Personal Finance Advice

While I’ve never been one to keep up with the Jones’, I’ve noticed a palpable sense of relief amongst many friends, acquaintances, and message board posters that the pressure to keep up, show off, and compete is off. At least for the moment.
In the heyday of the 1990’s and early 2000’s, everything was about [...]

Okay, it’s no secret that the economy is in the tank. And it’s likely that this has you worried, angry, upset, and stressed out. And it’s no wonder. You’ve probably watched your investments fall, your retirement may be on hold indefinitely, you may have been laid off, your house is possibly worthless, and your credit [...]

One of the things you learn when you live a life committed to being debt free is how to get by in tough times. We’ve had our share of lean years, emergencies, and layoffs and yet we’ve always managed to remain debt free. The worst time I can remember was after we were first married [...]

As the old year draws to a close and a new year is about to dawn, I like to take a few moments to look back on the past year and to reflect on what went right and what went wrong, how things have changed and whether those changes were for the good. I [...]

By Maggie Ellis, guest writer
I know many people who are followers of Dave Ramsey’s financial advice. Since the economy has tanked, it seems like I’m seeing even more people joining the Dave bandwagon, looking for a way out of the financial messes that they have gotten themselves into. His “Total Money Makeover” and the associated [...]

I’m growing very tired of the word “consumer.” Every time I turn on the TV, the talking heads are discussing “the consumer.” Consumers aren’t spending as much, consumers are cutting back, consumers are hurting, consumers need to increase their spending to save the economy. It’s as though consumers are the only component of the economy. [...]

At any given time in your life you may find yourself in a financial situation not of your making. The recent credit crisis in America is a prime example. It is a uniquely perfect storm to be sure, the kind of economic crisis that comes along once every 50 -100 years perhaps, but that doesn’t [...]

Weekend reading is a round-up of personal finance and money related stories that caught the eye of our forum members this week:

43 Mortgages Within Same Family
What really killed WaMu?
What Are the Economic Collapse Indicators to Watch For?
An odd welfare story
The Power of Negative Thinking
5 percent on CDs may not [...]

Your grandparents (or maybe great-grandparents) were better than you at saving money. If you think long and hard about that, most of you will probably agree with that statement. There are a number of reasons why they were better and some things we can learn from those facts. Let’s dive right into those reasons.
Awareness of [...]

Weekend reading is a round-up of personal finance and money related stories that caught the eye of our forum members this week:

International Central Banks Team Up
Governement Planning to Transfer All Bad Bank Debt to Taxpayers
SEC Plans to Temporarily Ban Short-Selling
Government Buying Bad Debt
Money market accounts not so safe
Bernanke: “We [...]

Weekend reading is a round-up of personal finance and money related stories that caught the eye of our forum members this week:

21% of those making over $100k are living paycheck to paycheck
Earn an A? Here’s $50. C? Here’s $20
Woman Auctioning Her Virginity For College Tuition
The Key to Wedded Bliss? Money Matters
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Like any good financial nerd, I spend a lot of time watching and reading the media’s coverage of the economy. Over the last few months the tone has gone from mildly concerned, through concerned, and on to full blown panic. This amuses me because you can literally watch the rhetoric ratchet up and up, [...]

We are friends with a couple I’ll call the Joneses. The Joneses are exactly what they sound like. They are the ones on the block with the latest cars, toys, and gizmos. Despite that, they are nice people and we’ve been friends for years. Each year we go on vacation together to a small resort [...]

I don’t need the media or the government to tell me that the economy is heading south. I have a foolproof barometer of economic health in my own town. It’s called the scrap heap, aka, the metal recycler.
For about ten years, I’ve been collecting my aluminum cans and taking them to the scrap heap [...]

In recent weeks I’ve felt a distinct discomfort when listening to the media, the government, and even my acquaintances talk about money. It’s always been pretty clear that I’m not normal and that I don’t fit financially into this society. I’m a saver and a proponent of more frugal lifestyles. I’m not a big spender. [...]

The drumbeat of recession talk continues to grow louder in the media and amongst financial analysts. The housing crisis, the credit crunch, high energy prices, the falling dollar, inflation, and slowing consumer spending are all contributing to a troubled economy. While no one can see into the future and know for certain whether or not [...]