Budget Snob

How to Blow $70,000 in 8 Months

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I don’t think anyone ever intends to torpedo their finances. Nobody wakes up one day and says, “yeah, I think today I’ll flush everything I’ve worked on the last 10 years down the toilet.”

But do the reasons matter after it’s already happened? At some point I became comfortable with the fact (at least on a superficial level) I was becoming nauseatingly deeper in debt. Debt that would have made me revolt with sickness just a few years prior.

Surprisingly, I don’t have expensive addictions. No gambling. No drinking. Zip on Golfing. And I still own the first car I ever bought (going on 14 years).… Read the rest

Saving as a Prudent Habit

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Yes, saving is considered a good thing. But why? Why should we save? When we’re busy pursuing careers (i.e. money), we rarely stop to think that one day we may not be physically or mentally able to work. We live for today.

The writers over at A Personal Finance Guide have something to say about this quandry too:

“Saving should be inculcated as a habit from early on so that when you are no longer getting a fixed paycheck every month, you are not financially dependent on some one else. It is important to start early so that you can build a sufficient corpus by the time you retire.”

… Read the rest

How Optimistic are You?

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That question was posted on the BankRate Wealth Blog on Friday. Here are a few highlights according to a poll  1,002 Americans:

65 percent of Americans are more concerned about their finances today than they were at the beginning of the financial crisis two years ago.

37 percent expect to see their personal finances improve in the next six months, versus less than half (46 percent) who expect to hold onto what they currently have and 16 percent who expect to lose money.

80 percent of Americans say that Congress and regulators have not done enough “to deal with the financial market problems and their impact on American investors.”

… Read the rest

Happiness and Money

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I’ve long known that our attitude towards money reveals a lot about who we really are. I coined a motto a few years ago about money and people. It goes something sort of like, “otherwise normal people do very “un”normal things when money is involved.”

I had just been through a bad business partnership in which both parties (yes, me too) made some very unwise decisions. Decisions which not only cost me dollar-wise but emotionally as well.

I’m not surprised, then, when I ran across this article from Drewberry Mortgage Insurance about the latest research which indicates, all things equal, better financial control equals greater happiness.… Read the rest

Not Enough Income? Or Just Bad Financial Habits?

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I’ve been more mindful of my spending lately because my wife and I are attempting to speed up our debt reduction (debt that was 99% my fault). We aren’t big spenders by any account. My car is 13 years old. My wife’s van is 6 years old—and both paid off. We don’t have cable or satellite TV. We don’t overspend from month to month. We don’t drink or go out to fancy restaurants. But something isn’t quite right.

While we both have an above average combined income, we can’t quite get ahead on the debt. As I’ve started going through our spending, I’m seeing a trend.… Read the rest