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Posted
Sep 14 2009, 09:27 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from "vh" at Funny about Money.
Ever think about what you'd do if you could turn back the clock and be 20 again? Though I wouldn't especially want to live my life over, there are a number of money moves -- and decisions that had more influence on lifelong personal finance than I could have guessed at the time -- that I'd either not do at all or that, given a peek forward 40 years, I'd do differently.
For example:
I would have taken advanced degrees in disciplines whose graduates make decent pay. Can't say I regret having prepared for an academic career. It has allowed me to earn an adequate (not generous) living after spending way too much time as a lady of leisure.
However, I'd never recommend to a young person who wants a life in academe that she or he pursue a doctorate in the humanities. University faculty in business, engineering and law earn more than those in other disciplines. A Ph.D. in accounting can start at the assistant-professor level with a six-figure salary, and believe you me, that is one hell of a lot more than you earn teaching history or English.
Mind-numbing major? Puh-leeze! What could be more mind-numbing than postmodern theory? Oh yeah: postmodern feminist theory! Give me a bag of beans to count, any day.
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Posted
Aug 04 2009, 10:30 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Opposites attract, even when it comes to spending money, new research has shown. Tightwads gravitate to spenders when selecting mates, and vice versa -- for better or worse (and richer or poorer).
Researchers at the Wharton School and Northwestern University "found that people who generally spend less than they would ideally like to spend, and those who spend more than they would like to tend to marry each other," a Reuters story said. (The research paper is cleverly titled "Fatal (Fiscal) Attraction" (.pdf file).) And that happens even though people tell themselves they'd prefer to be with someone just like them.
This information has all sorts of real-life applications, "The Weakonomist" observed at Weakonomics:
"Tired of saving every penny you can find only to have your spouse go out and blow it? Well, it's time to point the finger away from them and back onto yourself. You were the fool that married them."
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Posted
Apr 13 2009, 06:40 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.
Lately my personal focus has been on finding balance in my life. I'm trying to discover the proper place for money -- and for time. Over the past few years, I've allowed money to become too important. I've worked too much, and that has hurt other aspects of my life. I don't have time for anything else.
As part of this process, I've been reading the new edition of "Your Money or Your Life," the classic book that influenced so many of us here at Get Rich Slowly. One of the authors' main points is that time really is money. Or, approaching it from the other direction, money is time. They write:
Money is something we choose to trade our life energy for. Our life energy is our allotment of time here on earth, the hours of precious life available to us. When we go to our jobs we are trading our life energy for money. ...
Our life energy is more real in our actual experience than money. You could even say money equals life energy. So, while money has no intrinsic reality, our life energy does -- at least to us. It's tangible, and it's finite. Life energy is all we have. It is precious because it is limited and irretrievable and because our choices about how we use it express the meaning and purpose of our time here on Earth.
I know this sounds a little New Agey, but it's a profound concept. As it did for many GRS readers, this notion changed my life. But in some ways, it's an abstraction. I can talk about trading my life energy for money, but I don't know what this actually means in practice. I met somebody the other night who understands all too well.
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Posted
Apr 08 2009, 08:23 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
This is the third entry in a five-part series on the stages of a relationship and how you can make financially sound choices throughout. Other entries include courtships, engagements, honeymoons and marriages.
Weddings are a traditional sinkhole of a new couple's money. I've written about it before, offering 18 tips for a frugal wedding. In fact, entire blogs are devoted to the topic of frugal weddings. One of the best is A Practical Wedding.
So what do I have to add on the topic? It's easy to get bogged down in the specifics of wedding planning -- and when you start racking up the costs on those little details, before you know it, the entire wedding is out of control and you're starting married life in a financial (and emotional) hole.
Here are 10 big-picture tactics to apply when planning for a wedding that won't break your bank -- or your future.
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Posted
Mar 02 2009, 04:08 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Lots of once-routine spending decisions are undergoing scrutiny these days. Should one of them be who pays for the engagement ring?
"Miss M" posed that question at M is for Money. She knows what she wants in a ring, but her intended, "Mr. M," can't afford it. "If this ring is so important to me, then why don't I buy it for myself? Why should I burden Mr. M's finances with something he can't afford?" she wrote.
Here may be the crux of the matter: "If I wait till he can afford a ring, I may be waiting forever," she added. They've been together for six years.
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Posted
Feb 03 2009, 01:52 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from Mr. ToughMoneyLove at Tough Money Love.
Baby boomers have been receiving a lot of criticism in recent months for their collective contributions to our country's economic problems.
First, we are blamed for an extreme amount of debt-driven consumption that inflated highly leveraged real estate and credit bubbles. Second, we are now being blamed for an excess of saving when many so-called economic experts are calling for increased consumer spending. In general, boomers are probably guilty on both counts.
I have a suggestion.
Instead of wasting energy hurling insults at financially irresponsible baby boomers, why don't we make a list of all the money mistakes that were made by the boomer generation? The younger folks can read the list and then pledge "never again." I hereby volunteer to start the list of boomer mistakes. Here we go:
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Posted
Jan 30 2009, 06:18 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
On our first wedding anniversary, I didn't get my wife a gift. I considered the idea, but shelved it because it didn't seem like a major situation. I believed that sometimes it's nice to get a gift for a major anniversary (one ending in a 5 or a 0), but for other anniversaries, I thought just spending some time together would be an appropriate way to celebrate.
I was wrong.
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Posted
Jan 12 2009, 12:19 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
What did Paul Williams of Crackerjack Greenback do to keep from crying after he was laid off? He prayed and then told family and close friends. "Those two actions will give you the energy you need to keep going forward," he wrote.
Being upfront with those close to you about your unemployed state is essential for your mental well-being, many bloggers advise. On the other hand, screaming at your boss may give you some momentary satisfaction, but don't do it. "Now is not the time to burn bridges," says an excellent post at Destroy Debt called "What to do if you get laid off."
(Maintaining composure may be all the more difficult if you're laid off by mass e-mail or IM, or read about it at your boss's blog -- all true stories, according to Linton Weeks' post at NPR. So much for the human touch.)
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Posted
Dec 22 2008, 11:00 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Personal finance blogger "Jennifer" at Becoming the Marshmallow could have spent thousands of dollars -- or tens of thousands -- to marry her sweetheart, Tim. But neither of them were all that interested in a conventional nuptials and reception.
Instead, they went to the Pinellas County (Fla.) Courthouse and got married. And they have the "commemorative paper framed portrait with the county logo" to prove it.
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Posted
Dec 16 2008, 02:00 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
"J. Money" at Budgets are Sexy used every way he could think of to get his wedding photos from a prepaid photographer who left town without handing them over. He even threatened to sue. After almost a year, still no luck. What's a blogger to do? He created a new blog about the wedding photo fiasco, naming names and dates. Two days and more than 300 hits later, the photographs were e-mailed to him. Less than two weeks after that, the photos were in his hands. "So for a measly $9.99 (for the domain name) and a few hours of hard work, Operation Wedding Pictures was a success!" J. Money wrote.
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