Browse by Tags
-
Posted
Jul 14 2008, 05:59 AM
by
Karen Datko
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:
Read More...
-
Posted
Jul 07 2008, 04:49 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
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.
Read More...
-
Posted
Jun 30 2008, 04:50 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
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:
Read More...
-
Posted
Jun 16 2008, 06:25 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
The federal government may not be winning many popularity contests, but our partner blogger J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly found a treasure-trove of wonderful consumer tips in a U.S. government publication, the 2008 Consumer Action Handbook.
The fact is, there are plenty of useful federal government Web sites about all sorts of personal-finance matters. (Two we've found particularly helpful are www.irs.gov and Social Security Online.)
Read More...
-
Posted
Jun 16 2008, 06:10 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
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.
Read More...
-
Posted
Jun 08 2008, 10:22 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
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.
Read More...
-
Posted
Jun 02 2008, 05:37 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
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.
Read More...
-
Posted
May 18 2008, 08:45 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
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.
Read More...
-
Posted
May 12 2008, 05:18 AM
by
Karen Datko
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. Ralph sent me an e-mail recently describing a clever budget trick he picked up from a friend: My wife and I had dinner last night with a couple of young women we know. We talked a little about personal finance. One of the girls has an interesting idea on forced savings. She calls it "reverse credit." "When I want to buy something expensive, I go to the store and buy a $20 gift card," she said. "I save these up. When I'm ready, I take all the cards and go get my new thing." I think this forced savings plan is brilliant, and told her so. I've actually been doing something similar.
Read More...
-
Posted
Apr 21 2008, 06:36 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. Stories about national economic woe abound. I've had conversations with a few of my friends about the mortgage mess, about recession and a possible bear market, and about the nature of poverty. The economy is sour in the United States (and elsewhere in the world), and this frightens many people.
Read More...
More Posts Next page »
|
