With point-of-sale terminals just about everywhere and one-click ordering, it seems strange not paying for things with plastic. Debit cards (usually doubling as ATM cards) aren’t quite as bad as credit cards, but “it’s still plastic,” as Liz Pulliam Weston writes: Leave your ATM card at home Debit cards don’t let you spend beyond what … Read more
Few things lend themselves better to goal-setting than debt reduction. The goal is very clear: Get the amount you owe down to zero! This doesn’t only apply to people with credit card debt, but also to anyone who has a mortgage (this includes myself). Even though fixed-rate mortgage debt is among the better kinds of … Read more
Toys do not need to be expensive. They don’t even need to be cheap. They can be free! The ToobShooterâ„¢ Starter Set (click the picture to enlarge) consists of a batting tube (my wife quilts), my computer chair, a Folgersâ„¢ coffee can, a yellow golf ball, and a defunct trackball ball. Assembly time required: 8.7 … Read more
You know the one I’m talking about … your tax refund! 😉 When I saw the Liz Pulliam Weston article 7 smart ways to spend your tax refund I saw the word “spend” and thought, “Oh great, just blow it on junk, why don’t you!” But I was wrong in this assumption. Some excellent advice … Read more
What a great story: Pregnant Teen Waitress Gets $1,000 Tip Actually, the total payment was $1,000 — $26.35 for the meal and $973.65 for the tip. This is a 3,695% tip! Gifts like this are touching. When one person’s definition of pocket change is different from another’s by a few zeroes, it tends to make … Read more
Kirby on Finance has a few great posts that address an interesting question: Can you afford to be so frugal? With this he makes an excellent observation: “So often we talk about the time value of money in terms of saving, but we rarely think about money value of time in spending!” Time and money … Read more
Last year we got over our heads a little bit on our taxes because of new business relationships. Caught up in the excitement of starting up and producing things, we neglected some basic recordkeeping and filing, and as a result the tax filing did not go smoothly at all. We filed extensions, missed deadlines, and … Read more
This Business Week article on Money Central, Build a nest egg without a 401(k), dishes out some advice for young people (dubbed rather unceremoniously as Generation Debt) who don’t have the luxury of contributing to an employer-matched, tax-deferred retirement account. Here’s the advice, with a little commentary: Open an IRA. This is good advice even … Read more