Personal Finance Advice

If you’ve ever read the book by John Grisham or seen the movie, “The Firm,” then you are familiar with the tale of corporate and personal greed that leads one man to almost lose his life and all of the things he values. In the movie/book, Mitchell McDeree takes a job at a law firm [...]

While money isn’t actually made out of paper (it’s made out of cotton fibers), bills are sometimes referred to as “paper” in slang terms. That may change in the not too distant future. While “plastic” is a term which is usually reserved for credit cards, it may soon become yet another slang term for those [...]

As more kids get on the Internet at younger ages, I’m hearing about more and more on-line money accidents. These “accidents” occur when kids play paid online games or games that let players buy items in the game, when they download music or eBooks from shopping sites, or when they bid on items on eBay. [...]

On a message board that I routinely hang out on, there was recently a discussion of people’s finances and whether or not they could afford certain items. As with all discussions of this type, there were some people who stated that they would have huge trouble affording these things and other people said that they [...]

We all love our stuff. We like our clothes, our knick knacks, and our DVD’s. We like our photographs, saved letters, mementos of our childhood (or our children’s childhoods), and the stuff we inherit from others. As much as we like stuff, there are many problems with stuff, ranging from the money it costs to [...]

I’ll admit, right at the beginning of this post, that I may be looking at things in a stereotypical manner. I realize that everyone has different reasons for noticing certain things, but I ran into a situation the other day that made me think. I was in the local Applebee’s and the two women in [...]

If you’ve ever wanted to be paid for the time you spend surfing the Internet for porn, I’ve got good news for you. It is possible to get paid to look at porn on the Internet. We all know that the Internet is a big place and that it is difficult to police. User generated [...]

A fire is not only emotionally devastating and life threatening, it can be financially devastating, as well. Even with great insurance you may find yourself having to pay out of pocket for things you didn’t have covered or for unexpected expenses. If you don’t have insurance, or not enough enough insurance, you could be out [...]

August is here! That means that for the next few weeks, after I have taken care of all of my domestic duties and professional responsibilities, I will have one thing, and one thing only, on which to focus my attention. I will not be cleaning up oil in the Gulf of Mexico. I won’t be [...]

I am a bit surprised to find myself with a lot of work to do. I am surprised both because my business is young and because the week before the Fourth of July is usually quite quiet in my profession. That said, I have enough work to do in the next week that I have [...]

I remember when I was a kid, my parents would take the time to show me how money worked. (This was in the days before ATM’s and online banking.) My mom would show me how to write a check out to “cash,” hand it to the teller, and get cash in return. She showed me [...]

I’m always a little surprised at how much everything in our society is measured in terms of money. We measure our worth by our salaries, not by how much we love our work. We measure our remodeling projects by how much we can get back when we sell and not on how much we love [...]

I once asked a friend of mine why he had not married his girlfriend of many years. He replied that he had always wanted to be a kept man and that she just did not have enough money to afford him. Another time, back in the dark ages when I was in high school, a [...]

Yesterday I went to the gym. That, in and of itself, is almost apocalyptic in significance, as I never go to the gym. Nevertheless, I am forcing myself to go, at least for the remainder of my period of unemployment, because I need to feel like I am accomplishing something and because I really do [...]

I was accused the other day on another financial site that I frequent of caring only about money. I was responding to a poster who was asking about the benefits of being debt free, because the person couldn’t see that so much could be gained by not owing anyone anything. So I listed some of [...]

There is a famous quote that says that money is the root of all evil. I think that statement is wrong. I think that the envy of money is the root of all evil. How can money be evil? Money is an inanimate object, and as such, is incapable of any action at all, let [...]

Money is physically dirty 99.9% of all paper money is covered in germs and bacteria including E. coli and salmonella. Money isn’t just dirty because of the microorganisms; it’s also covered in bits of fecal matter and grains of cocaine. You would probably be just as well off licking the bottom of your shoe as [...]

Weekend reading is a round-up of personal finance and money related stories that caught the eye of our forum members this week: Why am I being punished for having bought a house I could afford? Made 1000% now quiting his job Banks asking for credit card debt forgiveness A Rate of Zero Percent From the [...]

Weekend reading is a round-up of personal finance and money related stories that caught the eye of our forum members this week: Americans finally start saving again Tips for New Paupers Searching For a Market Bottom? Keep Looking 10 more reasons you are not wealthy Grain piles up in ports Worst yearly slump for S&P [...]

How does using cash or a debit card influence our spending? About a month ago, I watched a video on Yahoo about an ordinary couple who were challenged to use cash for everything they bought for one week. The idea was to find out if they would spend less when using actual paper money. How [...]