Personal Finance Advice

Furniture is expensive. Even “cheap” furniture is expensive, and if you want high quality furniture prepare for sticker shock. While many people have an ultimate goal of having a nicely furnished home, some people don’t share that desire or have the means to pay for expensive furniture. Those just starting out likely don’t have the [...]

I’ve reached one of those milestone birthdays where you stop and take stock of your life. I’ve been looking at where I’ve been and where I’m going professionally, personally, and financially. In looking at my finances, I’ve realized that there are eleven actions that have contributed directly to my success. These actions have all been [...]

I had a roommate in college whose mantra in life was, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” She applied this to everything from dating (Just because you can date that drunk frat guy doesn’t mean that you should) to academics (Just because you can graduate with a D average doesn’t mean that you [...]

Someone asked me the other day whether every purchase and financial transaction has to have deep meaning. “To hear you talk sometimes,” this person said, “no one should ever buy anything unless they’ve carefully researched it, dissected it, and tallied the impact on the budget. Doesn’t anyone get to have any fun with their money?” [...]

I know several people who claim not to be able to save money for travel. “If the money is in a bank account, even if it’s set aside for something else, I’ll spend it. I have no discipline,” is a constant refrain. Many of these people have discovered some savings “tricks” that they use to [...]

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 [...]

Last week Netflix raised their rates, increasing the price of some plans by as much as sixty percent. Where before a plan with one DVD out at a time and unlimited streaming was $9.99 per month, the same service will now cost $15.98. Ouch. The outrage online was swift and furious. Customers were losing a [...]

A coworker of mine recently decided to get her finances in order. She admitted her debt troubles and her concerns that they don’t have anything saved for the future, let alone emergencies. While I applaud her desire to fix things, I question the method and the seriousness of her effort. I had to hide a [...]

In amongst the usual depressing crime and war stories, our local paper recently carried an article about a couple who has been married for seventy years. That’s such a rare feat that the U.S. Census doesn’t even track the number of couples that make it that far. The census stops counting at fifty years of [...]

Many people think that becoming wealthy means that they no longer have to budget. The logic goes that if you have enough money, it’s no longer important how much is spent on various categories. When you have extra money, you don’t have to track where it all goes, right? Wrong. Those who want to remain [...]

The other day I was reading a post on a message board from someone who was very proud of their money saving efforts. They listed things they’d cut including the house cleaner, the lawn service, eating out, and that they’d dropped premium channels on their cable. They’ve started buying store brands and given up many [...]

When you and all of your friends or family are deeply in debt, you can all be miserable together. You can gripe about your finances, complain about how there’s never enough money for everything, and then go shopping anyway. You can egg each other into further debt by saying things like, “You’re only young once,” [...]

I have a relative who is at the mercy of every tiny financial bump in the road. When the dog has to go to the vet, or gas goes up two cents, or the power bill is higher than expected, or the car needs new tires, he is thrown into chaos. He hasn’t got the [...]

Sometimes you have to quickly create some breathing space in your budget. Maybe you lose a job, take a pay cut, or have an emergency that eats up your available cash. Things like getting another/better job, starting a vegetable garden, or moving can help, but they take time. When you need to find extra money [...]

Getting your finances in order is a lot like weight loss. You start off great in the beginning. You drop a lot of debt quickly. It’s almost too easy to cut expenses. You realize that you’ve got lots of things you can cut and you eagerly drop unwanted services, renegotiate bills, stop eating out, and [...]

Last week I wrote about cases where taking a pay cut might make sense. This week I want to give some suggestions for how you can adjust to a decrease in pay. Some pay cuts will require no adjustment, or very little. If you take a pay cut but get a shorter commute, move to [...]

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 [...]

How many times have you just dumped detergent in the washing machine, or grabbed a swig of cough medicine without measuring? This may be quick and convenient, but likely you are wasting money and product by not measuring. Some products make it easy to measure the correct amount. Detergents, for example, come with measuring cups [...]

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 [...]