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Posted
Oct 12 2008, 07:19 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. My wife and I never fight about money. I used to claim this was because we keep separate finances, but now I know it's because we share similar financial goals and dreams. Even during those years I was deep in debt, I never did anything that might jeopardize our financial future. Our shared vision has helped us to maintain a successful marriage. We're not alone, however. Writing recently in The New York Times, Tara Siegel Bernard says that the key to wedded bliss just might be marrying someone who shares your attitudes about money.
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Posted
Oct 05 2008, 08:59 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. How much do you know about millionaires? My wife recently had dinner with her friend Linda, who is a high school social studies teacher. As they ate, Linda bemoaned the lack of personal-finance and economics education in the United States. She mentioned that every year she gives her economics students a short "millionaire quiz" to see just how much they know about wealth and where it comes from. They do poorly at it, which surprises them. Linda says they always pay attention to the follow-up discussion. Because I asked nicely, Linda sent me a copy of the millionaire quiz in the mail. Here are the questions that give the kids so much trouble:
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Posted
Sep 29 2008, 04:42 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. My mother recently was hospitalized for three weeks. During her stay, my wife and I spent  several afternoons cleaning her house, digging through piles and piles of stuff. Since Mom's been home, the three of us have spent a couple Sundays continuing to sort through the stuff. "Do you still want this?" I've asked Mom again and again, holding up an old computer printer, a plaque with a pithy saying, or a calendar from 1998. "No," she'll say, and sometimes we'll laugh. Who still needs their calendar from 1998? But not everything is funny. "It seems a shame to get rid of some of this," she said as she sorted through her clothes. "They're all still good."
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Posted
Sep 15 2008, 06:45 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. About five years ago, I spent a couple thousand dollars on camera equipment. Before I started my personal-finance blog, I seriously considered trying to become a professional photographer. (A dream perhaps best left unpursued.) I believed that by throwing money at the hobby, I could improve my results. This year, I've discovered the joy of running. On the surface, it's a sport you can pick up with no equipment at all -- you can just run in a pair of sneakers. As with anything else, I've discovered there are tons of things to buy: running shoes, special socks, water bottles, logbooks, and high-tech heart-rate monitors. Which expenses are worth it and which are not?
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Posted
Sep 08 2008, 05:45 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. Multitasking has killed my productivity. At this moment, on this computer, I have: -
Five open browser windows with a total of 59 open browser tabs. -
79 open text documents -- I am not joking. -
14 open images (in Photoshop). -
55 unread messages in my mailbox (and 48 flagged for response). -
Three open chat sessions. -
Seven open word-processing documents. -
And 10 other open applications. That's 227 discrete tasks awaiting my attention. That doesn't count the dozen or so books submitted for review, the eight unread personal-finance magazines, and the pile of papers spilling onto the floor. Do you know how many tasks I can focus on at a time? Only one.
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Posted
Sep 01 2008, 03:05 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. I used to have two responses when faced with stress: spend more or eat more. I still sometimes struggle with stress-eating, but stress-spending hasn't been an issue since I started writing about personal finance. My mother has had health problems recently, however, bringing a whole new meaning to the word "stress." "I can't believe this makes me so tense," I told Kris. "I know Mom's in good hands. She's going to be fine." "It's understandable," Kris said. So I was surprised the other night to find that, for the first time in ages, stress drove me to shopping.
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Posted
Aug 11 2008, 04:59 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
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
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
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
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
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
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
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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