Money, Matter, and More MusingsMoney, Matter, and More MusingsDiscussions on money making, money management, personal finance, debt, credit cards, interest rates, and other financial matters. The blog focuses on financial issues related to youth. Articles
Think About Your Finances Before Having (More) Children
2007-07-11 15:00:00 This is a potentially fiery topic, so I will try to tread carefully with my opinions on the matter. In all probability, this might result in some comments along the lines of “It’s nobody’s business to suggest when and how many kids I should have“. Towards that end, let me clarify that the objective ... More About: Children , Finances , Finan , Ving , Fore
Are Poor People More Frugal Than Rich People?
2007-07-09 15:30:00 On one of my earlier posts, “Motivation For Frugal ity - It Is Not Always About The Money“, a reader (a self-declared minimum wage earner) left this comment: This indefinite frugality has produced in me a feeling of smug superiority, as in ?you?re a spendthrift, I?m more frugal than you.? It has also made me wince ... More About: People , Rich , Poor
The Sunday Review #28 - Car Troubles Edition
2007-07-09 11:21:00 I can’t believe it is already Monday. The car stalling-n-stranding chaos, that incidentally happened on the *lucky* 07-07-07 date, spilled over into Sunday and we, after being on and off the road for the last 32 hours (with very little sleep in between), were finally home just a few hours ago. Hence this *Sunday* ... More About: Review , Edition
Stalled, Stranded, And Distressed, But Safe
2007-07-09 02:23:00 It hasn’t been long since the last moaning and whining about my car troubles, but here I go again. Events that occurred yesterday (as described by the title) have effectively hammered the last nail in the coffin. I am getting rid of that car for sure. It’s almost criminal to sell it to anyone (as of yesterday ... More About: Safe , Tres , Strand , Tran
How Much Do You Pay For Health Insurance?
2007-07-06 20:36:00 We just received our annual health insurance enrollment papers through our employer. As expected, the premiums have increased again this year. It is extremely fortunate that our university pays a major chunk of the premium for employed graduate students (teaching and research assistants) who enrolled before 2005 - without the university contribution, it ... More About: Health , Insurance , Health Insurance , Heal
Olive Oil Attitude
2007-07-05 16:15:00 Yesterday, after the fireworks, we made a quick stop at a grocery store to pick up some cooking oil. It was sort of an unscheduled stop (a *scheduled* oil purchase usually gets done through SAM’s club) and since we didn’t have anything else on our shopping list, I just walked to the oil aisle ... More About: Olive Oil , Attitude , Olive , Live O
Is It Time To Let My Car Go?
2007-07-04 15:30:00 It seems like my car might never see better days again. The check engine light went ON for the third time this year and my wretched mechanic was more than happy to see me (like a doctor is *happy* to see a patient - think $$). Here is the latest repair estimate: In December 2006, ... More About: Time
Top 10 Popular Posts From The Month Of June
2007-07-03 18:00:00 Here is a list of top 10 posts from last month that evoked some interesting comments. Care to add your two cents? What Have You Got Against Credit Cards? (90 comments) The Wal-Mart Dilemma - To Shop Or Not To Shop? (66 comments) 25 Things We Do To Save Money (33 comments) $72,900 In Debt? ... More About: June , Popular , Posts , Month , Pula
A Dollar Amount Cannot Be An End Goal
2007-07-02 16:00:00 Yesterday, Pete @ My Financial Awareness posted an excellent article titled “Reasons Not to Set Your Goal to Become a Millionaire“. I have been brooding over similar (complementary) thoughts for some time, and now, in light of Pete’s article, I would like to share them with you. Instead of talking about just the “millionaire” ... More About: Dollar , Doll , Mount , Anno
The Interesting Problem Of A Railway Trolley - What Is Ethical And What Is
2007-07-01 16:00:00 More often than not, ethical issues - in financial areas or other walks of life - are not totally black-and-white. What’s ethical from my point of view, might be outrageous in your opinion and vice-a-versa. However, most of us generally tend to paint things with a broad brush and conveniently ignore all lines ... More About: Interesting , Problem , Troll , Eres
The Sunday Review #27: About Free eBooks, Financial Gurus, and Plagiarism
2007-07-01 15:00:00 Here is this Sunday ’s list of interesting money articles for you. 30 Free eBooks To Learn Everything You Want to Know About Personal Finance @ The Mint Blog. A massive collection of financial eBooks. Some of them are incredibly resourceful. Check all of them out - should take about a couple of days (perhaps a ... More About: Ebooks , Review , Financial
Invest Like A Woman?
