Personal Finance Advice

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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It was recently announced in the news that Starbucks (SBUX) will be closing over 600 stores due to a phenomenon nicknamed “The Latte Effect.” This basically describes the actions people often take when economic times are tough and money is tight, which includes cutting back on extra expenses like coffee, manicures and hair treatments. [...]

By M. Ellis, Special Guest Writer
The other day a friend invited me to her church because she knows that I’m interested in finance and the minister was beginning a series on God and finance. I almost declined because the thought of a minister preaching on God and finance gives me the heebie jeebies. I’ve often [...]

Last year I read an article in Redbook declaring that mothers should hire people to do some of their household work and errands for them. The article made the popular argument that if you can hire someone to do your housework for less than what you make doing something else, you shouldn’t waste your time [...]

A few weeks ago I wrote about books that are valuable for every level of financial knowledge. Almost all of those books were “how-to” books or books about developing and implementing investment strategies. This week I’m going to recommend a different type of financial book. These are the books that don’t teach you how to [...]

I’m a huge fan of reading. I believe that reading, both fiction and non-fiction, is a great way to learn new things and be exposed to more than you typically see in your daily life. If you want to learn something new, like personal finance, you can’t beat a good book. You can go at [...]

I’ve personally never seen this game show, but recently I saw a parody of it that was done at my church when they were talking about finances. It was actually very interesting how they laid it out and made the correlation and it made a lot of sense. They had a “contestant” come [...]

This weekend I was reading “You’re Broke Because You Want to Be: How to Stop Getting By and Start Getting Ahead” by Larry Winget. (A pretty good read, by the way. The advice is nothing groundbreaking, but his straight talk and no excuses approach is entertaining.) Anyway, in the book he states that most people [...]

This past weekend I went to the annual bridal expo with a friend who is getting married soon. As my wedding was many years ago, I was astounded to see how far the bridal industry has come. Or maybe I should say I was astounded to see how far the bridal industry will go (to [...]

The football season is over now, and while that makes my husband very sad, it actually makes me pretty happy since I don’t particularly enjoy football. While I can’t get too interested in watching the game itself, I know there are some things to learn from the game. For instance, it’s better to [...]

Just recently my husband and I have decided to tighten up our spending a little more than we have been doing in the past. We currently have an amount budgeted for extra spending (entertainment, fun things, clothes, etc.) and in the past, this has been more of a guideline than a hard and fast [...]

Somewhere along my most recent three-week vacation, I started to compare it to last year’s three-week road trip. I began to make a list of the little things that make a big difference when it comes to the price, cost, or value on vacation. Here are 20 lessons that I have learned.
1. If you [...]

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 [...]

It falls, taunting you, flake after flake, coating everything you see with white wet and cold crystals. It piles up in the corners, and in its complete blinding whiteness, all you can do is fork over your wallet. It’s a beautiful thief.
You must turn on your heat. The blanket of whiteness is on [...]

It’s very frustrating when people who don’t know us well attribute our decent financial situation to “luck.” As in, “You’re so lucky that you don’t have debt,” or, “You’re so lucky not to have to worry about your bills.” The conversation usually ends with the other person saying something along the lines of, “I wish [...]