Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Money

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Money Featured on msn's Smart Spending
2008-02-28 22:36:00
Last night Karen Datko over at msn's moneyBlog picked up our story, "College the Poor Kids Way." She wrote a great story about the piece and today traffic is amazing! (At least for me!)Thanks so much Karen!Sphere picked up our story about the impending Fed Rate cuts from yesterday's Personal Finance QuickTake: Another Rate Cut Coming!Thank you Sphere!Last, But definitely not least; Reuters picked up "Tax Carnival #30" that we were involved inAnd one P.S to Add...Life , Liberty and the Pursuit of Money just got PageRank as well! It is just PR2 to start, but hey, gotta start somewhere and it looks like today is going to be a record day!

What Fight Club Can Teach You About Personal Finance
2008-02-28 14:36:00
OK...I know I broke the first rule, but given that my last post was accused of being a "fantasy" I thought...I will go with that. It's one of those random acts of Silliness.I really like everything Chuck Palahniuk writes, but Fight Club is such a great visual by David Fincher, that it transcends for a lot o' folk my age. What a lot of people don't get is that the story is a great allegory for Consumerism and Commercialism. Frankly...a whole bunch of ism's, but we'll focus on the first two.The narrator of the story is a never named character that is an insomniac, at least at the beginning. As the movie shows, and as someone who has lived through that hell, you live in a daze. Not really awake not really asleep. However you really believe at times that you discover some universal truths...I am jack's list of things to learn:I am not my things - He is only free once his things are destroyed. I don't advocate this...other that your credit cardsDon't have a house full of condimen...
More About: Personal , Personal Finance , Finance

Personal Finance QuickTake: Another Rate Cut Coming
2008-02-27 22:20:00
Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled to Congress on Wednesday that the Fed is ready to again cut rates to help jump start the economy according to an AP story.The Fed is in the unenviable position to get the economy moving while not fanning the flames of inflation, which is already showing its ugly head. Bernanke is fighting an uphill battle against home mortgage and general credit issues in the market. But the economy is the top concern, over inflation fears. He pledged to adjust a key interest rate and help the economy, which many fear is on the verge of a recession, if not already in one."The economic situation has become distinctly less favorable" since the summer, the Fed chief told lawmakers. The country should prepare for "sluggish economic activity in the near term," he went on to say. Concern continues to grow for a new period of stagnation, where inflation grows stronger while the overall economy is weak.The Fed is prepared to lower rates again to bolster economic growth, Bernan...
More About: Personal , Personal Finance , Finance , Rate

Ten Financial Lessons Every Kid Should Know
2008-02-27 14:45:00
I am the proud parent of three growing independent-thinking kids. No not the ones pictured, although I picked the pic 'cause it reminded me of me in High School. My parents did a lot of things right bringing up my brother and me. I wouldn't be where I am without them, especially my Mom, believing in me.However today the one thing I look back on and wish I had a better understanding of personal finance when I was younger. Today, I understand why; my Mom was just trying to make ends meet, and given my award winning personality from 13-17 I probably wouldn't of listened, because I was lucky...I already knew everything.Our kids though will leave the house with these lessons understood and hopefully better prepared then I was.Ten Personal Finance Things Every Kid Should Know:You Can be a Millionaire - If you start right away save $10K for 5 years, NEVER add to it again, get 8% average ROI, in 40 years you will have over $1 Million. Its not sexy, but it is mathTomorrow Gets Here Fast -...
More About: Financial , Lessons

When Even the Rich Runaway...
2008-02-26 21:48:00
Even the working rich are worried according to Forbes. "Housing has imploded, the market's a yo-yo, recession's in the air. And the 'working rich' are learning to do without." This according to Russ Alan Prince, president of a private wealth-research firm and author of the book The Middle-Class Millionaire.Princes research points out that 78% of the Working Rich , identified as those with $1MM-$10MM in Net Worth and still working for a living, consider themselves "very or extremely concerned about their ability to maintain their current financial position." Furthermore he believes 21% of them are already reducing spending.Compared to the first half of 2007, the last six months saw a 20% drop in Luxury spending. According to a source in the report, "Luxury consumers have never expressed such a dismal view of their financial status." This is a compounding issue for the economy as the Working Rich are known networkers. In other words they talk to one another before purchasing, which...
More About: Quick , Runaway

