Browse by Tags
-
Posted
Oct 01 2008, 06:26 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from Abigail Perry at I Pick Up Pennies. Unless you're living in a soundproofed house with no connection to any media, you've heard about the turmoil on Wall Street. Experts say this is only the beginning. Or the middle, if you see this as an extension of the subprime crisis. Here's what I see as an underlying theme for recent personal and national financial crises: We've stopped seeing money as real.
Read More...
-
Posted
Aug 04 2008, 06:06 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. When I was a sophomore in college, I got my first credit card. I thought it was awesome -- it was like free money. Soon I got another credit card, and before long I'd maxed them both out. I entered the workforce with a handicap. I had the start of a nasty credit habit. My parents had never been good with money, and as a result I had no notion of proper financial skills. I made some bad decisions, which were in turn compounded by some rotten luck. Just five years after graduation, I had about $20,000 in credit card debt. For the next decade I tried to kick the habit. Sometimes I'd make progress, but then I'd find other ways to fall behind. Here are some of the mistakes I made along the way and the steps I took to correct them.
Read More...
-
Posted
Jul 15 2008, 04:03 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. If you've ever tried to buy a car or a house, you've probably faced the monthly payment math trick. It's a psychological trick salespeople use to get you to buy something you couldn't afford or to pay an amount you weren't originally comfortable with. A salesperson will try to convince you to purchase something based on the monthly payment you'll have to make. It frames the purchase in a way that lets you begin integrating the purchase into your life, before you've actually made it, and may even make it more likely you'll make the purchase.
Read More...
-
Posted
Jun 10 2008, 05:41 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. Some of my friends put a rubber band around one wrist if they're supposed to remember something, like getting milk on the way home. Some of my friends send themselves e-mail or schedule events in Outlook. Some of my friends draw treasure maps and hide them behind paintings in their attics. (OK. No, they don't. That was from "The Goonies.") The point is, we all have little hacks we use to remind ourselves about things we are supposed or not supposed to do.
Read More...
-
Posted
Apr 14 2008, 04:35 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Do you automatically think that "budget" is the name of a rental-car company? Chances are you have a problem with spending. A post by Ron at The Wisdom Journal identifies 24 signs to look for to determine if you're a mega-consumer. He said he was inspired to write the post after his kids noticed that someone they know has four yard sales a year and asked, "How much stuff do they have?" Another sign: "You cannot fit anything else in your garage -- and you don't even have your car in there."
Read More...
-
Posted
Mar 17 2008, 06:50 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. "To develop a better understanding of the wise use of credit, let's spend a few minutes with a certain individual we'll call 'Mr. Money,'" suggests the narrator in "The Wise Use of Credit," a short video created in 1960 by Sutherland Educational Films. In this film, produced with help from the National Consumer Finance Association (which is now the American Financial Services Association), Mr. Money teaches John and Judy the ins and outs of credit. His advice is familiar to most of us:
Read More...
-
Posted
Feb 28 2008, 04:44 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
You may have read here that blogger JVW of The Good Life on a Budget works part time at a chain home-decorating store and posts occasionally about her retail experiences. The most recent one is quite enlightening: Her boss instructed JVW and the other employees to push the store credit card. "We are now supposed to ask every customer who comes through our line if they would like to put their purchase on their store card. If they showed any interest, we should then spout off the benefits," she writes, adding, "Of course, nowhere in there do we mention any of the pitfalls of opening store cards ...." What did she do? She refused.
Read More...
-
Posted
Feb 22 2008, 02:44 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Could it be true that credit card companies are tightening access to easy credit, and that consumers are curtailing their collective spending spree? Recent news reports prompted blogger Michael B. Rubin to opine on those subjects at Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck. He notes that the Wall Street Journal reported that credit card companies are getting "tougher on borrowers" because of increasing delinquencies. "Get it?," Michael writes. "This means that even the credit card companies are now saying, 'You know what? Maybe that guy who's completely maxed out his credit card and has been unemployed for three years might not be a good bet to lend more money to.' And, (gasp) they cut him off." That's a bit of an exaggeration (we hope), but you get the point.
Read More...
-
Posted
Feb 13 2008, 03:53 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
On the plus side, college sophomore Bill Box earns $200 a month delivering pizza, and his grandmother gives him $100 a semester if he's not flunking out. On the minus side, he owes $1,200 on credit cards, mostly for cigarettes and alcohol, and $12,000 so far in student loans. He lives in a dorm, has a meal plan and buys books at the college bookstore. Bill doesn't know it, but he's already on the highway to debt hell. Fortunately, he's about to get some tough love from fellow student Patrick at SchoolisHard.com. "College students are notorious for living outside of their means," writes Patrick in a post called "Make a debt-free college budget." "I know you are broke, but go cry to that shiny new Nintendo instead of me."
Read More...
-
Posted
Feb 05 2008, 09:25 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Just in time for Valentine's Day, Meg at The World of Wealth decided to analyze the financial phases people go through after a breakup. Right after your heart has been shattered into tiny pieces, your spending on alcohol, chocolate and other comfort food, and tearjerker movies might increase. Meg, in this tongue-in-cheek post, calls this "the initial Self-Pitying Spending period." Luckily, it doesn't last long for most. And your extra spending will probably be offset by savings you realize by moping at home alone. Meg writes: "Most people have some tendencies of withdrawal from social situations immediately after a breakup. Eventually that horrible period will end, though it may be replaced by its more assertive cousin -- Self-Indulgent Spending."
Read More...
More Posts Next page »
|
