Personal Finance Advice

Last week I wrote a piece about the advantages of keeping accounts at multiple financial institutions. The benefits range from having fall back money if one account is compromised to taking advantage of the strengths of certain types of banks. While I feel that it is best to keep accounts at a least a couple [...]

One area that most people try to save money is on food. Many people trying to eat healthy on a budget bemoan the fact that fresh produce doesn’t stay fresh for long. Too much of it goes to waste because it spoils too quickly. However, if you practice smart storage and shopping, you can extend [...]

Layoffs are hard, but not all layoffs are totally unexpected. Often you can see a layoff coming if you keep your eyes and ears open. Some warning signs: The company seems to be struggling and bills aren’t getting paid or customers aren’t getting their orders. Management shake ups are happening regularly as the company tries [...]

I have several acquaintances that do all of their banking with one institution. (Typically it’s the bank that holds their mortgage or where they have a large investment account like an IRA or 401K.) They use that one bank for everything from paying the bills to loans to retirement savings. In some cases, they don’t [...]

I wrote a few weeks ago about how many people are upset about the end of the Social Security tax holiday. Now that tax rates have returned to 6.2%, many people are struggling to readjust their budgets because they’d come to count on that money, rather than viewing it as a temporary windfall. There’s another [...]

I’ve heard plenty of people bemoan the fact that they don’t have a hobby. Some even post to some of the message boards I frequent, asking for help choosing a hobby. This isn’t a position to which I can personally relate. I’m the opposite. I don’t need another hobby, I need more hours in the [...]

Last year there were changes to our health insurance plan. The employer has always used a high deductible plan and they have always been kind enough to contribute $2,000 toward that deductible. The money has always been available at the first of the year. Well, last year, they got a new plan. It’s still a [...]

This time of year there are lots of tips about how to save money on Valentine’s Day. Advice abounds about ways to show your love for free and alternative gift ideas such as coupons for kid-free days and taking over your partner’s chores for a weekend. While all of these are very valid ways to [...]

This past Christmas I gave many gifts. None of them were dramatically expensive, but my family really enjoys the gift exchange and I enjoy finding the perfect gifts for each person. The hunt is almost as much fun as the actual gift exchange. This year, though, one of my recipients stumped me. When I asked, [...]

We all have financial goals. Maybe you want to retire early, travel more, pay down debt, or save more money. Having goals is what drives us forward and keeps us from staying in the same place. Unfortunately, many of us haven’t really articulated our goals. We carry them around in our heads as vague notions. [...]

If you want to get ahead financially, one of the most important questions you can ask yourself is, “What do I need?” It seems like such a simple question, one where the answers should be immediately obvious. You need food, shelter, clothing, and maybe transportation. Everything else is really a want, in some form or [...]

Like most people, I sometimes find myself complaining about money or “stuff.” Sometimes I get frustrated by work and money issues, or when there’s something I want that I can’t afford, either immediately or ever. There will always be people with more than me, vacations I can’t take, things I can’t own, repairs that have [...]

Most of us have brands and products that we prefer over others. Maybe we prefer the taste or we’ve found that Product A works better than Product B. Sometimes our loyalty is rooted in the prestige a brand confers upon us or because it’s what we grew up with. Whatever the reason, we all have [...]

I’ve spent the past couple of weeks listening to the bitter complaints over the “loss” of the two percent Social Security tax holiday. In case you’ve missed it (or you aren’t from the U.S. and didn’t follow our “fiscal cliff” debacle), here’s the gist: Two years ago our politicians reduced the Social Security tax rate [...]

Everybody wants to be rich. And there are many people in the world who certainly appear to have achieved it. What’s funny, though, is that I’ve never met a single person who says that they feel rich, wealthy, or well-off. (Granted, I’m not hanging with the Trumps, but neither am I talking about people who [...]

Not too long ago my neighbor needed a new water heater. After it was installed, we went on one of our daily walks and she moaned about the expense and hassle. “Well,” I said, “at least you covered it out of your emergency fund, right?” I’ve heard her speak about their emergency fund so I [...]

When many people think about becoming budget-conscious, they cringe because they associate living on a budget with being cheap. They don’t want to be known as, “That cheap SOB.”What they don’t understand is that the two terms are very different. You can live on/within a budget without being cheap. Living on or within a budget [...]

I wrote earlier about just how far we should expect an employer to bend when dealing with work/life balance issues. The point of that piece was that while an employer may be willing to help you balance your work and home lives, they are not obligated to do so. Their only obligation is to the [...]

With New Year’s just past and most people still in the honeymoon phase of their resolutions, it’s worth a brief look at how many self-improvement activities benefit your finances, and how studying one area can have a positive impact on the other. I’ll confess to being something of a self-improvement junkie. Not because my life [...]

A friend and I were discussing New Year’s plans the other day. She is resolving to get her debt under control and start saving more for retirement and her kids’ college funds. “I’m cutting life down to the bare bones this year,” she said. “We’re not spending on anything extra until things are under control.” [...]