Save 50% When You Dine Out
2008-02-26 14:02:00
As I start to pull together our information for February I am struck by something. Our Dining Out amount, when it is just us two, has really fallen, frankly in half for an average meal. This has allowed us to have, pretty frequently, left over funds in that Envelope!For us, and probably anyone married with three kids, we often eat out to escape. It is nice to have adult time together. It is frankly nice to not order food through a Clown's Mouth when we do it either! :) We are both foodies, and Mrs. X is an amazing cook so we would good well made food. Unfortunately this can equal expensive (at least to us) and can leave buyer's remorse on the tongue!, not to mention in the past, the credit card!Guide to Save 50% when doing the Full Dining Experience:Drinks - This is a restaurants profit center. If we are gonna have a drink, we will have one at home with our...($12 Savings)Homemade Appetizer - We plan out those dining nights and there is a great little Harry and David store here th...
More About: Dine

Personal Finance QuickTake: Uneasy Feeling
2008-02-19 23:18:00
Yahoo had a really good article today talking about consumer sentiment. Basically even through the housing boom and access to way too easy credit, consumer sentiment has been a bit wary. It was almost like everyone knew this was too good to be true.Easy credit has led directly to a disconnect with consumer's paycheck and their ability to spend. Gas prices rise, which raises price inflation food and travel, heap on medical expenses running at high double digit growth and a melt down is inevitable.This is called...inflation.The problem is you don't fix inflation by lowering interest rates! You do by raising them. This puts our Fed in a bit of a bind. If the raise rates the economy tanks, if the lower them inflation goes nuts.How bad can inflation get? Picture Europe before WWII. Literally wheelbarrows full of money to buy bread! Not worth the paper it is printed on...Not saying go dig a trench and hide, it it foretells of tougher times ahead. It also says that this doesn't get fixe...
More About: Personal , Personal Finance , Finance , Feeling

Lists and Link Building Meme!
2008-02-19 07:21:00
Dawn From Iowa Hippie Chick Tagged me with this Meme .Building links is essential to getting noticed on the web. I am a firm believer of visiting new sites every day to see if one matches what and how I enjoy to use the internet. It is why I am running the RSS signup contest right now. Either from mentioning each other in posts, blog roles or round-ups is great way to expose your readers to others that you enjoy.Dawn is part of an innovate idea that takes 5 recommended blogs from each of the previous senders and passes on the list to do the same!From Dawns site!:I have randomly selected 5 of you below to be tagged and I hope that you will similarly publish this post in your blog. You will have to tag 5 other bloggers and just keep adding on to the list. (Do not replace, just keep on adding! Yes we hope it will be a long list!)It’s real easy!Tag others and see your Technorati Authority increase exponentially!The benefits of Viral Link ing:One of the fastest ways to see your technorat...
More About: Link Building , Lists

No Emergency Fund = Limited Options
2008-02-18 21:18:00
It is all well and good to talk about Baby Step #1, getting an Emergency Fund , but things can and do happen as you are building that fund. We all know the drill, you get that first $75 in the Fund, start thinking about, “How you are really gonna do it this time”…and then your car acts up; $200.What are you going to do?We were in the exact boat five years ago. It was winter; we weren’t controlling our spending and living paycheck to paycheck. And as Murphy’s Law works, we had a series of those Ninja Bills that I always talk about. Also, we had written too many checks and were going to overdraft our checking account.The stupid part is that these were due to not tracking our debit card purchases. She and I were spending without seeing what the other was doing by only checking what the ATM had showing!So these five overdrafts were about $100, but the penalties at Wells Fargo were going to be $25 per item or an additional $125…$25 more than the checks. Regardless, we didn’t...
More About: Options , Limited

