I'm sorry, folks, but I'm just a little surly right now. I just finished reading an article at Cracked that my son showed me entitled: 5 Things Nobody Tells You About Being Poor. Apparently, the piece was written by a self-professed member of ...

Continue reading 5 Things Nobody Tells You About Being Poor – And for Good Reason

When I was a kid I used to have a Ouija board. Thankfully, my nerdy friends and I were never possessed by evil spirits while conjuring up our dead relatives to see how they were doing (they're fine, thanks); or getting answers to burning questions ...

Continue reading 12 Good Reasons Why You Should (and Shouldn’t) Use a Credit Card

One of my favorite television shows is National Geographic Channel's Locked Up Abroad. Each week, this absolutely fabulous show features the story of somebody who had the misfortune of either getting incarcerated in a foreign prison or kidnapped ...

Continue reading 10 Red Flags That May Signal You’re In Big Financial Trouble

Many people take out a payday loan when they have no other way of getting urgent cash. Whether it's a sudden medical bill or overdue rent, payday loans are often the only way to get that financial cushion, short of borrowing from a friend or ...

Continue reading Do Payday Loans Have Any Benefits?

I have a voracious appetite for time-travel stories. I absolutely love 'em. One of my all-time favorite television shows, The Twilight Zone, devoted at least five episodes to the subject; I wish Rod Serling had written more of them. With that ...

Continue reading Time vs. Money: Are You an Unwitting Financial Time Traveler?

Maybe you heard about that infamous Kelton study that found Americans could identify more ingredients in a Big Mac than the individual Ten Commandments. It's true, folks; 80% of Americans knew there were two all-beef patties in a Big Mac -- but ...

Continue reading The Ten Commandments of Personal Finance

The humongous data breach in 2017 by Equifax that exposed the sensitive personal information of nearly 146 million Americans, greatly increased the risk of identity theft and financial fraud for those affected. Most people realize it's a risk that ...

Continue reading The Pros & Cons of Freezing Your Credit Report: Is It Really Worth It?

Let's face it: not all debt is bad. For example, debt is generally okay whenever it's used to buy something that may increase in value. That being said, it's always best to try and keep your debts to a minimum. So with that in mind, here are, in ...

Continue reading 100 Famous Quotes About Debt

You don't have bad credit -- yet. However, anyone can make a mistake that leads him or her down the wrong credit path. Fortunately, bad credit isn't usually something that develops overnight; instead, credit errors compile over time to transform a ...

Continue reading 5 Telltale Signs That You’re Headed for a Credit Crisis

I know that Halloween is still more than a month away, but it won't be long before people will once again be looking for ways to scare the pants off unwitting friends and family members. One way to do that without having to dress up like a ghost ...

Continue reading 18 Facts You Didn’t Know About the National Debt

Sitting on the edge of the Sonoran desert, along the main highway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs, lies Hadley's, a popular fruit stand and tourist stop that sells, among other things, banana date shakes. I love 'em; they're an incredibly ...

Continue reading 9 Guilt-Free Ways to Rip Off Your Credit Card Company

Whether you're managing your own money or your business's resources, good financial habits take time to build. Indeed, developing and then carrying out a sound financial plan is often the product of months or even years of hard work and dedication. ...

Continue reading 4 Positive Financial Habits to Develop Right Now