The end-of-year holidays are festive for most people: attending parties, decorating, giving gifts, listening to music, visiting family, eating a bit too much. At work it sometimes means announcement of raises or year-end bonuses when there’s profit to be shared. People may be entering the new year with a fatter wallet and a bigger paycheck. … Read more
It’s the holiday shopping season. Already. Again. Where does the time go? (Minute by minute, I’m told.) Two thousand eleven will be upon us in only a month. Here are a few tasks that are worth doing to tie a financial bow on 2010: Review your health and dental care choices if you have them … Read more
The son of one of my high school classmates lost a tooth. He’s similar in age to my daughter. Here’s the brief exchange from my classmate and her son: My classmate: “[Son], what do you think the tooth fairy will bring?” Her son: “Maybe she can bring me a credit card!” Out of the mouths … Read more
I didn’t do a huge amount of financial due diligence when I was dating my wife and after I became engaged to her. At most, I had a warm fuzzy feeling that she wasn’t too badly in debt and that she could cover (barely, perhaps) her bills with her job. The finances didn’t concern me … Read more
Thirty-year mortgages rates haven’t been this cheap in my lifetime. Considering this was the year of my 20th high school reunion, that’s a fairly long time. A fixed-rate mortgage costs more to obtain than an adjustable-rate mortgage of the same term because the lender bears the interest-rate risk. The means that the lender agrees to … Read more
Banking of late hasn’t been much to laugh about, but a couple of days ago I heard a term that gave me a pretty big laugh: frequent flier (n.): a credit union member who makes regular use of overdraft privilege on their checking account. Our credit union currently offers a couple of similar services: overdraft … Read more
He really is. I’m not talking about his blog. He’s not a slacker there. The guy is a finalist for no less than seven Plutus Awards, one of which is for his PF Blogger Showdown series. (By the way, it looks like PT Money has a comfortable lead in our showdown, but there may … Read more
A few weeks ago I received word of a Facebook application called Buddy Bailout. It’s a spin on the giant corporate bailouts that have happened recently, and in part it plays on people’s thinking: “Why can’t I get a bailout, too? I sure could use one.” Maybe one of that person’s friends (a) knows that … Read more