Personal Finance Advice

People like to refer to life as a game or a competition. The winners are the ones who accumulate the most or best things, achieve the most success, or get the most power. That’s the conventional wisdom, anyway, which means that a large number of us are playing a game we’ll never win. We’ll never [...]

A couple of weeks ago, I came across a post on another message board from a person who admitted to spending forty percent of his time at work surfing the Internet for personal reasons. He was even going so far as to use Log Me In to access his home computer from work so he [...]

I see plenty of people, both online and off, who are desperate to work from home. Despite the fact that working from home is definitely not for everyone, many people idealize the lifestyle and want it for themselves. It’s funny, though, that many people seem to be seeking some sort of magical work from home [...]

It’s been a rough week where I have had minimal productivity. I realized after the low vitamin D diagnosis that I had been doing some things on my own to fight the effects which weren’t particularly healthy including eating a lot of junk food and gaining some weight. Upon understanding a bit more about what [...]

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 [...]

Have you been out of work for awhile? Maybe it’s been one year, maybe it’s been five, or maybe it’s been ten or fifteen years. The longer you’re out of work, whether because of the bad economy or personal choices, the harder it is to get your resume past recruiters. Most recruiters see so many [...]

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 [...]

We all have habits that we really need to take a hard look at to make sure the habit is helping us reach our financial goals. I know from personal experience that one of the most difficult aspects of personal finance is finding those habits (since they’re habits, we often do them without even being [...]

An acquaintance was recently fired from her job. The reason? She needed too much time away from her job to deal with “family obligations.” I don’t know all the details, but she was missing a lot of work to deal with some issues with her kids and extended family. This was not a case of [...]

There are a lot of things which seem to be completely unrelated to personal finance, but still have a large effect on your finances. One of the best things that you can do to help improve your finances is to realize that you need to look beyond those things that have a direct link to [...]

When I first started working, I pursued jobs that forced me to deal with the public. First I worked in a town inspection department where the public came in for building permits, home inspections, and to ask questions about zoning regulations and town projects. After that, I worked in a marketing department where I had [...]

Long-term disability insurance is one of those financial instruments that most people should have, yet few people do. It’s designed to pay you in the event that you become so injured or ill that you can no longer work. How much you’ll get will depend on the type of policy you have (generally sixty to [...]

In some occupations, such as technology and sales-oriented occupations, non-compete agreements are common. In essence, the employer is requiring you to promise that if you leave the company, you will not hire on with a competitor within a certain period of time. (Some are not so much time as distance focused. For example, it may [...]

I see many people give up on careers and activities that they love (or might love) because they don’t believe they have enough talent to succeed. Whether it’s acting, writing, designing, athletics, or even something more practical like computer programming or teaching, they just don’t feel like they have that magical ability that will make [...]

It’s true that one of the keys to success in life is often pursuing something you’re passionate about. When you’re passionate about something, you tend to stick with it, to put in the hours required to become proficient or even expert, and eventually reap the rewards of all that practice. When you enjoy what you’re [...]

One of the best things you can do financially for yourself is be smart about the things that you do in the limited amount of time you have each day. Most people who decide that they need to get more exercise immediately think about joining a gym. While this is certainly one way to get [...]

My neighbor’s child, Lisa, just graduated from college. She could have gone to some prestigious private schools or out-of-state colleges, but she chose to go to a smaller in-state college to save big bucks on tuition. She also considered a degree program online that are much more affordable and would have given her the ability [...]

I’m fortunate to work from home. I also know many men and women who work from home, are stay-at-home parents, or who don’t work outside of the home for a variety of reasons. Maybe they are disabled in some way, have health issues, or maybe they simply prefer to stay home and take care of [...]

Many people are gifted in the areas of art, music, dance, writing, and acting. However, when it comes time to choose a profession, many choose to pursue something other than their creative gift. “You can’t make money as a writer (dancer, artist, musician, etc),” they are told. Or the pressure to get a “real” job [...]

In many of my articles, and those of other writers, a common theme can be found. Most financial writers, myself included, tell people that they have to choose what to do with their money. We advocate choosing between life experiences like travel and the accumulation of stuff and gadgets. We tell people to choose between [...]