Dealing With Budget Windfalls
2008-02-18 14:34:00
Some of us have irregular pay involving bonuses. These are often based on cryptic calculations that involve the Mayan Calendar and a jar of Mustard...In other words you can't count on them. Sure you might have a pretty good idea, but it is hard when you are expecting one amount and another comes in.Many with this sort of Bonus don't budget it even though it can be up to 30%+ of our pay or we budget at the lowest imaginable payout. The reason is the last thing you want is when you finally get the check to be disappointed. I have been there. One time I was sure my bonus was going to be $10,000 based on the previous year. When I got the check it was less then $5000, still a great amount...unless you wrote checks or planned out more!This post came up because I was reading a favorite Blog "Paid It Down and Moving Forward" by Sharon. She and Hubby received his Yearly bonus and she is now Consumer Debt Free (Way to go Sharon!) and well better funded in their Emergency Funds. They also bo...
More About: Budget

Giving Away $50 Software and Best of the Week
2008-02-17 22:06:00
Great week all around for the blog we had our biggest single week ever with Traffic, began our first RSS Signup contest, had more comments then ever, AND read some truly great posts out there this week.First on the RSS signup contest, there were some questions emailed to me. The contest will run for the next four weeks. On each Saturday night during the contest I will run a list randomizer to pick a winner from my Email RSS list. Unfortunately there is no way for me to pull the regular RSS list as well, so if you are a standard RSS reader, just sign up for the email version to enter yourself in the contest! Second there is NO cost to enter, just sign-up! And last NO you don't need to enter every week, just once and you are in for every drawing. So enter early, to be entered into all of them!Next it is time for my Best of the Web:ShoeMoney - A great Post/Video this morning. A Rap about SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Great starter course in the shape of a Rap tune...pretty origina...
More About: Software , Week , Giving

RSS Signup Contest
2008-02-17 14:18:00
This is gonna be fun! I was talking (well...emailing) with some of the Great Folks over at FruitfulTime about my blog, and they offered me a no-brainer deal. They would give me four copies of FruitfulTime Task Manager to giveaway on my site to my RSS Readers!That's right all you have to do to be eligible to win this $50 value software is to signup for my RSS feed via the email link at the top left of the page. Over the next four weeks, every Saturday Night I will grab all of the RSS email names (it has to be RSS email, as it is the only way I can grab the names!) use a random list generator and if your name comes up...you win it! I contact you and send you the key to download for free! I will also mention the winner and their Blog in my Sunday recap! This is not a huge RSS feed blog (yet!) so I believe you have a pretty decent chance here compared to other contests! All you have to do is make sure you are signed up, and you are eligible for each weeks drawing! If you are already si...
More About: Contest

Sharpening the Saw Follow-Up
2008-02-17 06:24:00
My morning post talked about "Sharpening the Saw" from Covey's Book, 7 Habits . I thought about what I said and I needed a good dose of my own medicine and really took the day to sharpen the saw.I really decided to pretty much take the day today and not blog until the family was pretty done for the night, it wasn't just me that needed to recoup some energy it was all of us.First thing I did early this morning is to play 9 holes of golf with some friend from work. It has been too cold or rainy for the last 3 months to really play, but today was great. This is a very economical Municipal Course that only costs $11 for 9 holes, which is 1.5 hours at least, not bad. But the owner told us since it was pretty slow and we play there a lot that we could play as much as we wanted for the $11! $11 for 3 hours is even better! On the second 9 I even shot my second best score ever!Once that was over we decided to make the rest of the day a family day with no TV or video games. And other than ...

Five Great Ways to Sharpen the Saw
2008-02-16 14:42:00
I am a fan of Steven Covey's "7 Habits" Book. All of the tips are really helpful to see you become more effective. For me though, if you really want to make some movement in your finances, budgeting or life in general, one step more than others gets ignored. And it is a perfect Saturday topic...#7 is "Sharpen the Saw."This comes from a story about a lumber jack that is sawing harder and harder and just not making the same progress as before. When someone asks if he has sharpened his saw, he says he doesn't have time, he needs to saw.I am really notorious for doing this...getting so myopic that I am only focused on the trees, not the forest. I need to remind myself that a well-timed break can actually save time sometimes! I this spirit I offer Five Great Ways to Sharpen the Saw up and get you back to top form in no time.Saw Sharpeners:Exercise - I know, half of you jumped to number two, but it is true. Not only is it good for you, but it can take your mind off your troubles, even i...

