Personal Finance Advice

One of my friends became debt free about year ago. We were at lunch talking about how good it feels to be debt free, especially in the middle of a recession, when she uttered this gem: “It’s so great. I can pay all my bills and still have lots left over for fun stuff.”
I asked [...]

When talk of saving money comes up, it usually leads to talk of the “good old days” when things were simpler and less expensive. Many people reminisce about the days when a stamp was ten cents, a loaf of bread was twenty-five cents, and a gallon of gas was fifty cents. Oh, the good old [...]

Some would say that we live a life of deprivation. We don’t indulge ourselves very often and we rarely buy things without giving them careful consideration. This is a deliberate choice on our part, born not from a lack of money, but from a desire to retain our ability to appreciate everything.
When you [...]

An acquaintance came to me the other day and told me a sad story. She has been unemployed since December and unable to find work. Her husband also lost his job around the same time and although he has since found another, they went four months with no income and his new job pays considerably [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

We all remember fondly the games we played when we were children. There is a simple game that kept me entertained when I was young. It was called Barrel of Monkeys. My Barrel of Monkeys came in a bright yellow plastic barrel with twelve monkeys inside. The monkeys’ arms were sort of S curved and [...]

I was accused the other day on another financial site that I frequent of caring only about money. I was responding to a poster who was asking about the benefits of being debt free, because the person couldn’t see that so much could be gained by not owing anyone anything. So I listed some of [...]

One of the items that people most frequently go into debt to purchase is a car. That’s not surprising given that even the most basic brand new car begins around $12,000. And that’s for four wheels and a seat; no extras or room for many passengers. Most people don’t have that kind of money lying [...]

The other day I went to lunch with a friend who is working on becoming debt free and simplifying her life overall. I asked her how it was going.
“Ugh,” she said. “Well, I told you that Herman took a sabbatical so he could teach for six months, right?” Teaching was, her husband believed, his [...]

We are DINK’s (Dual Income No Kids). Many years ago we made the decision not to have kids. That decision didn’t have anything to do with money. On the contrary, we could have afforded kids quite easily. We just didn’t want kids. I’m the sort of person who likes to visit with my nieces and [...]

When I was in high school I was a “smart kid.” I got great grades and studied hard. I chose to make school a priority rather than going out partying every night. I got called a nerd, dork, or geek, as well as some other less flattering names. I learned to hide my intelligence and [...]

I’ve mentioned before that I really like saving money. To me it’s like a game to find new ways to reduce my spending. Constantly finding new ways to lower spending keeps me on my toes and protects me from slipping into careless patterns that could lead to debt. It also frees up more cash that [...]

Suze Orman was on Oprah last week and one of the pieces of advice that she gave for dealing with the recession was to learn how to live on half your income. The reason behind the advice was that if you have a job loss or a reduction in hours you would have to live [...]

Recently we got a bit of a shocker to our budget. The washing machine, out of nowhere, decided to give up on us. I can’t say I’m totally shocked; the poor thing was thirteen years old, after all. But still, it gave no warning before deciding to conk out completely. Turns out that the motor [...]

If you are at all interested in finance, you’ve probably heard that it is necessary to be debt free in order to build substantial wealth. While a few gifted investors manage to build wealth while having a lot of real estate debt (think Trump) or debt that finances a business venture (think the people who [...]

One piece of financial advice that I often see offered is this: If you are part of a couple, give each other a measure of freedom with the money you earn but consult each other on any purchases over $100. In some variations the consultation amount is $50 or even $20. Whatever the amount, the [...]

My dear friend recently went back to work after being unemployed for a time. She is grateful for the job, but this work earns her much less per hour than before. In fact, it offers both fewer hours and smaller per-hour pay.
Thus with a diminished earning power, she is understandably finding it hard to [...]

A couple that we are friendly with recently asked us to go to a play with them. We were interested because the play was one we’d been wanting to see for some time. However, tickets for this production were $60 for the nosebleed section. Add on $12 per ticket in service fees, plus sales tax [...]

There’s no need to disclose exactly how old I am. Let’s just say I’m at the age where my hair is turning gray, wrinkles are appearing, and things are starting to soften a bit. My hairdresser asked me the other day, “Well, when are you going to start coloring your hair?” as if it was [...]