After $1,610.55 saved with the Change app over four months, I’m pausing automatic savings. It’s not because I wasn’t pleased with the great things Change did … The Change app was a great app. I was impressed with it over four months. All told, Change discreetly, effortlessly, and smartly squirreled away $1,610.55 for me over … Read more
Weddings are one of the most special days in our lives, but it doesn’t have to break the bank. Check out these budget wedding tips to save where it makes sense … (The following is a guest post by Kostas Chiotis, a blogger and an economist. He posts regularly to his blog at FinanceBlogZone.com. You can … Read more
Businesses love monthly subscription services, also called recurring charges. Why collect money just once from a customer when you can collect from them again, and again … and again? Even better than that: Most of the time, the recurring charges just happen, magically, without the customer’s intervention … unless they want to quit, of course. … Read more
As the father of a daughter, I’ll likely be thinking about wedding costs a lot sooner than I want. I’m reminded of this every day as I watch my baby girl grow up at record speed. Unless tradition reverses course, I’ll be expected to foot the bill. That’s what happens when the coin toss shows … Read more
Giving children solid grounding in money management is crucial. Budgeting, saving, frugality, and financial planning are important components of living on one’s own and taking responsibility. It’s unlikely that personal finance skills will be taught in school to any appreciable degree, so it’s up to parents to do this. We give our daughter an allowance. … Read more
On the way up to my parents’ house recently, we took some time in the trip to review and discuss our personal finance plan. It wasn’t too complicated: Build up an emergency fund of $5,000. Further accelerate paying down our van loan. Build up savings for the next vehicle, and further accelerate paying down the … Read more
I thought that I was going to be all clever and stuff by quoting from Return of the Jedi with this post: Now witness the power of this fully armed and operational DoD furlough! (But that quote was already taken, more or less.) DoD employees are now through four of their eleven six scheduled furlough … Read more
There have been a number of news articles indicating that the DoD furloughs for fiscal year 2013 are here to stay. So for 600,000+ Department of Defense employees, it’s three furlough days down, and eight more to go. The good news, at least for DoD employees around in my neck of the woods, is that … Read more