After dealing with multiple rounds of repairs on my ten year old Honda Civic, I decided that enough was enough – I was going to sell my car. The only catch was…that I wasn’t going to buy another one. Even though a lot of people are giving up their cars nowadays, the majority of American’s…
The other day I was having lunch with my friend Vanessa who recently rejoined the workforce after staying home to raise her kids for the last two and a half years. She actually wasn’t planning on working again until the kids were old enough to enter kindergarten, but not everything went according to their plan….
Who hasn’t heard the saying “the early bird gets the worm?” It’s been one I’ve heard over and over again my entire life. The premise of this saying is those who get up early get more stuff done and have more opportunities throughout the day. Whomever starts first has the best chance for success. I…
It’s here my financial friends. The ultimate throwdown! Today, we pit two of the best financial tools against each other to see who comes out on top. That’s right, we are going to compare Mint.com and Personal Capital to see which free tool is better! I got this idea back when someone basically asked me: “Mint.com…
I got an email the other day from a reader that asked a good question. Basically, the email asked what the best cell phone plan for kids would be. This reader had a family plan at T-Mobile. It was four lines for $100, so $25 per line. The problem is their kid was using too…
Welcome to another edition of Simple Savings Sunday! I love these little tidbits of savings advice as much as the next person. I really do! Today is going to be one that might confuse some of you and it’s about shopping for the lowest price. Now, I’m not saying shopping for the “best” price, but…
As most of you know, we moved into our current home last June. We have a nice sized yard and a really nice neighborhood. What we don’t have is a house that was move in ready. Well, it was, but we wanted to change many things. It’s been months and we still have too many…
I was lucky enough to be able to try out a new service from TransUnion. I will disclose I was provided the service to try and review. This review is based on me testing the service and my opinions are my own. If you aren’t familiar with TransUnion, then let me give you a quick…
Being buried in debt and struggling to make ends meet every month can stress you out and have a negative impact on your overall health. This type of stress is one thing that the wealthy never have to worry about. But there are other ways in which the income gap between the rich and poor is affecting our health, and that was the subject of a recent article on MSN Money. According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, while American eating habits did improve between 1999 and 2010 the improvements were not reflected evenly across the board.
One of the longer running pieces of personal finance advice is to never buy a new car. Seriously, most experts use the word “NEVER!” I am cool with that, especially as someone who has purchased quite a few new cars, I have learned my lesson. The justification of this advice is you can save a lot of money by just buying a car one or two years old. The majority of depreciation happens within the first year. After that, most cars depreciate on a sliding scale. Some do it slower than others, but I am not getting into that. So, let’s talk about this “never buy a new car” advice.
You’re frustrated at the end of the month because it feels like every penny you make goes toward paying bills, and you have nothing to show for your hard work. You see things that you would like to have, seemingly frivolous items like designer shoes or a new television, and walk away, thinking that because you don’t have the money now, you won’t ever be able to have what you want. You’re jealous of others. While it’s true that basic necessities like food and shelter cost more than ever, the real reason that most people aren’t achieving wealth goals has nothing to do with how much money is in the bank. It has to do with how they think about money.
Over the past decade, more and more people have found themselves deep in financial debt. While there may be some obvious reasons why some people have gotten into debt, there are also many other overlooked factors that could have led to their accumulation of debt. I have spent a good amount of my adult life in debt. I know how it feels. There is nothing fun about it, but that doesn’t mean it has to define you. Remember that you are the one in control of your money, so don’t let it take control of you. We all make mistakes and debt should be one that you only make once. I don’t plan on making the debt mistake again, so I hope you do the same.
