Personal Finance Advice

I’ve noticed a side effect of the bad economy that may end up prolonging our economic woes. It’s called poor customer service. The other day I had to return something to a big box electronics store. The line in the returns department looked like the day after Christmas and only one clerk was working. When [...]

My family and I have lived in the same house for close to a decade. When we moved here, there were six palm trees on our rather small lot, and I could trim all of them on my own. A few years ago, several of the trees had grown to a height that [...]

Many times, when I help someone with their finances, I discover that their biggest obstacle is that they don’t understand opportunity cost and the impact it has on personal finance. In order to take advantage of an opportunity, something else must always be given up. Opportunity cost is basically what you lose by choosing one [...]

Editor Note: This is a repost of an article posted last week. David did a live, nationally televised show regarding on ABC Money Matters titled Shop With Your Man: Why husbands should shop with their wives.
Although the men I know seem uniformly capable of going to a store, buying a product, and feeling confident in [...]

Several financial experts (most notably Dave Ramsey) preach that, if you want to become and remain debt free, you must not use credit cards. Ever. Their reasoning is that, a) it is too easy to get into the debt trap when using cards and, b) that you spend more money (around 25% more) when you [...]

One of the biggest things you can do to save money is simply to plan ahead. I’m not talking about planning far ahead like planning for retirement or for starting a family, although those are good plans to make. I’m talking about planning hours, days or, at most, a few months ahead. There’s nothing wrong [...]

After following sales and coupons religiously for several months, I’ve started to get a sense of the best prices for various items.
The best way to get these prices is to use the Coupon Mom method of combining a store’s loyalty card discount with sales and coupons. However, over the last several months, it [...]

I live about two miles away from “Restaurant Row,” a road that has an amazingly high concentration of restaurants from Mickey D’s to fine dining. I generally do not visit any of them, with only a few exceptions. Nestled among all of the high end chains (Roy’s, Morton’s, Ruth’s Chris, etc.) there are [...]

I’ll admit to loving movies and certain TV series. As a result, I buy a lot of DVD’s. Someone once told me that I was wasting my money on all those DVD’s, since I could rent them for free or watch the same movies on cable. I didn’t think it was a waste of money, [...]

I, like a lot of people, have a list of things that I would like to own. There can be a lot of fun in fantasizing about all the things you’d like to have and the fun you’d have owning them. However, the smart consumer understands that reality is somewhat different. The things that we [...]

The only thing I used to do to save money on groceries was to make a list before each shopping trip and stick to a monthly grocery budget. I didn’t use coupons because I figured I saved more money by purchasing store brands (preferably store brands on sale) and shopping at discount stores and farmers [...]

The other day my son managed to lose a pair of pants from his school uniform. How he did this, I am not sure, since he was wearing them at school that day. Nevertheless, somehow between the end of the school day and the end of his bus ride home, he managed to [...]

Over the past several months, I have noticed that several of my acquaintances have stopped buying coffee when they are out. Indeed, I’ve read several articles about that phenomenon and Starbuck’s financial performance of late has supported my observations. When I think back on all of the money that I spent on coffee, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

It’s well known where I work and in my circle of acquaintances that I am, shall we say, financially conservative. I don’t blow money for fun and everyone knows that about me. So it never ceases to amaze me the number of people who still ask me out to pricey restaurants for lunch, or to [...]

One of our favorite things to do is travel. There are so many places we want to see, I doubt we’ll ever make it to all of them. However, despite the fact that we want to see so much, we are not willing to incur debt to do it. People ask me how we afford [...]

Lately, I have been busy. Really busy. I am studying for a professional licensing exam and trying to balance 8 to 10 hours of studying per day with the responsibilities of being a good husband and father. On the whole, I am managing just fine. I hope.
That said, I don’t [...]

Please consider the idea of haggling: a buyer negotiating with a seller to get a lower price. It sounds like a great way to save money. Why am I not doing it?
I believe that like other consumers, haggling just isn’t on my radar:

I pay what I see on the price tag without question. [...]

My most recent “real” job was working for a large publishing company. My employer’s total annual sales exceeded $6 billion. Needless to say, that gave my employer a great deal of clout when it came to negotiating contracts for employee benefits. For example, we had a great health insurance program, generous dental [...]