I admit it; I still use a spreadsheet to track expenses. In fact, I've been diligently managing my personal finances and tracking household expenses for almost 30 years.
How diligent, you ask?
Well, I can tell you that my cable bill in February ...
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How to Avoid a Mandatory Gratuity for Bad Service
It used to be that tipping was meant to reward and encourage your server for exemplary service. Unfortunately, with the advent of tipping pools, mandatory gratuities, and general tip inflation, that's clearly the exception now. As such, I adhere to ...
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How to Reestablish Credit Quickly
Your credit score is one of the most influential factors when it comes to your ability to achieve approval for a loan or credit card. In addition, your credit score can impact employment and ability to obtain insurance, as well as your living ...
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5 Key Points to Consider Before Signing a Contract
It's not uncommon to see offers like these on a daily basis: "Get a new iPhone for only $99; requires two-year contract," or "Get DIRECTV for only $59.99 a month for six months; requires a one-year commitment."
These teasers may sound great, but ...
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Why Making a Good First Impression Is Important
Like it or not, when it comes to evaluating others, people tend to form an opinion within 30 seconds of meeting someone for the first time. Unfortunately, that resulting initial impression is generally extremely difficult to reverse should we start ...
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Escaping Your Comfort Zone: Why It’s So Important
Escaping our comfort zone is hard. After all, it's only human nature to want to spend as much time as possible there. And why not? It takes courage to walk away from the dependable familiarity and security that waits for us there; for many, sometimes ...
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How to Stop Junk Mail Easily: What Marketers Don’t Want You to Know
Like most people concerned about identity theft, I occasionally gather up any documents with sensitive personal information I've accumulated over time and run them through the paper shredder. As usual, most of it was junk; courtesy of the United ...
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Behind the Science of Defining What’s Truly Priceless
Some things are utterly impossible to put a price on. For example, regardless what's offered, no rational person would ever sell their family. It's also impossible to put a monetary value on good health -- let alone human life. Even so, that didn't ...
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How I Survived Two Armed Robberies (and How You Can Too)
We tend to take for granted that the terrible misfortunes we see on the nightly news befalling people every day will never ever happen to us. Perhaps that is so for the majority of folks. But it is not certain by any means.
By the time I was 30 I ...
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When It Doesn’t Pay to Buy Big-Ticket Items on Sale
Not too long ago a twentysomething friend of mine was telling me all about the brand new big-screen high-definition television he bought.
According to him, it was a great deal.
"How much was it?" I asked.
"I paid $2000 after I got the guy to ...
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9 Indispensable Financial Tips for Teens & Twentysomethings
I hate to admit this, kids, but I used to think my parents were really dumb. A few peas short of a casserole. All foam, no beer. Dumber than a box of hair.
I get it; most teenagers and young adults already know everything about anything. But as ...
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Tip Inflation: We’ve Got Nobody to Blame But Ourselves
In the US, tipping is as American as apple pie.
As a kid I remember going to restaurants with my folks and figuring out the tip for Dad. And he obliged me almost every time simply because he knew I loved to do that sort of thing. His rule was 10% ...
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100 Words On: Why Many ‘Rich’ People Are Only Fooling Themselves
Pablo Picasso said, "I'd like to live as a poor man, with lots of money." Sage advice. That's because doing the exact opposite is a recipe that's guaranteed to eventually bring financial trouble to anybody brazen enough to try it. Still, that doesn't ...
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How to Know If You Should Buy an Extended Warranty
The conventional wisdom out there is that it's virtually never advantageous to get an extended warranty for anything, which I believe is a bit extreme. I remember an old article in Consumer Reports that said, as a general rule of thumb, extended ...
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100 Words On: A Really Sneaky Way to Reduce Your Restaurant Bar Tab
According to the National Restaurant Association, 88% of all adults say they enjoy going to restaurants. It's really no wonder. Dining out is considered a relaxing treat by most folks; a great way to escape from the hustle and bustle of a hectic day. ...
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100 Words On: How to Quit Dreaming and Start Doing
Robert Louis Stevenson said that there can be no fairer ambition than to excel in talk. And while that may be true for the dreamers in life, successful people know the world will always depend on doers -- folks who are motivated to follow through and ...
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9 Important Money Tips Every Dad Should Teach His Kids
Kids, with Father's Day right around the corner, I hope you don't mind if your dear old dad takes a few minutes to give you a little bit of fatherly financial advice.
Despite what your mom says, I don't profess to know everything -- okay, I guess ...
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A Few Thoughts from Aunt Doris: How to Make Ends Meet
This is a reposted article in an occasional series from my dear Aunt Doris, who passed away in 2015 at the age of 94.
When it comes to staying out of debt and making ends meet, I can only tell you what's worked for me.
I was left a young ...
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The Best Personal Finance Book I’ve Ever Read
It seems like every week I get at least one note in my inbox asking me about personal finance books and a suggestion for which one to buy.
Well ... The other day somebody asked me to recommend a personal finance book they could give to their ...
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A Few Thoughts from Aunt Doris: How to Make the Perfect Cup of Tea
We English do love a good cup of tea (or, as we like to say, a cuppa)!
I'm not talking about that panther pee they serve in most restaurants here in the States. You know -- a thick cup with a tea bag on the side! Oh, no!
Here's how to make a ...
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