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Posted
Aug 11 2008, 04:59 AM
by
Karen Datko
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. Few things can blow a budget like unexpected medical bills. Even those who practice frugality and invest for the future can find their financial plans smashed to pieces by unexpected health problems. And for those who don't have their financial house in order, a medical crisis can be devastating. Five years ago, I had surgery to replace the ACL on my right knee. Though I am insured through my wife's job, I found the experience frustrating. Nobody could tell me how much any part of the process would cost. MRI? Nobody knew. Surgery? Nobody knew. They didn't know the total costs, and they didn't know what my obligation would be. "Don't you have insurance?" everyone wanted to know.
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Posted
Jul 28 2008, 04:37 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. A reader recently pointed me to a National Public Radio story about the frugal artists of New York City. Columbia University released a study of 213 visual artists over the age of 61. Their average income? About $30,000 a year. According to the NPR story: Most of them said they were satisfied with their lives. However, many reported that they also have had to make daily economic compromises. They don't eat out, buy clothes at flea markets and rarely travel. Many of these artists manage to make it in New York through frugal living. All they seem to need is some food, a roof overhead and the time and opportunity to practice their art. This is a nice story, with some lovely bits in the interviews with individual artists. More than that, it was just the shot in the arm I needed.
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Posted
Jul 21 2008, 05:04 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. You've been watching Craigslist for a good deal on a hedge trimmer, but you just aren't having any luck. By the time you find a good listing, it's been up for an hour and the HedgeHog XR is long gone. You could sit and refresh the farm+garden category constantly, but that's a waste of time. (Besides, what would your boss think?) Fortunately, there's a better way. Did you know it's also possible to watch Craigslist searches via RSS feed?
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Posted
Jul 14 2008, 05:59 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. Our financial decisions are often based more on psychology and emotion than on pure numbers. Nearly everyone understands intellectually that credit card debt is bad, for example, but for millions of people, this understanding isn't enough. A newish group of researchers dubbed behavioral economists has been exploring the gulf between financially optimal behavior and the things people actually do. One reason for the gap, explained economist Dan Ariely in a recent issue of the London Guardian, is sheer habit. The article states:
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Posted
Jul 07 2008, 04:49 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. While sorting through reader e-mail recently, I began to detect a subtle recurring theme. People were writing to me because they had a goal in mind, but their present circumstances seemed to be far from their intended destination. These two points were so far apart, in fact, that my correspondents were afraid to begin moving. Because the distance seemed overwhelming, they were paralyzed. The importance of action I used to feel this way, too.
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Posted
Jun 30 2008, 04:50 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. Since last August, I've been on a quest to reduce the clutter in my life. Back when I was a spendthrift, I bought a lot of stuff. Stuff comforted me. When I was buying things (even on credit), I felt wealthy. Stuff doesn't make me feel wealthy anymore -- it makes me feel cramped. With time, stuff simply becomes clutter. Slowly but surely, I'm banishing excess belongings from my household. I still sometimes buy more than I ought to, but mostly I've been guarding the borders of my life against the invasion of stuff. Here are some of the defenses I've been employing:
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Posted
Jun 16 2008, 06:10 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. My wife has always maintained a sizable savings account, but having extra cash is new to me. Until recently, I had always lived paycheck to paycheck, often treading close to a zero dollar balance in my checkbook for months at a time. Now, though, I've not only established an emergency fund, but set up a couple of targeted accounts as well. (One is for vacations, and the other is for a new car.) My method works for me, but others have different approaches. In her book "Debt-Proof Living," author Mary Hunt suggests a sort of emergency fund plus. Often, when people struggle with money, she says, the predictable monthly bills aren't the problem. People cannot cope with the unexpected things -- not just emergencies (like a severe illness), but irregular expenses like auto maintenance, wedding and birthday gifts, or a new pair of shoes.
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Posted
Jun 08 2008, 10:22 PM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. Consumers underestimate the power of comparison shopping, says a five-year-old report from the Consumer Literacy Consortium. "Consumers often do not realize that, for most products, a wide range of prices are available and, therefore, consumers often pay too much for the items they buy." (The study) results show that most consumers need a far lower price savings to persuade them to comparison shop than can actually be obtained from shopping around. These findings are particularly significant, since the available consumer behavior research indicates that, on the average, only about 50% of people shop around. An important reason as to why consumers do not shop around is the perception that it is not worth the effort. They rationalize that the savings potential will not be greater than the desired 10% savings needed to motivate action.
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Posted
Jun 02 2008, 05:37 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. I pulled out my camera gear last night. It's been two years since I used it regularly. Before I started Get Rich Slowly, I seriously considered trying to become a professional photographer. But for a long time now, my camera stuff has been gathering dust in the corner of my office. I can't even remember the last time I used it. It's fun to look at all my equipment again. It's fun to handle it, to imagine the possibilities. I'm eager to get outside and make some images. As I sorted through my bodies and lenses, though, I had to shake my head.
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Posted
May 18 2008, 08:45 PM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. Recent research at the Stanford Graduate School of Business suggests that shopping can lead to more shopping. When such savvy marketing researchers as Uzma Khan of Stanford, Ravi Dhar of Yale, and Joel Huber of Duke noticed that shopping sometimes proceeded unchecked even in their own private domains, they decided to get to the bottom of things. Setting up a series of tests of purchasing behavior, they found that for most people buying that fateful first -- and often innocent -- item seems to open the purchasing floodgates. This realization, they say, has important implications for how stores are laid out as well as for understanding individual behavior. These researchers indicate that shopping is a two-stage process.
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