2007-06-29 17:30:00 Just sharing some interesting statistics about men and women and their general attitude towards investing. The image below is supposedly based on Sharebuilder’s 2007 “Women and Invest ing Survey” as reported by Seattle Post-Intelligencer (I tried to search for the original survey on Sharebuilder’s website but could not find this particular (2007) version). It appears from ... More About: Woman , Like , A Woman
Money Is Not The Root Of All Evil
2007-06-28 17:04:00 Some food for thought; just in time before the iPhone takes control of your senses. Old wisdom says: Money is the root of all evil. George Bernard Shaw says: Lack of money is the root of all evil. St. Paul says: The love of money is the root of all evil. I say: The want of easy money is the root of ... More About: Evil , Root
Some Lessons From My Wallet
2007-06-27 21:30:00 Recently, The Mint Blog published an interview with me in which they asked for a picture of my wallet. Here is that wretched piece of leather. Now, I am not a neatness freak by any measure, but the stuff that I pulled out of my wallet before taking the picture almost made me recoil in horror ... More About: Lesson , Lessons , Esso , Wallet , Some
Midweek Money Links
2007-06-27 19:56:00 Some interesting money articles and thoughts from the past few days: Do You Know if Your Credit Card Uses The Dual-Cycle or Average Daily Balance Calculation? by Jeremy @ Generation X finance. Jeremy explains the difference between the two types of credit card balance calculations. I won’t be surprised to find many people not knowing ... More About: Money , Links
The Wal-Mart Dilemma - To Shop Or Not To Shop?
2007-06-26 16:30:00 I am opening up this question for discussion in the spirit of “what have you got against Wal-Mart ?” - along the lines of similar (but unrelated) questions in the past: what have you got against personal finance bloggers? and what have you got against credit cards? However, I have some musings to share before ... More About: Wal-Mart , Shop , Dilemma , Wal Mart
Motivation For Frugality - It Is Not Always About The Money
2007-06-25 16:30:00 Last week, I posted a list of 25 things that “we do to save money” and I have been thinking on it ever since. Some introspective questions resulted from the thinking, like: were all of those things done *actively* to save money? or were there other motivations behind the actions - and saving money ... More About: Money , Motivation , Frugality , Motiva , Frugal
The Complete Package
2007-06-24 15:00:00 This advertisement appeared in my college newspaper a few days ago: Now, what more would you want in that package. Couldn’t resist sharing the chuckle. Btw, the habit of glancing over the classifieds pages dates back to my motorcycle buying days. Feel free to share any funny financial classifieds you may have seen… or perhaps imagined. ... More About: Complete , Pack , Package
The Sunday Review #26
2007-06-24 13:26:00 Here is some interesting reading material to liven up your Sunday . Things You Should Know About Mercury In CF Light Bulbs by my alter ego @ The Tao of Health. I had been following ridiculous reports (like this one) about a $2000 cleanup job after the breaking of a CF light bulb; hence, felt compelled ... More About: Review
Is It Wise To Quit Your Day Job And Depend On Your Website For Income?