Personal Finance QuickTake: RIP HD DVD
2008-02-16 00:44:00
Wal-Mart announced today that they will only carry Blu-Ray next Generation DVDs moving forward. Frankly, this is the death knell for the format. This is just the latest defection from major retailers. Best Buy and NetFlicks have also discontinued stocking the product.From the report:The so-called format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray has been a thorn in the side of retailers, which have had to commit shelf space to devices from both camps even as they field complaints from frustrated and confused customers.Next-generation DVDs and players, boasting better picture quality and more capacity, were expected to help revive the $24 billion global home DVD market. But Hollywood studios had initially split their alliances between the two camps, meaning only certain films would play on a consumer's DVD machine.So Why Different Formats?To be fair to Toshiba and the HD-DVD format, the split between formats comes from one thing, IP, or Intellectual Property. Sony/Philips invented the CD, and t...
More About: Personal , Personal Finance , Finance

My New E*Trade Account Sucks
2008-02-15 14:01:00
This weekend I opened a Complete Savings Account at E*Trade . It was at 4.4% interest with no minimum and pretty light restrictions. I want this account to tuck away the money I am saving for my 2008 Property Taxes and Christmas.The account itself is probably fine (I hope,) it is just the E*Trade Instructions and communication has been horrid! I get a note saying the account is set up, but then I can't see it on the Log-in page. I try to set up My Wells Fargo Checking to be able to transfer in; it grabs my information and then clears out the UI...Over and Over. You can't tell it is set up until you get an error message telling you that you already set it up!Then you have to verify the account...but it doesn't tell you how, or walk you through it! I finally got that set up and the money is out of my checking ($100 in seed money in case it didn't work). So now I can see my Wells Fargo Account in my E*Trade account...but not my E*Trade account!Guess what?...no way to email them abou...
More About: Sucks

Personal Finance QuickTake: Fed Ready to Act
2008-02-14 22:28:00
Today Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress that the Fed was ready to continue to act as needed to support the economy. He also stated though that signs point to growth later in the year. The Fed has lowered interest rate 2.25% since September, lowering the rate to 3%.From Reuters:He acknowledged that the growth outlook has worsened over the past few months. His comments reinforced investors' expectations the central bank would lower interest rates by a half-percentage point at its next meeting on March 18.However, the central bank chairman also said he expects sluggish growth to give way to a somewhat stronger expansion in the second half of the year as the impact of fiscal and monetary stimulus now put in place is felt. Bernanke painted a somber picture of risks facing the economy, and U.S. stock prices and the dollar fell on his gloomy assessment. In early afternoon, the Dow Jones industrial average was down more than 140 points, or 1 percent.So it looks like more cuts are com...
More About: Personal , Personal Finance , Finance , Ready

Most Common Financial Mistakes to Avoid
2008-02-14 14:14:00
In Personal Finance for Dummies, by Eric Tyson they discuss some of the key traps that people fall into with their personal finances. I know these series of books have a mixed reputation, but I like his personal writing style as it is informative and yet fun to read.Here are the Top 10 Most Common Financial Mistakes to Avoid with comments by moi:Not Planning - Sounds basic, but I read about so many people who are only focused on their debt. That's great, but it is only one part of your financial picture. Failing to plan really is a plan to fail. Get a Success Map in place that lays out your next 3-4 steps at least!Overspending - Um...yup. That's bad! Basic accounting, regardless of what web companies used to say, clearly shows that you have to have more coming in then going out. Positive Cash flow. You can borrow for a time, but no flow...no go.Buying on Credit - See above. A cash management system can literally save you thousands a year. I credit this as the single best move we m...

