing store brands (preferably store brands on sale) and shopping at discount stores and farmers [...]

Summer’s coming and that means vacation time! With gas prices lower than they have been in the last few years and with airlines gouging you for everything from extra bags to nuts, many people are hitting the highways this year. While road trips are typically less expensive than other forms of travel, there are some [...]