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Emergency Planning – Are You Insured and Storm Ready?

We are not yet through November and some of us have already experienced a fall snowstorm. Storms of all kinds can hit with little notice no matter where you live and even if it’s not weather related, many scary problems strike and can be very dangerous, costly, and life threatening. We have seen that just in the last two weeks with the worst California wildfires ever (and now potential mudslides) that have taken dozens of lives and destroyed so much property. For these reasons and more, it pays to have an emergency plan.

Emergencies happen, but are you prepared? You need an emergency plan in case of a storm, fire, or other disaster. Here's what you need to plan in advance.

What Can You Do About Any of This?

If storms, fires, or other disasters strike, the very least you can do is be prepared with a plan and adequate emergency supplies. Even if you need to eventually evacuate, and I hope you never have to consider it, you need a plan of action.Continue reading“Emergency Planning – Are You Insured and Storm Ready?”

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Racism, Prejudice, and Finances – The Ugly Truth

Today’s post is about a very difficult subject for most of us to discuss: financial racism and prejudice. It’s not the standard “save and earn some money” post and if you aren’t in the mood for a frank, tough read, I’d advise you here to skip to another blog today. But if you are still here, read on.

Financial racism is rampant in the U.S., and it has a profound economic and social effect. Being aware of systemic racism is the first step to stopping it.

Racism and prejudice in America is in our faces every single day whether we choose to recognize it or not. It’s not just politics and it’s not just finances, it’s not just social and it’s not just religious. It’s all of the above.Continue reading“Racism, Prejudice, and Finances – The Ugly Truth”

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What Does the Price of Oil Have to Do with the Price of Tea?

“What’s that got to do with…?” is an expression that is often used to show an irrelevance or non sequitur in a subject of discussion you are having. It’s an idiom and in its most common form like this, it is a retort to an irrelevant suggestion. I find myself saying it often these days but in reality, I really shouldn’t say it.

The price of oil is rising and while there isn't much we can do about that, we do need to do something to prepare for the costs that will rise with it.

 

Economic discussions draw conclusions that every economic action somehow affects everything else that happens economically. The idiom in my example is trying to say that the “price of tea” is the farthest logical connection from the price of oil and is a sort of butterfly effect (the butterfly effect refers to the concept that small events are causes that can have large effects on us all). But is it? Well, surprise, surprise, surprise as Gomer Pyle said over and over again back in the day!Continue reading“What Does the Price of Oil Have to Do with the Price of Tea?”

Income and Career, More

Can You Ever Really Beat the System?

Boy, there’s a real question for the ages, isn‘t it? It seems that a lot of us find ourselves scratching our heads frequently trying to figure out “how to beat the system” and no matter how hard we try, we just can’t ever seem to do it. As we sometimes say, the emphasis is on “we” because when you really think about it, some people actually do seem to beat the system and usually that doesn’t seem to include us. Is that time well spent?

Some of us ask if we can ever really beat the system and get ahead, but I've found a different approach to be successful. Here are my recommendations.

It certainly ruins most of your day when you sit and moan about how you “just can’t win” or you don’t have any luck. When you do that, you are probably dooming yourself to even more failures and future frustrations. Wouldn’t your time be better spent on trying to learn and educate yourself more every day so you have a better chance to succeed in your job or hell, everything in life! Trying to learn more and improve yourself will always improve your chances to beat the system.Continue reading“Can You Ever Really Beat the System?”

Budgeting, More

Where the F Did All My Money Go?

Sometimes, I find myself to be a little bit bored. Retirement can do that to you, and so a few days ago I got out some paper and started to jot down some numbers. I tried to figure out how much money I have earned and spent over the last 50 years or so. Where does the money go? It’s kind of amazing and also kind of scary too that I can actually remember all of this crap. What does that say about me, my money, and my life? For one, I may be a freaking money savant…or am I just a mentally ill moron? Um, let’s go with savant, ok?

At some point, most of us wonder "where does the money go?". Make sure you're spending money one what you truly value...most of the time.

A Rainy Wednesday and This is What I Choose to Do?

So I sat down and began to put numbers on paper to try to figure it all out. I thought hard about how much money I have earned over the course of my lifetime and wondered how and where I have spent it all, leading me to this fundamental question: Where the fu¢k did all the money go?

Continue reading“Where the F Did All My Money Go?”

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Is There A Funny Side to Money?

When I say “funny money”, what do you think of? The first thing I believe most people would say is that the term funny money refers to counterfeit money, you know the kind you see in those old TCM classic films about the mobsters in the 1930’s and 40’s and how they would steal or counterfeit bucks that they then used for just about anything they wanted. Except for one big thing and that’s paying for a get out of jail free card. Jail is if course where they all eventually wound up, at least they do in the movies!

Laughter is the best medicine, even when it's money problems that ail you. Take a look at these funny money quips and maybe it will give you a smile.

Most of us will never come into contact with bogus money and even if we did, would we ever notice it? Probably not because the methods of making it have improved over the years and besides who of us actually carries any cash around these days as the use of cash has become less and less every year. Fake money therefore has become pretty undetectable in the 21st century.

Funny Money May Be Hard to Find But the “Funny” About Money Isn’t

I was thinking about this today. The subject of money is mostly a very serious matter and one that is written about in volumes every day, but it is also frequently mentioned as part of the punchline in a joke. That joke can absolutely make you grin or chuckle so much when you hear it, and it might just be because what is being mocked illustrates our overwhelming obsession with and about it. So I thought just for fun, I’d try and put together some of the funniest lines ever spoken about our money. So here is a compilation of funny, quick, short one liner jokes and sayings all about money.Continue reading“Is There A Funny Side to Money?”

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I Would Do Anything to Save Money, But I Won’t Do That

Back in 1970, Joni Mitchell, the classic folk artist, wrote her famous ode to environmental protection and lost love, “Big Yellow Taxi”, which includes the following lyrics:

They took all the trees and put ’em in a tree museum
And then they charged the people a dollar-and-a-half just to see ’em
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

 

Hey farmer, farmer, put away the DDT now
Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees, please!
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

There's a lot of things I'd do to save money, but one thing I don't want to skimp on is environmental protection. We need to protect our planet!

I’m Not a Political Pundit
(I just play one in my living room)

And I am by no means a “saint” either. In fact, I am positive that there are lots of things that someone could point to that are things I’ve done which are questionable or borderline stepping on the toes of somebody else’s principles and ethics (not many, but some).Continue reading“I Would Do Anything to Save Money, But I Won’t Do That”

Food, Health, More

The Battle of Your Bulges: Weight Loss Programs

Whether you’re truly overweight like me, or you just think you need to lose a couple of pounds, you’ve probably been sucked into the diet phenomenon at some point in your life. After all, you’ve seen the TV commercials, maybe read some reviews, or even known people who’ve lost a bunch of weight with one of the many weight loss programs. Or maybe, like me, you’ve tried one, two…or ten of them in an attempt to improve your health and your look. So what’s wrong, if anything, that a not-so-small percentage of customers complain about failing with them? Can you actually succeed long term with any of them?

Losing weight can be difficult, but weight loss programs aim to make it easier, at a cost. I review 3 popular programs, and what it takes to lose long term.

Hey Mr. and Mrs. America, You’re Fat!

As a country, America seems to have a real weight problem, greater now than ever before. You may be or may not be actually fat, but you are still often feeling the pressure of losing a few pounds because of health or the ever-present social pressure we all live with to be thin and look “good”. As if you can’t really look good with a little meat on your bones!Continue reading“The Battle of Your Bulges: Weight Loss Programs”