Frugality

What Are Drip Fees and Why Should You Care?

Welcome to our new post-pandemic inflationary hidden-cost world where the economy and the bills we pay are not always what you expect them to be. Hidden tricky fees are popping up more and more and are lurking everywhere, whether you pay attention or not, and you should. There are many names for these fees. But they all fall under one group heading called “drip fees”. So what are these drip fees and why should you care?

Water dripping representing drip fees

We All Know Prices Are Going Up Right Now

For quite a while, months and months and even years, we have been seeing that what we buy is costing more and more every time we shop. Like everything else in life, once you experience something like inflation and rising prices—you read about it, hear about it, and pay for it—it becomes more real to you and almost what you expect to happen until it stops.

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Saving & Investing

Saving Money Is Earning Money and Here’s Why

One of the things I shouldn’t ever have to explain to anyone is this simple fact: If you are saving money, in any way, you are actually earning money! It’s effectively the same thing and it’s something you can do almost every time you shop. Even if all you are doing is heading to the grocery store, the gas station, or the mall, when you save when you shop it means that your money isn’t going anywhere except into your pocket just as if you “earned” it. Saving money is earning money!

Woman and piggy bank representing saving money

Something Really Good Happens When You Save

Although you could waste your precious time debating whether or not earning more at your job, side gig, or working for your Uncle Fred in Tucson is a better way to get more cash and build your wealth, why bother? (Spoiler alert: You can do both.) You deal with money every day and you have it in your hand all the time, so why not figure out new and better ways to hold on to to some more of it when you must spend it?

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Shopping

Summer Retail Sales Mean Big Savings If You Know Where to Look

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We are just a few days away from the “official” beginning of summer and that is despite the fact that the pools are already open, the beaches are ready, and the temperatures in many places have already hit 90 degrees and higher! But trips to the beach, backyard barbecues, and those lazy vacation days ahead aren’t the only hallmarks of summer. There’s the great shopping and summer retail sales to look forward to, and consumers this year can add even bigger bargains to their lists.

Young woman with shopping bags representing summer retail sales

No surprises here, but guess what? Thanks to the 41-year high in inflation, there are even more reasons right now to shop and save. Summer retail sales 2022, here we come!

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More, Personal Finance, Retirement

Will the Social Security 2023 COLA Increase Be an All-Time Record?

Retirees and disabled people could see a record jump in the Social Security 2023 COLA increase (cost of living adjustment). That’s great news, right? However, benefits aren’t keeping up with rampant inflation and that, my friend, is a big problem.

Couple with binoculars looking forward to represent the 2023 COLA increase

It’s like I’ll give you a $20 bill from here in my left hand and then, I’ll take it back from you with my right. Oh, and then by the way, I’ll also take another one from your wallet, your bank account, and perhaps even charge you for that privilege too while I do it!

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More, Personal Finance

How Does Ongoing Inflation Rank Among America’s Problems Right Now?

There are many burning questions on the minds of Americans these days. With all the gut punches that we’ve been taking in the past few years, bad news is the norm and good news…well, try to find some.

Money with arrow pointing down representing ongoing inflation

When it comes to our health, the way we socialize, the kids and schooling, politics, human rights, women’s rights, civil rights, war, and yes, I have to say it, the terror we face every week from gun violence, inflation may seem like an unimportant back burner issue. But it’s not. So how does ongoing inflation rank among America’s biggest problems? And what can we do to prepare for it?

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Budgeting

Now Is the Time to Look at Your 2022 Financial Scorecard and Adjust

As we begin the month of June, it’s a great time to check out your financial scorecard for the year…so far. That is if you can stand the pain of looking at it. With five months now in the books, June is the perfect time to evaluate and re-evaluate what has happened to you financially this year and then to adjust where necessary so you can make 2022 the best possible year it can be. It’s a subject we all need to be on top of, but many of us never look at the numbers until it’s way too late to do anything about them.

Dartboard with bullseye representing a financial scorecard

Our Financial Scorecard Is Like a Business P&L

If you work for a business, you probably know what a P&L is (profit and loss statement) and what it means to the company. In simple terms, it’s the scorecard of their financial numbers and how the company is performing against the plan.

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Cars, Frugality, Health, Travel

Good News Headlines to Save You Money and Raise Your Spirits

If you’re like me, you can get depressed when you watch the news on TV or listen to it on the radio. If you’re brave enough to read about it on the net or in a newspaper or magazine, it can be even worse seeing it in black and white.

Newspapers representing good news headlines

While we are all waiting for life to return to normal after the past couple of years, patience may be running thin for the majority of us. That’s why when any good news surfaces, it’s worth shouting it out loud and trying to enjoy it and what it will bring. So today, here are some soon to be good news headlines that will make you just a little happier and able to deal with all the bad news headlines that are around these days!

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Retirement, Saving & Investing

In This Turbulent Market, Is It Too Late to Start Investing Now?

After sitting on the sidelines for even just a little while—say the past few years because you were just starting out in life, the pandemic had you sitting at home worried, your income was down or non-existent, or you just were afraid of the stock market in general, whatever the reason—you missed the boat. That great “boom” investment market has left the shore and maybe it is going to be sailing away for quite a long time, who really knows. Many in the financial world think it may have left for a good long time and if it has, does that mean that it’s too late to start investing now?

Dollar bills and pocket watch representing whether it is too late to start investing now

Investing Is a “Loooooooong” Game

Unlike an actual game, investing has no real timeline whereas a game has a beginning, a middle, and an end. The only meaningful timeline investing can have is for someone who needs their money in their hand right now for some real purpose like an emergency that requires all cash on deck. Hopefully that will never happen to you, but sometimes it does. If you are in a situation like that, investing money isn’t available to you right now.

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