If ever there was a relationship designed to be built on a foundation of trust it would be the marriage relationship, right? And ideally, that trust would extend into all areas, including money. However, according to a Pew Research Center study, just 56% of married people say they trust their spouse a great deal to […]
Have you ever felt like a stranger living in a strange land? Like somehow you’ve woken up in a place where you don’t speak the language? I felt that way while watching a morning news segment about financial infidelity. The host mentioned the results of a national survey in which: 71% of married Americans acknowledged […]
Weekly roundup of some of the best personal finance articles from around the web. Only 1 in 4 Americans have made this essential retirement planning move (Fox Business). It’s free, relatively easy, and it will probably motivate you to save more. Here’s one of the easiest tools for the job. Half of America doesn’t check […]
Weekly roundup of some of the best personal finance articles from around the web. 7 common money conflicts in marriage and how to solve them (Kiplinger). What to watch out for and how to resolve these issues if they come up in your marriage. Being satisfied with what we have (Seed Time). It’s counter-cultural and […]
A weekly roundup of some of the best personal finance articles from around the web. With deceptive ‘discounts,’ retailers are manipulating us to spend more. Here are the worst offenders. (Washington Post). Retailers are very good at making us think we got a bargain. Is instinct eroding your financial health? (Morningstar). We all play the comparison game, […]
You probably have financial goals. Maybe you’ve even turned them into SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound). But have you taken a brutally honest look at your current reality? Learning From Great Businesses In an earlier post, we began exploring lessons from the business classic “Good to Great” and how they could be applied […]
In a recent article in which I highlighted eight benefits of credit cards, a reader named Wayne asked a great question: “What about the extra 10 to 15% most people spend using credit?” There have been numerous studies demonstrating that people do, in fact, tend to spend more when using plastic instead of cash. One […]
If you’ve been following this series of instructional videos on how to use Mint.com, the hard work is now done. You’ve opened an account, connected it with your bank or credit union and credit cards, and set up a budget. As you’ll see in the following video, now you’re ready to start truly managing money […]
Using a budget is not a one-size-fits-all sort of deal. You could use a paper & pencil system, the envelope system, an Excel spreadsheet, software like Quicken, or an online tool like Mint.com. For those interested in giving Mint a try, I’m showing how in a series of short instructional videos. In the video below, […]
People who’ve never used a budget usually hate the idea. They think of a budget as the wicked witch of personal finance whose sole purpose is to drive any semblance of fun right out of their financial life. In truth, it’s just the opposite. A budget, or as I prefer, a Cash Flow Plan, is […]
