Personal Finance Advice

Television has given us a lot of relationships with characters who we can never meet. I remember characters from a lot of TV shows better than I am able to recall certain childhood friends and classmates and I am pretty sure that I still know the TV characters better than I have known a lot [...]

Whenever I see an article on ways to make additional money, crafting and selling the items on Etsy.com or at local craft fairs is always included. But is crafting really a good way to make money? I became interested in this question when I visited the home of an acquaintance. Crafting supplies were spread over [...]

Although our economy seems to be turning a corner — home sales have continued to improve for a full three months and, as I write this, the DJIA remains over 9,000 for the second day — unemployment remains very high and layoffs continue. As one friend recently told me, she was very tired from working [...]

Many people cut corners on insurance in an effort to save money. They don’t buy policies that they should have, or they are underinsured on the policies they do have. They think that paying a smaller premium is a way to save money and do better financially. Technically, this is a way to save money. [...]

We’ve all done it. Your best friend’s birthday is today and you completely forgot. Your anniversary is today and you haven’t done anything. You forgot to buy a Christmas present for Aunt Imogene and she’s at the door. You don’t have time to pick out a fabulous present, so what can you do, besides the [...]

By Leslie R. One of the most difficult things for me to do was build up my emergency fund. It seemed that I lived every two weeks paycheck to paycheck and there was no buffer when emergencies did happen. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to build up an emergency fund. Another [...]

I’ve mentioned that my son attends a parochial high school. That means that right about this time every summer, we receive a list of his classes and directions to visit the school’s on-line book store. I love books, but it is always with a bit of trepidation that I make my preliminary on-line visit to [...]

I grew up watching Little House on the Prairie in the 70′s. Each episode had a moral to it, but it wasn’t until I staged a marathon viewing session courtesy of Netflix that I realized how many of those episodes dealt with the subject of money in some form. Maybe some of my money habits [...]

I just enjoyed a delightful lunch with an old friend. I drove to her office and we walked to a nearby seafood restaurant where we were able to relax and catch up. It was quite a pleasure and I had a completely and thoroughly entertaining meal with her. After we had finished our lunch, the [...]

People often ask me some version of the following question: “Where did you get this idea that you should live a debt free life? How did you, in a world where credit cards are ubiquitous and debt is the norm, decide that you were going to go against the norm?” People are curious about my [...]

If you use coupons with any regularity, I’m sure you’ve had run-ins with the people I call “coupon huffers.” These are the people who get behind you in the checkout lane and then huff, tap their feet, and practically climb over you in their impatience to check out. Your transaction is taking too long, they [...]

By Dean L. When you read those statistics about Americans not saving money and going into credit card debt, you could place me as the poster child of the movement. Not only do I have a huge amount of credit card debt, I had less than $5 in my bank account a couple of months [...]

Yesterday I went to the gym. That, in and of itself, is almost apocalyptic in significance, as I never go to the gym. Nevertheless, I am forcing myself to go, at least for the remainder of my period of unemployment, because I need to feel like I am accomplishing something and because I really do [...]

I used to think it was pretty rare for someone to “lose” a fortune by accident. But lately a few incidents, both public and personal, made me realize that this is a bigger problem than I thought. You may have seen the news about the woman who threw her mother’s mattress away — the same [...]

The older I get, the more I realize that cost is usually inversely proportional to the pleasure derived from the cost. Perhaps I just a boring fellow, or a “lazy, middle class intellectual” as the band Bad Religion might accuse. On the other hand, perhaps growing up really does mean that we become more comfortable [...]

The dictionary defines obligation as, “To bind or compel someone.” It just sounds unpleasant, doesn’t it? Who wants to be bound and compelled to do things? Isn’t it much nicer to be free to choose your own path? I’ve always thought so. I try to shun obligations whenever possible, beyond the obligations I have to [...]

Now that the Fourth of July has passed, the next big item on the calendar is back to school shopping. This year is likely to be financially tighter than previous years for many people. Not only are families facing tighter budgets, state shortfalls are placing more of the supply burden on parents rather than school [...]

Yesterday I received an education in the importance of office equipment, even for the home. My day began rather quietly. I had accepted that new employment listings would be quiet due to the Independence Day Weekend, so I sat down at my desk with every intention of doing some writing. Before opening Word, however, I [...]

The other day I took one of my sons to a team party at a local sports bar. We all arrived separately and I did not even sit with the rest of the group because I had a book that I needed to finish in order to complete a review on time. My son wandered [...]

Lately I’ve been speaking to a friend who doesn’t know what to do about her job. She hates it. She hates the work, the boss, and her coworkers. The environment is toxic, with a lot of sexual harassment and verbal abuse. She desperately wants to quit but can’t because she needs the money. She knows [...]