Category: Personal Finance

Learn about a variety of personal finance topics, including budgeting, saving, credit, debt, taxes, insurance, retirement and more

Budgeting, Credit, Debt, Personal Finance

OMG I Can’t Pay My Bills: Getting Help When You’re In Trouble

The subject of financial need and the stress it brings may be a topic that some personal finance blogs shy away from. It seems that many PF bloggers are concerned more about the folks that have money now and want even more of it (doesn’t everyone really?). The idea is that if you take some specific action(s), you can get rich fairly quickly and retire at age 30 or 40…and maybe you can do that. But what about the other side of life? What if you’re thinking “I can’t pay my bills!”? So you can’t pay your bills…what can you do?

Man with empty pockets thinking of money representing I can’t pay my bills

Many people have been financially crushed and even more so during and after the pandemic. What about those who just need help when they can’t pay their basic bills?

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More, Personal Finance

5 Pet Peeves About Finance & Money: Do They Annoy You Too?

Sometimes I just get stuck on a subject and can’t get it out of my head. My wife often says that when I get like that I over-react; I grumble, mumble, and repeat my source of aggravation over and over again. I admit that it is true. But all of us have some pet peeves that bother us from time to time. When it does happen it’s bad, but when it happens repeatedly, it’s even worse.

Frustrated man representing pet peeves

Since this blog is in effect my financial journal, the subject of discomfort and annoyance that are relevant here are those financial pet peeves in my life that actually warrant a post. So here goes, and please don’t agree with my wife after you read them!

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More, Personal Finance

Corporate Greed Is Now a Big Part of Inflation and You’re Paying for It

Last November, while I was having a Thanksgiving meal with my family, a discussion came up about inflation and what the reasons were that it has run wild for months. I have been talking about inflation now for over 18 months and that was long before the Fed or most people gave it a second thought, but last November it was a big topic. My opinion then (as it is now) is that inflation has several causes but that price gouging and corporate greed (profiteering) is a real part of it. I was met with skepticism, denial, and an actual argument over it.

Vulture with money, gold, and coins representing corporate greed

It’s Not a Pretty Thought…

…but corporate greed is now driving inflation way more than you ever dreamed. Perhaps you still doubt it or want to doubt it because you think “hey, this is America and they wouldn’t ever do that” or “gee, we live in a country where business is free to charge whatever they want and make money, right?”

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Personal Finance

True or False? Your Best Financial Decisions Are Still Ahead of You

You constantly make financial decisions. That’s just a fact. Some of them are seemingly simple and unimportant like where you’re having lunch today when you are out and about. Or whether you should buy that new pair of shoes you saw online today or just wait until the next big sale.

Two college students studying representing your best financial decisions

But then there are the other decisions you make: the really significant ones like taking on a new job or buying an expensive car. Those decisions can have a major impact on your financial future.

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Personal Finance

The Must-Know Money Tips to Take Your Finances to the Next Level

It occurred to me, after being on the planet for almost 73 years, that what I and most of us call good money habits are unknown to millions among us who just haven’t any clue about that. After all, if they did, then the need for me or anyone to write about it would be a totally moot point, wouldn’t it?

Figure climbing stairs representing money tips taking your finances to the next level

If you don’t understand anything about personal finance, I’m not here to scold you or mock you. It’s not your fault because you probably either had no practical education in the field or worse, you may have had some really bad examples of how to manage money demonstrated to you as a child or young adult. In any case, you will eventually find out the truth about you and your money. The question is only when and how much damage it might inflict upon you. That’s why it’s never too early or too late to learn these “must-know” money tips you need to take your finances to the next level.

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Family & Relationships

Why Behaving Like a Teenager with Money Is Only Allowed When You Are Actually a Teenager!

Is it any wonder why whenever you see someone acting like a teenager you sometimes shake your head? It’s “not that there’s anything wrong with that” as Seinfeld famously said, that is as long as the actions you’re observing are actually being done by a teenager. After all, most teens have very few hardcore responsibilities and so they act like children often do, without much thought and care. That’s especially true when it comes to money and that’s fine when you’re 15, 16, or even 18. But there’s a reason why behaving that way with money is only allowed when you are actually a teenager! And so it is important to teach teenagers about money.

Teenagers and parents gathered around a laptop representing how to teach teenagers about money

When I Was a Child I Spoke as a Child…

I am not especially religious, but here I need to point out that even the Bible (1 Corinthians 13:11) talks about when being a child, we all act like them. And so by inference here we can take the leap that when you are grown up, you should begin to act like an adult. But what does that really mean?

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More, Personal Finance, Retirement

Social Security and COLA: How Much Will Your Check Be in 2023?

Update October 13, 2022: Social Security COLA will be 8.7% for 2023.

If you’re retired or just about to retire, next year’s Social Security and COLA (cost of living adjustment) checks are likely to be one of the biggest increases on record for it, ever! The reason is no secret. It is a direct result of surging inflation which is now the highest in over 40 years.

Older woman’s hands around coffee representing Social Security and COLA

While we don’t know yet exactly, the average beneficiary could be looking at an increase in the benefit monthly check amount of as much as $180 (or even more) starting next January. That would be another $2,260 a year and that number is based on the current inflation rate we’ve all experienced over the past year.

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Personal Finance

5 Unwritten Money Rules You Need to Know to Succeed

Learning how to manage your money is a skill that must be learned and mastered or else. You could go to the library or a book store and seek out a guide to your money and finances that would have chapter upon chapter about the rules of finances and you’d certainly have a leg up on learning about it. But what about those unwritten money rules?

Strategy game of Go representing unwritten money rules

Unfortunately, for a good majority of us, the skill of learning those rules comes from the school of hard knocks. Money management and personal finance principles aren’t the big “important” subjects that are taught in schools, although that does seems to be improving slightly. Even so, the rules about money are not always written down on a neat short list for you to learn, but there are actually unwritten money rules you need to know.

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