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Posted
Jun 25 2008, 06:40 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Driving his pickup is now out of the question since $75 didn't even buy three-quarters of a tank -- and his plan to limit his driving to locations downhill from home has a serious flaw. So Kyle at Rather Be Shopping came up with "Frugality in practice (sorta): 5 great new uses for my truck." No. 1 on the list is "storage, baby!" His pickup has a shell, which makes it perfect for storing the lawn mower and other things you'd normally keep in a shed. Bonus: The gas tank serves as a storage tank for fuel for the mower. (Honestly, folks, complaining about gas prices gets us nowhere, so we might as well have a few laughs.)
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Posted
May 08 2008, 08:32 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
The cost of a first-class stamp is going up yet again on May 12, by one penny to be exact. The smart shopper will lock in the soon-to-be-departed 41-cent rate for a standard letter  by stocking up on the forever stamp. The U.S. Postal Service introduced the stamp about a year ago so people can avoid having to buy those annoying 1- or 2-cent stamps every time the rates go up. The forever stamps you buy now for 41 cents will cover the postage for a letter weighing no more than an ounce no matter how high the first-class rate climbs. Love may not be forever, but this stamp is.
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Posted
Apr 10 2008, 12:25 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
We sometimes have this discussion with our younger friends: You're not saving for retirement because ...? But young folks aren't the only ones thinking they won't live long enough or can't save enough, or otherwise are resigned to living out their days on meager Social Security payments. Michael B. Rubin at Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck excoriates just about every silly excuse people have for not saving for the future. (To read his post, click here.) No. 1 is "my house is my retirement savings." Michael says, "Oh c'mon! Open a freakin' newspaper."
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Posted
Mar 24 2008, 11:29 AM
by
Karen Datko
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Grace's post at GRACEful Retirement will sound familiar to many aging boomers watching the effect of Wall Street gyrations on their retirement accounts. Grace is 58 and playing catch-up after getting a late start on socking away money for her hopefully golden years. "I started this blog last July with $176,000 in retirement savings. Now I'm down to $146,000, notwithstanding the money I keep putting in," writes Grace, who plans to retire in 10 years. That drop, "when I allow myself to think about it, scares me to death." Yet she continues to invest $1,025 a month in index and growth funds. She tells herself she's right to keep buying when the market is down because it inevitably will come back up. She asks, "When do I find out if I passed the test?"
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Posted
Feb 20 2008, 02:30 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
We'd never thought there was an upside to smoking until we read Ryan's post called "When smoking is good for you" at Millionaire Money Habits. After all, it's linked to serious illness and shortens your life span. "The health implications of this habit are great news for smokers who have a limited retirement fund or have plans to spend their retirement (savings) frivolously," he writes. In other words, who needs a lot of retirement money if the dirt nap comes early. (Just make sure you have good health insurance.) You do need a lot of money for smoking. With a pack-a-day habit, you're spending $1,825 a year -- and in some places even more -- or $76,000 between ages 18 and 59 1/2, not including inflation and higher taxes (and not to mention the additional costs of smoking noted in an MSN Money article). On the other hand, Ryan says, if you invest that money, you'll have about $1.2 million by the time you retire.
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Posted
Jan 23 2008, 03:02 PM
by
Karen Datko
The blogger at Grad Money Matters religiously funds his 401(k) retirement account at work. In fact, he maxed out his contribution last year. He was shocked when he checked his returns earlier this week and saw that they were negative. That's the day he finally understood "why people who have money still worry about money." He also learned some lessons about investing for retirement. First among them is not to check your returns every day if you want peace of mind. Don't fixate on the stock market's recent slide; investing requires a long-term outlook. In that context, his recent 5% loss "is but a ripple in the pond," he says.
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Posted
Jan 10 2008, 01:09 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Ana's thoughts upon reaching her 35th birthday will sound familiar to many people: "Looking back, I've been a bit of a wild child. I shudder to think of how much money I have spent over the years on alcohol, cigarettes, and assorted junk that has long been thrown out," she writes at DebtFree-Revolution. She also has a mere $391 in her retirement account.
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