From the category archives:

Budget

Who Cares if Your Cell Phone is Outdated!

February 4, 2011

Show me someone who has saved enough for retirement, and I will show you someone who can separate a need from a want. Delayed gratification is the number one trait for personal finance success. I saw this article on Yahoo recently discussing how the lifespan of a smart phone is months, not years. This means [...]

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How Economies Work Today

December 7, 2010

Here is an excerpt from an email from the Daily Reckoning, an interesting website filled with folks who seem to be of the Austrian economic theory. It is a humorous look at how the economy works today, but, sadly, too true. Mary is the proprietor of a bar in Dublin. She realises that virtually all [...]

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Why My Wife Will No Longer Shop at Target

October 28, 2010

My wife loved Target (pronounced by the hard core shoppers as Tarjet with a French accent). I should know as every other transaction on our credit card bill was Target. Sometimes I feel as if I am not working for myself, but for Target. But, Target recently shot themselves in the bullseye with my wife. [...]

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Protecting Your Identity

October 4, 2010

Everyone knows that protecting your identity is important. You may be taking many right steps as far as shredding documents with personal information, not giving your information over the phone from unsolicited callers, and keeping your social security card secure (not in your wallet or purse). Hopefully, you also have a list of all the [...]

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Five Quick Ways to Bankruptcy

September 29, 2010

I saw an interesting article in Yahoo Finance about the Five Quickest Ways to Bankruptcy. The five were: 1. Doing the Plastic Shuffle 2. Assuming Insurance will cover medical bills 3. Taking out advances on your paycheck 4. Keeping up with the Joneses 5. Overestimating the Value of an Expensive Degree All of these are [...]

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Great Money Saving Ideas

June 29, 2010

Here is an article on Yahoo Finance that lists 21 items never to buy new. I pretty much agree with all of them, except I would add underwear to the list. I especially agree with timeshares. My folks bought some timeshares on the secondary markets years ago for next to nothing. They got tired of [...]

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Is the Target Credit Card Right for You?

June 23, 2010

My wife loves Target (she and her friends use the French pronunciation). It appears the chain store is going to provide a flat 5% discount to customers using the Target Credit Card starting this fall. Target tried the discount at some locations in Kansas City and found it increased sales. So the company will launch [...]

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Building Wealth By Being a Cheapskate

April 18, 2010

Many folks look to build wealth by trying to “beat the market” substantially or working endless hours. These methods may help, but they may actually hurt. Most folks end up taking too much risk with investments while pursuing high returns, which usually ends up in subpar returns. Over-exertion at work often leads to stress, which [...]

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Demonizing People in Debt

February 22, 2010

Here is a brief clip from Elizabeth Warren, who has been tasked to overlook the TARP bailout by the government, is talking about how those individuals who file bankruptcy are just like us. They work hard and spend rationally. It is just the debt piles up too fast. Certainly, there are folks who end up [...]

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CBO too Optimistic?

January 31, 2010

The Congressional Budget Office does a decent job of making projections on the budget…usually. What usually throws this organization off is the government ends up spending more than projected. This time I think CBO is too optimistic in its projections, and it isn’t just based on the inevitable spending overruns by our elected “leaders.” Above [...]

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