Personal Finance QuickTake: Yahoo talks to NewsCorp
2008-02-13 21:33:00
According to a Yahoo news report (and they would hopefully know...), Yahoo is in talks with NewsCorp in attempts to stave off Microsoft's Hostile Bid.Yahoo rebuffed Microsoft's advances on Monday, but given how the "No thanks" was worded it seemed as if Yahoo wasn't saying no, period, Just No at this price.Microsoft seemed to initially have the field to itself with this high of an offer, but Yahoo being smart is trying to find the best deal possible. NewsCorp has been emphasizing its web portion of the business more and more culminating in a buyout of mySpace last year.This is either a strong attempt out of Yahoo to raise the bid to the mid-40s or above, or they are so desperate not to be assimilated that they are running to whoever will off shelter.Microsoft will see what comes out of this, but they don't have all the time in the world. To launch a proxy fight and dump Yahoo's board they would need to be prepared to fight by mid March.It is gonna get interesting!
More About: Personal , Personal Finance , Finance , Yahoo!

Listen While You Work
2008-02-13 14:16:00
OK this a Bizaro-World post that fits into the "Random Acts of Silliness." As I was paying bills and getting ready to blog, I turned on iTunes as I do when I write, and I began to wonder if I am normal, well as normal as normal gets. I wondered, "What do others listen to when paying Bills or Blogging."Now, I thought, that could be a fun Poll!For me, I have always been tied to music as a student of music or Professional Musician (another oxymoron!) or like now am tied to music even in marketing, so I tend to have music playing all day as it helps me concentrate.I also have the CD collection of a schizophrenic monkey...I know everyone says that, but I do. I have David Cassidy and then Danzig is the next artist! So I looked at my Top 10 Songs played this month (artist then track):Enuff Z'Nuff - New ThingBeatles - Mean Mr MustardBeatles -I Me MineBlondie - DreamingB.W. Stevenson -My Maria (this is the Original version!)Racer X -Heart of a Lion (Huge Paul Gilbert/Anime Fan! - Hence the ...
More About: Work , Listen

Are you Getting a Tax Refund?
2008-02-12 23:26:00
Come April 15th, or before are you getting a refund or do you have to pay?If you are are rejoicing over you super-big refund of free government money...not so fast. All you are getting back is the principle from a no interest loan that you gave Uncle Sam.Think of it this way, They pay you nothing extra if they give it back, not even a "Thank You Nice Lady!" Or...the charge you more then 10% if you are plus penalties! They will take everything you own to get at it.Pretty good business if you can get it!With that sort of brute force behind you it is understandable that you would rather be safe than sorry. Or maybe it is just that you have a hard time saving and this is a great way to force you to do it.Totally understandable. The real idea is not to recieve a lot or pay alot. It is to have the maximum available to you with out causing pain.This is the time of the year when you should review your wthholdings. Here is a great calculator to look at this as well as some "what if" situati...

The Five Levels of Wealth
2008-02-12 14:47:00
In the "Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Rich" the author Larry Waschka describes five separate levels of wealth.This book grabbed my attention when I bought awhile ago, frankly because at the time I though, heck if an idiot can do it, I'll be a bajillionaire! Not so fast Wile E Coyote, there is the little issue of following that ACME plan!Here are the paraphrased outlined levels:Level 1 - You are able to maintain your standard of living while still saving your Target Saving Goal, which is the annual amount needed to fund your retirement.Level 2 - Your Investment Portfolio (could be 401k too) is large enough on its own to deliver a return large enough to cover your TSG and keep up with inflation.Level 3 - Your portfolio returns enough to cover your desired lifestyle and inflation.Level 4 - You have enough assets to produce a return big enough to increase your lifestyle, now and in the future, while keeping up with inflation.Level 5 - You have enough assets to produce a return wel...
More About: Wealth

Great new Carnivals for the Week!
2008-02-11 21:57:00
Must be the bitter cold here today that make it feel good to write about some great Carnivals that are happening around ye olde Blogsphere.First up The 38th Carnival of Debt Management is rockin' over at Credit Card Lowdown. There are featuring our recent post on "Be Treated like a Credit Card Superstar!". They have brought together a collection of posts to really help you pare down your debt!Next Up My Dollar Plan is running the Valentine Edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance. The tie-in is great and they make our heart fuller by reading! :) This one features our "Learning Finance from the "Smartest Guys in the Room." This discusses lessons that can be learned from the Enron scandal.Last but not least - Don't Mess with Taxes (what a great name BTW!) - is running a great Tax Carnival Lots of reading to get caught up on if I ever get through my work!
More About: Great , Week

