Personal Finance Advice

Before the days of the Internet, I never really enjoyed shopping for the sake of shopping, especially after the open air “shopping centers” of my youth gave way to the enclosed, artificially lit “shopping malls” of my teenage and early adult years. Shopping meant that I had to get into a car and drive for [...]

It all started after my mother graduated from college in 1979. With a teaching degree in hand, a student loan to pay off, and a family to support, she began shopping at thrift stores. We had fun those Saturday mornings, going through our community’s small thrift stores. Over time we bought everything we needed: clothes, [...]

Technology has made it much simpler to compare rates and find the cheapest prices for services and products. Why pull out the phone book to call several insurance agents to find the best price when you can visit one website to instantly get the most competitive price quotes? Why settle for paltry interest rates at [...]

I’ve recently discovered the joy of belonging to a special club that gives you discounts at restaurants of half off (and sometimes more). I want to share this saving opportunity with those who are not yet aware so they can save money at restaurants too. It doesn’t cost anything to join and it’s not a [...]

Now that it’s spring and the government rebate checks are starting to roll in, many people are sounding like that old Super Bowl commercial: “You’ve just received your rebate check! What are you going to do now?” “I’m going to Disney World!” If you decide to go to WDW this summer and you want to [...]

You can save a lot of money just by reading the fine print that retailers post on their websites and in their store polices. I’m embarrassed to admit that, as careful as I am with money, I didn’t really tune in to this fact until about a year ago. You usually have to look for [...]

Who doesn’t hate the clutter of junk mail that comes via snail mail? Someone’s always advertising something and it just seems to pile up in your garbage can. I’ve personally done virtually all I can to eliminate junk mail from my physical mailbox, but when it comes to my e-mail inbox, that’s a different story. [...]

I remember playing Monopoly when I was younger and I remember landing on the squares that were marked Chance or Community Chest. You could get a card that said “Go straight to Jail,” “Pay $50 to each player” or “Win $50 in a beauty contest.” But what about that one that said “Bank Error in [...]