Don’t Buy Stuff You Can’t Afford

Funny Video. Sound advice... [youtube]fMudzRcPxLc[/youtube]

Spending Money: Needs vs. Wants

Let’s face it: Most people spend way too much money on things they don’t really need. The more money we make, the more we tend to spend. This endless cycle of materialism has led many people to confuse the word “need” with the word “want.” As in, “we need a big-screen TV for our new home theater.” Or, “I need a new pair of shoes to go with my new outfit.” (more…)

How gas prices affect your wallet and your behavior

The price of gas has doubled over the past three years, hovering around $3 a gallon nationally. Research was recently conducted to determine how increased gas prices have affected personal finance, as well as behavior at work. More than 300 employees across a wide range of occupations were surveyed in the study. Findings from the study indicated that most people have had to make drastic changes in the way they spend money. For example: (more…)

When dealing with personal finance, it is important to remind yourself from time to time that our most valuable assets are things that cannot be bought. Family and friends would certainly apply to this category. So would your health, time, and knowledge. It would be impossible to put a price tag on any of the above. So let's step back from discussion about saving, investing, and accumulating money, and let's talk about how we spend our money. When it comes to spending your dollars wisely, som...

My Super Sweet 16

I caught an episode of the MTV show "My Super Sweet 16" for the first time the other night. For those of you who haven't seen the show, it "takes you behind the scenes for all the drama, surprises and over-the-top fun as teens prepare for their most important coming-of-age celebrations". But, these aren't average teens. These are teens of super rich parents and the money that gets spent on these sweet 16's is ridiculous. Besides being fairly disgusted with what the kids expected and rec...

Half a grand to fix the brakes

So, we're heading out of town for the weekend. We'll be driving the wife's car so you can imagine my delight when she called me on the way home from work to tell me that her car is making a bad squeeking noise. So now it's Friday night and I have to find someone to fix the brakes before we leave on Saturday. But, it's not so bad, right? It's not expensive to replace brake pads and, hey, it's just something that has to be done every once in a while, right? Wrong. We can't just replace the...