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 Service Contract
I see offers like these on a daily basis: "Get a new iPhone for only $99; requires two-year contract," or "Get DIRECTV for only $29.99 a month for six months; requires a one-year commitment."
These teasers may sound great, but the companies ...
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100 Words On: The Dangers of Loitering in the Comfort Zone
It's human nature for us to want to spend as much time as possible in the proverbial comfort zone. And why not? It takes courage to walk away from the dependable familiarity and security that waits for us there; for many, sometimes that's even true ...
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Why Restaurant No-Tipping Policies Are a Bad Idea
In the United States, diners have been tipping their servers for more than a century. It's a time-honored practice that's as American as, well, baseball and apple pie.
Tipping was originally intended as an incentive for rewarding and encouraging ...
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The Great Paper Towel Test: What Brand Is Your Best Value?
The paper towel is one of the greatest inventions ever and, frankly, I think too many of us take them for granted.
Think about it: They're not only invaluable for cleaning up spills and other messes, but the best ones can also handle tough jobs ...
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14 “Unconventional” Money Moves that Are Smarter than You Think
Sometimes things in life aren't always as you might reasonably expect them to be. Many things actually defy all sense of logic.
For example, there was a time when a reasonable person watching Justin Bieber sing on a city sidewalk for spare change ...
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Power to the Pinched! The Personal Finance Anarchist Cookbook
Once upon a time, no self-serving radical activist would be caught dead without The Anarchist Cookbook and its misguided recipes for making homemade bombs, tear gas, and other sinister items out of everyday household products.
The Personal Finance ...
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DVDs From Hell: How to Deal with Unskippable Trailers & Ads
One recent weekend not too long ago I came home to find out that both my kids happened to be spending the night at neighbors' homes. Heh.
Of course, I'm sure all of you who are married with children know what that means.
But before that could ...
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Visualizing Your Financial Future (And Why It’s Important)
There are millions of posts and thousands of books explaining how to improve your finances. In fact, much of this information seems to get recycled back and forth. I have found only a couple of good books and posts that deal with the visualization of ...
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A Simple Test to Know If It’s Better to Rent or Buy a House
This weekend my friend and I got into a discussion regarding the housing market; he was wondering whether current prices were still cheap enough to justify taking the plunge and buying a new home.
"It's a good question," I told him, "We could ask ...
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Why I Prefer a Spreadsheet to Track Expenses & Manage My Finances
I've been diligently managing my personal finances and tracking household expenses for more than 20 years.
How diligent, you ask?
Well, I can tell you that my cable bill in February 1998 was $8.03, and that I spent $141.16 in 2006 for an annual ...
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Priceline Users Be Careful: Name the Wrong Price and You May Go To Jail
I bet you didn’t know Priceline had a jail.
I didn’t either until I got tossed into their web-based hoosegow for 24 hours. Heh.
What was my “crime” you ask?
This is kind of embarrassing to admit, but I recently made an offer on a rental car ...
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Key Points to Consider When Hiring an Attorney
There were close to 1.27 million licensed attorneys within the United States in 2012 alone, according to the American Bar Association. Having to choose one great reasonably-priced attorney out of such a massive population may seem just as impossible ...
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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 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 knock $400 off the ...
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Why I Shouldn’t Have Got Behind a Nice Lady in the Supermarket Line
I think grocery store self-check stands are both a blessing and a curse.
When multiple shoppers, loaded up with enough groceries to, say, sustain a family of four through a nuclear winter are queued up in front of a human cashier, self-check ...
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A Simple Trick for Breaking Your Overspending Habit
The other day I was reluctantly helping the Honeybee clean out her our closets -- and having a thoroughly miserable time doing it, I might add -- when I came across a couple of old Discover magazines.
I canceled my subscription to Discover years ...
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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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Extended Warranties: 4 Essential Questions to Ask Before You Commit
As many guys will tell you, after countless cookouts and parties we tend to get attached to our barbecue grills the same way we get attached to our dogs.
Let's face it, a good barbecue grill, like a good dog, is something to be revered, and as ...
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The Unconventional Wisdom of Household Strategic Planning
My son, Matthew, is quickly approaching his 16th birthday and so I've been giving him a few driving tutorials.
I haven't let him get behind the wheel just yet -- that's on next month's agenda -- but it's gotten to the point now where every time ...
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How to Avoid Paying a Mandatory Gratuity for Bad Service
Like most people, I have very strong opinions when it comes to tipping rates for various services that expect them. For example, I staunchly believe that 15% is completely acceptable for good restaurant service.
It used to be that tipping was ...
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