2007-06-22 15:55:00 I recently received an email from a reader with this question: I am thinking of running a website in order to generate income and quit the rat race; can you tell me from your personal experience, is it a wise decision? There are a few reasons why this question bothers me: “thinking of running a website” doesn’t ... More About: Website , Income , Quit , Wise , Epen
Zecco Trading Experience, My First Trades, And Other Investing Thoughts
2007-06-21 16:00:00 Before I start praising Zecco for it’s $0 trades, I have a few remarks to make about their customer service. My first experience with Zecco was late last year (around early December) when I first applied for an account following the lure of free trades. The enthusiasm didn’t last very long (partly due to ... More About: Trading , Thoughts , Investing , Experience , Peri
12 Interesting Visuals To Refresh Your Memories
2007-06-20 18:07:00 Finally, here is a post with a few words, but with a lot of material. Some of you will probably recollect the posts because of the corresponding pictures - for those who don’t, this will be a quick revision. You can either click on the image or on the heading above the image to ... More About: Interesting , Memories , Refresh , Memo , Visuals
Midweek Links From Money Blogs
2007-06-20 17:35:00 Job Hunting Advice by Mapgirl @ Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge. Four practical tips from Mapgirl on job hunting; here is something from the post worth repeating a 1000 times: DO NOT LIE on your resume. It?s a very ugly thing to do. Big Dreams, Small Income: Financial Planning Without A Large Salary by Trent @ The Simple Dollar. ... More About: Money , Links , Blogs , Logs
The Stupid Blue Postcard - Scam, But Not Quite?
2007-06-19 18:00:00 Here is a blue postcard that I received sometime back (click on the image to enlarge it): And it came from this “Awards Verification Center” address: Obviously, all the big words - “NEW MERCEDES, BMW, PORSCHE or $40,000 CASH” are sure indicators of a scam. But generally stupid scammers, who promise big rewards, choose email as ... More About: Blue , Stupid , Postcard , Scam , Quit
25 Things We Do To Save Money
2007-06-18 16:00:00 I have been wanting to make a “Lifehacker-ish” post - X Ways To Do Y Thing s sort of thing - for a long time, but never got a chance (or the motivation). Finally, a couple of days ago, Sharon @ The Frugal Duchess suggested that I write something about the frugal things I do ... More About: Money , Save Money , Save
Good House, Small House, And A Happy Man
2007-06-17 15:30:00 Let me tell the story in two parts. Part-1 goes like this: a couple of years ago, me, my boss, and a fellow graduate student (who is still single) were having lunch and discussing the general philosophy of life (or that kind of stuff) in between bites. Somehow, the topic veered towards how people ... More About: House , Small , Happy , Good , Ouse
The Sunday Review #25
2007-06-17 13:39:00 Here are links to some interesting money articles from the week. 10 Tips For Dealing With Car Salesmen to Make Sure You Don?t Get Hosed by Jeremy @ Generation X Finance. Some very useful practical tips for dealing with car salesmen. I have something to add here. If you really want to avoid the psychological pressure ... More About: Review , Sunday
So, It Pays To Be The Village Idiot?
2007-06-15 15:35:00 I managed to keep this topic off my blog for long, ignored all the drama, shrugged off stuff like this in disbelief, spun off several conspiracy theories, and generally just let an idiot be an idiot (here, idiot in question = Casey Serin). But yesterday, through a series of links, I finally landed on ... More About: Idiot , Village , Pays , The V , Villa
Super Saving Japanese, Folks Living In A Toilet, And Other Interesting Stor
2007-06-14 17:15:00 Instead of regular (heavy) money links, I was on a look out for some interesting stuff today - and fortunately found some. First, an exception to the “interesting stories” - this blogger dude recommends drinking water instead of carbonated drinks. Head over and give him an earful. Hint: check the “About” link at the ... More About: Living , Interesting , Super , Japanese , Toilet
$72,900 In Debt?
More articles from this author:2007-06-13 23:30:00 A reader (Amy) left a comment on the latest hot topic of discussion on this blog “What have you got against credit cards ?“: I totally agree about credit cards. They are trouble. I got rid of mine and am working my way towards debt freedom. My goal is to pay off $72,900 worth of ... More About: Debt 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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