life

Back in the 80s I walked to the YMCA with my weekly video game allowance of two quarters. That bought me one game of Asteroid and one game of Pac-man. Any idea what the difference is between Pac-man in the 80s and FooPets today? You had to pay cash up front in order to play [...]

A common lesson from a children’s story book has become one of the guiding principles for investing: “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” But lately, I’ve come across a few articles where people are questioning the wisdom of diversification. Today, we are going to ask the question – could you make more [...]

When it comes to money saving ideas, some people go way out of their way to save a dime while others casually use products that cost hundreds of dollars. For example, is it worth drying a piece of Saran wrap?  Some folks (mostly from a previous generation) would put the wrap on the window to [...]

Financial independence is a term typically used to describe a state where you have sufficient assets to live a certain lifestyle indefinitely without having to work or be employed.  Whether your income is derived from interest on savings, investment income, real estate income or something else, it really doesn’t matter.  The key is that you’re [...]

I recently read an article in The New York Times (hat tip for bringing it to my attention: MAPping Company Success) about the increasing trend of using real money to pay for virtual goods. The article also addresses the rise of credit, via a company called Kwedit.com, to pay for virtual purchases online. This article [...]

We’ve all heard stories of guys who, after busting their hump for 40 years, kick the bucket at their retirement party or shortly thereafter. These stories scare the crap out of me and make me wonder about the idea of retirement, or on the flip side, working so hard to accomplish retirement. After all, what [...]

Debt consolidation loan is simply a type of loan obtained to pay off multiple loans. The good thing about this debt management tool is, it helps lower interest rates and allows you the freedom to pay a monthly lump sum instead of multiple payments. Put differently, a debt consolidation loan lets you rearrange your numerous [...]

I spend a great deal of my life talking, thinking and writing about money. We are all familiar with the oft-repeated biblical phrase that says the “love of money is the root of all evil”. It is important to understand that “money” is not the emphasis here, but rather the “love of” money. We are [...]

Over Christmas, my husband’s parents came to stay with us for two weeks. We have an extra bedroom, but no bed for it. While the air mattress is fine for a couple of nights, we didn’t want my in-laws to have to sleep on it for two weeks. We’re not quite ready to buy another [...]

To help you make the most of your 2009 taxes, here are some tax tips to help you organize, prepare, and take advantage of the available tax deductions and tax credits for 2009 tax year. Instead of trying to compile my own list, I reached out to a few personal finance bloggers to share their [...]