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Posted
Dec 31 2007, 08:36 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. What do Suze Orman, Robert Kiyosaki, David Bach and every other so-called personal-finance expert have in common? They don't know you, but they know exactly what's wrong with you and how to fix it. Orman thinks you're a moron, that you need tough love, and that those 0% financing offers from Ford are awesome. Kiyosaki says you're like his poor dad, you should aspire to be like his rich dad (who apparently isn't real), and that you should buy one of his books. Bach thinks, without the indignation that comes with Orman, that you should get out of your own way and make things automatic. I think you should ignore personal-finance experts -- all of them. You might think this is a self-serving devil's advocate post -- and it is, because personal- finance bloggers aren't experts. Then again, bloggers don't treat you badly and tell you how you need a wake-up call. Bloggers just write about themselves and invite you to check out how normal and bad at personal finance we are. Experts are a totally different animal, and here's why you should ignore them.
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Posted
Mar 25 2009, 05:01 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Linsey Knerl at partner blog Wise Bread.
Getting a pink slip can cause distress beyond a shrinking income. It can give you a sense of insecurity and may make you question your place in the world. Here are three effective schools of thought for keeping your sense of self long after the paychecks quit coming.
Keep it "seasonal." I'm from a farming community, which means that most people I know are farmers. I bet many of you wonder what farmers do in their downtime. (Remember that the growing season doesn't go all year in Nebraska, and you can fix your tractor only so many times.) Some relax during the winter, but many more will pick up jobs in town. Joe may schlep bags of seed at the farm supply store. Dave may do some mechanic work for the neighbor. If you caught either one doing their off-season jobs and asked them what they do for a living, they would both reply "farm."
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Posted
Jul 03 2009, 09:21 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from J. Money at Budgets are Sexy.
A question stood out in an e-mail I got from AskMen.com asking if I wanted to participate in a survey.
Now, normally I just glance over and then delete/archive, as my ADD brain can only take so much. But seeing how it was the "Great Male Survey of 2009," who am I to turn it down? OK, in reality they were smart enough to bold some of the financial questions in the e-mail. While most of them got my brain thinking, there was one question that really got my attention:
How do you measure your own financial success?
Good one! First, each of us should probably define what "financial success" is. Is it money? Job title? How big your house is (better not be)? Everybody has their own thoughts on it.
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Posted
Aug 07 2009, 01:52 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Trust us. Monevator is not your run-of-the-mill personal-finance blog. "The Investor" can deal with rather high-brow topics like "the uncomfortable truths" of quantitative easing.
His ruminations on whether to buy an iPhone -- plus his analysis of his analysis -- probably exceed the mental energy some people expend before buying a house.
And this UK blogger has never had consumer debt. "The closest I've got to the D-word was in my second year at university, when I borrowed money from a friend between grant cheques to buy a stereo," he writes.
So, we were delighted interested to read that The Investor has made some money mistakes, just like the rest of us. But his are not typical.
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Posted
Mar 03 2008, 05:57 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. Do you save for one thing at a time, or do you pursue several goals at once? If you're like me, you work toward several financial goals simultaneously, but you dump most of your money in one account. It's easy to forget how much you've saved for each goal. And it's easy to borrow money from one objective to pay for something else. In his book "The Six-Day Financial Makeover," Robert Pagliarini advocates "purpose-driven investing." I've found that I can apply that concept to my personal bank accounts as well.
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Posted
Nov 01 2007, 07:34 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post was written by Philip Brewer at partner blog Wise Bread . When people resist the idea of budgets, the most common reason is that they view a budget as an unwelcome constraint. That's completely wrong. A budget is not a constraint. It's a tool for maximizing pleasure and satisfaction. People do operate under constraints. Everybody has limited resources and time. Everybody operates within a constellation of other constraints: legal, moral and social, as well as old obligations and family expectations. My point is that the constraints don't come from a budget; they come from the real world. A budget is a tool for managing your resource use in the face of those constraints. A budget allows you to plan how to allocate your limited resources so that your expenditures align with your values. If you attempt this without a plan, you easily can slip into a situation in which your spending doesn't match your values: You can't afford dinner out with your friends because you bought a book
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Posted
Jun 13 2008, 03:41 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Former super-spendthrift Trent Hamm at The Simple Dollar once made a credit card sleeve out of a photo of his infant son. Each time he thought about using that card, he had an instant reminder of why he needed to knock off the spending. "Mr. Imperfect" of Perfectly Imperfect Family and Finances is decidedly high-tech in his approach. He uses the start-up message on his cell phone -- and photos on his cell and desktop -- to keep him focused on his goals (although Bettsi McComb suggests you change the photos every so often so they don't become part of the background noise).
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Posted
Jun 16 2009, 12:18 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Troy Long, single father and former member of the Army Reserve, lost his job of nine years at a Volvo 18-wheeler plant in southwest Virginia. He got another job at a fish food plant at a third of his former pay.
That's his day job. At night and on weekends, he is the spandex-clad Sgt. Long.
Troy, 36, is a professional wrestler on a tiny circuit that moves from high school gym to gym in the rural towns of that region. On a good night, he makes $20. He gets banged around by big ol' boys twice his size -- but he's happy doing what he loves.
According to a wonderful story by Theresa Vargas in The Washington Post, Troy "is among those victims of the recession who are succeeding mostly because they've changed their definition of success."
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Posted
Jul 31 2009, 04:41 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from Mr. ToughMoneyLove at Tough Money Love.
Recently the Tough Money Love blog had its first anniversary. To help me celebrate, I invited my blogging colleagues to tell us about a personal-finance lesson he or she learned the hard way. Many responded with their own versions of the hard truth.
I encourage you to read every one of their contributions for their entertainment and educational value.
Patrick at Cash Money Life writes:
I learned about high mutual fund expenses the hard way when I made my first mutual fund purchase. The fund was front-loaded and came with a 1.5% annual expense ratio. It gets worse. The fund basically mimicked the S&P 500, so an index fund with an expense ratio of 0.20 or less would have been a much more efficient way to go. It was an expensive lesson, but I learned that brokers do not always act in your best interest. Since then I have taken it upon myself to learn as much as I can about the basics of personal finance and investing.
Pinyo at Moolanomy shares his story about falling into vending machine hell:
The worst one I made was going to a "free" business opportunity seminar. This one was about candy vending machines. Got all pumped up about the opportunity without doing any research whatsoever. Then fell for the classic "buy your equipment today for half off -- a one-time-only deal." Well, you know how the rest of the story goes.
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Posted
Dec 04 2008, 06:38 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Nora Dunn at partner blog Wise Bread. My, how life changes when you close one chapter of your life and open a new one. Severing a conjoined life and combined finances as a result of divorce is painful through and through. The jump to a single-income lifestyle paves the way to feeling a cash crunch, and if children are involved it is even more pronounced. Even if the breakup is liberating, there is still some mopping up to do after the storm. Here are seven things you can do to set your new life up on the right foot.
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