The personal finance realm may have more guidelines and money rules to follow than any other community. Thousands of PF bloggers will give you advice at the drop of a hat (including me!). Although these rules of thumb are always good to know about, everyone has individual circumstances, particularly younger people. Because of those circumstances, sometimes you just have to ask yourself a really big question:“Is it ever OK to bend or even break personal finance rules?”

Why Breaking the Rules May Make Sense

First of all, personal finance isn’t an all-or-nothing practice. Good financial planning involves balance and attentiveness to details of your own unique situation. For example, if your debt is one that’s charging low interest, it might be better to pay the debt off slowly in favor of saving money first (such as for retirement, an emergency fund, or a major expense). Continue reading

History is filled with unpredictable events that catch us off guard, shock us, and often wreak havoc in our lives. That can impact our short- and long-term future. Sometimes, if we are really fortunate, we might get a “heads-up” with a brief or subtle warning about impending trouble ahead. Things like really bad weather such as a hurricane or tornado heading our way, or new laws being passed that will affect us all beginning next year. What would you do if you knew for sure that trouble was coming?

The truth is we never can be 100% certain what the future will bring. The phrase “anything can happen and it usually does” comes quickly to my mind. Continue reading

Remember back at the end of 2017 when you sat down and were thinking about all of your big plans to save more, spend less, and get out of debt? Millions and millions of people do that along with other resolutions like losing weight, quitting smoking, or even finding a new job. But it’s been about six months since you had that conversation with yourself and now that the year is halfway over, the time is ripe to evaluate your progress.

There are a few key questions that you should be asking right now, and if your answer to any of them is “no”, it may mean that you have areas that need some fine-tuning. Remain calm and take heart: if you do find any areas where you have lost your focus, it is not too late to take action this year and reach your goals. Check yourself right now and see where you stand! Continue reading

Over the years, a lot has been written about profit and the role it plays in our lives. After all, if a business doesn’t make a profit, it eventually will go out of business and that can affect an awful lot of people including you if you happen to be an employee. Even the biggest names in the business world have seen that happen over the years, like Woolworth and Montgomery Ward, just to name two. Many others are facing the same fate right this minute. Historic names like Sears, J.C. Penney, Neiman Marcus, and PetSmart are all teetering on the edge of extinction.

But business isn’t the only entity that must be “profitable” in order to survive. Realistically speaking, individuals like you and me must be profitable too in order to function properly and have a lifestyle that makes us content and successful. So, why do we think of profit as a dirty word?
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