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Posted
Sep 09 2008, 04:03 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This devil's advocate post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. You should not sacrifice your retirement, your savings or your future financial stability in order for your children to attend college. They are fully capable of supporting themselves, just as generations have before them. The average cost of a year at a private four-year college in 2007-2008 was $23,712. The cost of a year at a public four-year college was $6,185. Both were increases of more than 6% from the prior year and don't even include room and board.
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Posted
Jun 27 2008, 08:48 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Most of us have lottery dreams. If we won the big one, we'd quit our job(s), pay off the house, live abroad. But consider this: The amount of money it would take to change your life might actually be much more modest -- and a lot more attainable. "Paidtwice" at I've Paid For This Twice Already calls that amount your "life-changing money." She used to think it was hundreds of thousands of dollars. "But then I realized -- at this point, life-changing money for me really means simply getting out of debt and establishing an adequate emergency fund," she wrote. With $40,000, she wouldn't have to think so much about money with every decision she makes. Many of her readers said they feel the same way.
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Posted
Mar 11 2008, 12:06 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Han Solo has too much debt. Darth Vader "wants it all, now!" Yoda didn't save for a rainy day and certainly didn't anticipate that he'd live to be 900. Why else, Monevator asks, would he be dining on pulped vines in a leaky hut? Monevator goes where another personal-finance blogger we've featured has gone before -- wait, that's another space opera, but you catch our drift -- and writes about personal-finance lessons to be gained from Star Wars. In "Who's your Star Wars money hero?" Monevator examines the financial blunders of our favorite second-trilogy characters, gives them directions for success, and also recommends PF blogs and books to read. (Monevator rightly, we believe, stays away from what he calls "the Trilogy of Shame.")
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Posted
Jan 24 2008, 01:12 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Jeremy at Generation X Finance writes that the 401(k) debit card is "probably one of the worst ideas ever." This increasingly popular card allows you to tap your retirement account for any kind of purchase, including your silliest impulse buys. "That's right," Jeremy writes. "Now people can go shopping for that big-screen HDTV and instead of using a credit card or money they have in the bank, they can just swipe their 401(k) debit card and use those funds."
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Posted
Jan 09 2008, 05:34 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Have you seen this episode of "The Office"? Michael, worried about his money (or lack thereof), tells officemates he's declaring bankruptcy. Oscar schools Michael on money, using a three-column spreadsheet to illustrate Michael's spending. One column is for necessities, one is for wants, and the third and largest is what he has spent on things he doesn't need. We can learn a lot from this, writes RacerX of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Money. "In other words," RacerX writes, "a trip to Europe is a desire, contributing to my IRA so I don't eat dog food when I am 70 is a want, much less making sure I have my own shelter (a need)."
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Posted
Dec 18 2007, 06:11 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.
Earlier I wrote about seven irresponsible and fun ways to spend your holiday bonus, and now I’m going to throw a bone to the responsible crowd and list seven responsible things to do with your holiday bonus. I think everyone is a mix between the two (or at least I am). If you spend your entire bonus on fun things, you aren’t saving enough for the future. If you do responsible things with your bonus, you aren’t really enjoying the fruits of your labor. I think you need to find a nice happy medium without going overboard in either direction.
Eliminate debt. Are you carrying high-interest credit card debt? Before you spend any of that bonus, put it toward your debt. Before you save for your retirement, pay down your debt. Paying down a credit card debt at 19.99% is like earning 19.99% on an investment (not exactly, but you get the idea), so pay down that credit card debt as soon as possible. Before you can build your personal-finance house, you need to firm up your foundation by getting rid of your debt.
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Posted
Nov 30 2007, 04:38 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
You don't have to be a total screw-up -- bouncing checks, making late payments, ruining your credit score -- to be a poor money manager. You need help if you're merely "standing still." That's the message of No Credit Needed, who came to terms with his lack of long-term financial planning three years ago. Why did it take him so long? He was lazy, busy with the rest of his life, and didn't have anyone to talk to about money. "Also," he writes, "I felt like the magic day would come and I'd make enough and I wouldn't have worry about money. Sound familiar?"
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Posted
Nov 16 2007, 02:05 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
LifeEdit.net provides some very sound advice to people in their 20s about managing money: Save for retirement, pay off student loans as soon as you can, budget and keep your credit score high. But there's more than one way to skin this cat. The Retirement Hobo is 24 years old, and he's already retired.
He's aware that some readers might be incredulous. "At a first glance, you might think my blog about (extremely) early retirement is about a lazy guy trying to find a loophole in the system so he can keep on being lazy. I assure you, that is not the case," he writes in his first post, called, appropriately, "Newly retired."
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Posted
Oct 22 2007, 10:11 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We reported recently that J.D. at Get Rich Slowly had asked readers for advice about how to live debt-free because he will become free of consumer debt by Christmas. He got a thought-provoking response : You'll be tempted to spend, spend, spend all the extra money you'll have when you're no longer paying off debt. That's a road back to financial ruin. Think big, make long-term plans, and automatically save for them. (Does early retirement sound attractive?) On a smaller scale, budget yourself an allowance and stick to it.
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Posted
Oct 08 2007, 08:01 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We've all heard about the millionaire next door . Rather-Be-Shopping begins a series of blogs about a school janitor who long ago discovered the power of saving and investing. He owns his house mortgage-free, has two cars, lives without debt, and is about to embark on a comfortable retirement. All this on $35,000 a year in California.
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