The economics of the household aren’t great. Not only do you need to keep a reasonably good-paying job for at least four decades, but also you need to plan for a period of your life, say the last third of it, … Read More … Read More
Awareness
Get your credit reports all at once or spread them out?
If you’ve been thinking that I’ve been silent about the Equifax breach because I haven’t cared, you’d be wrong. Instead, I’ve been feeling a mix of fear and despair, not unlike what I felt on November 9th this past year, … Read More … Read More
How store credit cards foreshadow the retail apocalypse
In my last post, I mentioned how I had once had an Exxon credit card given to me by my mom to use for emergencies. It made me think about those specialty credit cards. How quaint I thought. A credit … Read More … Read More
Emergencies are the worst time for using debt
Not long after I got my drivers license, my mom gave me an Exxon card to carry around with me. “For emergencies, in case you run out of gas and are stranded.” I never used it. It’s not that I … Read More … Read More
Can someone please explain to me why there is so much wage disparity?
I worked in retail for many years. I sometimes have nightmares that I’ll have to go back to it. And yet, I think my retail experiences were relatively tame. A department story, a toy store, a gas station, Kinko’s. I … Read More … Read More
If you’re not wealthy, is it your fault?
I’m troubled. I was listening to a program on the radio (which I’ll leave unnamed for reasons you’ll see soon). It was one of the 27 various programs on financial wellness that seem to pepper the AM dial at any … Read More … Read More
Uber now allows tips: What’s 20% of $0?
Why is the budget monthly?
Our system of budgeting is pretty arbitrary. I recommend that everyone make a spending plan based on the calendar month. Twelve months a year: twelve plans a year. Could we do things another way? And are any of them better? … Read More
The arbitrary nature of a month, or does it really matter when you spend?
Last month was a little challenging for me, money-wise. While every month I separate my allotted spending money into categories ($300 for Groceries, $60 for Transportation, etc.), it’s really just a best guess. The month had a number of expenses … Read More … Read More
Your past performance doesn’t guarantee your future results
Regardless of what decisions you’ve made and what you’ve believed, you are not bound by your past self. Your future can be different. The phrase “past performance doesn’t guarantee future results” is ubiquitous in financial sales literature. It has to … Read More … Read More