Personal Finance Advice

While money isn’t actually made out of paper (it’s made out of cotton fibers), bills are sometimes referred to as “paper” in slang terms. That may change in the not too distant future. While “plastic” is a term which is usually reserved for credit cards, it may soon become yet another slang term for those [...]

I really have nothing against Costco. I think that they are a quality company and they treat their employees well, especially when compared to other retailers. I used to be a huge advocate of shopping at Costco and the great deals that one could get when buying in bulk to reduce costs. I know a [...]

When I’m at a restaurant with a group of people, often times there is a discussion on the best way to split the bill. It always seems that the person who had the most expensive meal suggests that we simply split the bill evenly to make it easy. This makes perfect sense from his perspective. [...]

I was recently in San Diego for a conference when I heard a commercial on the radio discouraging people for signing petitions to try and place measures on upcoming ballots because doing so would leave signers open to identity theft. The commercial used the following scare tactics (you can listen to the entire commercial here) [...]

You may have seen commercials on TV advertising a “vanishing deductible” (also commonly called a disappearing deductible) and thought it was a great idea. The concept is pretty straight forward and seems easy to understand: If you are accident and moving violation free for a year, your car insurance deductible is reduced by a certain [...]

I was heading up to Oregon and made a stop at a fast food restaurant to go to the bathroom and get a drink. As I walked to the door, a young couple sat in the shade on the side of the building. The man caught my eye and asked, “Could you spare some change?” [...]

When it comes to bettering your life, one of the chief obstacles is breaking out of old habits. It’s often necessary to look at situations from different perspectives. While solutions may look daunting at first, many times the solutions are much easier than they first appear. I love the story of the square watermelon because [...]

April 16 -24 is National Park Week which celebrates and recognizes national and state parks, national monuments, and historic sites in the U.S. All national parks have free entrance this week, so you still have time to visit a national park near you for free this weekend. If you do go, one of the things [...]

If you are unable to complete and file your federal individual tax return by the April 18, 2001 deadline, you can request an extension of time to file. By filing for this extension, you will automatically be given until October 17, 2011 to submit your tax return to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). By filing [...]

I just purchased a $200 pair of sunglasses. While many people would consider this an unnecessary splurge, I consider it to be a frugal purchase. Some of you are undoubtedly assuming that I have lost my senses, but I’m able to make this statement with confidence because I know myself well. I rarely buy things [...]

I choose to be homeless. I am what is often referred today as a digital nomad. I travel full time although I do have a few “home bases” with family and friends where I’ll stay for a week or two in between my travels to new places. Most people who meet me for the first [...]

My friends often comment on how lucky I am to be able to travel as much as I do. While I’m certainly lucky in many respects, the truth is that I have created the “luck” that allows me to travel as much as I do. Most of my friends believe that I spend a great [...]

While most people are surprised to find out that I don’t have a cell phone, they are even more surprised when they also find out that I also don’t have a car. As with the cell phone, the reason I don’t have a car has nothing to do with lack of money. I can afford [...]

One of the most interesting things I have learned about personal finances is that things that seem to have absolutely nothing to do with money often have a huge impact on your finances. A good example is knowing what makes you happy. Another one was discovering that the more I know about my personality, the [...]

Over the years, I have called the cable company to reduce the amount of money my mom pays for her cable TV on a fairly regular basis. I just did it again this week and saved her $170 over a 6 month period. No matter how many times I tell my mom that she needs [...]

I am probably one of the last people in the US that doesn’t have a cell phone. I don’t have a cell phone to protest in any way. I actually think there are a lot of interesting aspects to them. I have friends that keep telling me that I really need to get one so [...]

I am a firm believer, from my own experience, that after committing to spend less than you earn, the most important thing that you can do for your finances is to truly understand what is important to you and what makes you happy. I know that at first glance this doesn’t seem like it has [...]

I love the story about Cliff Young. If you have never heard it before, prepare yourself for some smiles. Ultra marathons are races of 100 miles or more. One of the most famous of these ultra marathons is a 543.7 mile (875 kilometer) race from Sydney to Melbourne, Australia. This race regularly attracts the world’s [...]

One thing I learned along ago is that personal finance is not rocket science. In fact, it is far from it. The hitch is that simply because I know how to get my personal finances in order doesn’t mean that it’s always easy for me to do so when there are a lot of competing [...]

I’m terrible with coupons, but this week I managed to get get $45.48 worth of food for $3.50 — if you have a Safeway (or Safeway affiliated) grocery store near you, I will show you exactly how to do it. This week Safeway is offering Betty Crocker Fruit Roll-Ups for $1.00 each if you use [...]