Debt Chain Freedom
2008-02-11 14:08:00
Have you ever thought about quitting you job and doing something else, like writing or gardening or even working with the less fortunate? Why don't you?Probably for two reasons: one, you have debts; two, you don't have the money to do that.Those are the physical manifestations of having debt. Real life debt chains. The only way to free yourself is to break those chains.To break the chains first you must Visualize your Debt . Think of every dollar owed as a link in the chain, every different debt is a chain each holding you down like a staked balloon. So if you have four credit cards to pay off, imagine four chains tying you to the ground.I personally like to look at each of my debts that way. For example, I received my bill for my CitiBank Platinum Card. I continue to make the minimum payment on this as it is not my top snowball debt, yet! My bill showed I owed $9119. If i think of every dollar a 1 inch link, that is 759 ft of chain! But today I paid off $313, or 26 feet! so after...
More About: Freedom , Chain

Personal Finance QuickTake: Ten Filthy Rich Traits
2008-02-10 22:32:00
The Street.com via Yahoo Finance ran a piece this morning about the "Ten Traits that Make You Filthy Rich ." Just like in the book, "The Millionaire Next Door" they make the case that personal finance and living within your means is none of the best determining factors on whether or not you will be financially successful.Their Top Ten list:Patience - Being able to wait to make purchases, ride out stock dips and save for the long termSatisfaction - Being happy with what you have. In Dave Ramsey's speak...avoiding Stuffitis!Organization - Being as productive as possible. Avoiding Stupid Taxes such as late fees!Discipline - "Personal finance isn't a way to get rich quick, but is a disciplined execution of your lifetime plans." Perfect!Reflectiveness - Learning from you mistakesCreativity - Doing whatever it takes to get out of debt, avoid picking up new ones and being agile in all things!Curiosity - Learn, Study and Improve yourself. I like to always look at Constant and Never-Ending ...
More About: Personal Finance , Take

Best of the Week, in Review...
2008-02-10 14:39:00
Great Week out there in PFLand. Congress got their act together. Yahoo said, "Thanks, but no thanks!" and we hit some milestones here!First off I would like to name my Top 5 favorite posts this week:Banker Girl - She ran a neat post about how to "Negotiate Anything with these Four Tips" Great practical experience on how to apprach a subject that many aren't comfortable doing. She runs such a great blog. I really wish I was as together as she is already in her life and with her finances. Always a must-read!Dawn from Iowa Hippie Chick - She wrote a great piece on her two dogs which showed the cost of caring for a pet, but also the benefits! Dawn is one of my favorites. Her writing style is so personal, that you feel like you are having some tea and having a good talk!Madame X at My Open Wallet- She has been running a neat series about NYC stories. People who are making it in the big city. The latest is Rachelle. It gives you hope that those just starting out might really be in bette...
More About: Review

Personal Finance QuickTake: Yahoo say "No Thanks!"
2008-02-09 22:02:00
"Thanks, but No thanks!"Basically that is the message that Yahoo is sending back to Microsoft . They are couching this as "You are way under-estimating the value of the company." But really this comes down to fit. Yahoo sees Microsoft as, if I can steal from Star Trek, The Borg and they don't want to be assimilated!The only issue is they might not have a choice. Microsoft has put out an offer to the level that Yahoo can't just say no to and walk away. Shareholders are going to want to understand how they are going to deliver that value to them then.Here are their options:Sell to someone else - Unfortunately the other potential suitors don't want to pay this sort of premium, and Google can't buy them. The FTC would never allow it due to competition issues. No White Knights around.Go Private - A LBO, or Leveraged BuyOut. Fine a year ago, not the credit markets are dried up, especially at the leverage this deal would take!Piece off the Company - They could try to sell of chunks of t...
More About: Personal , Personal Finance , Finance

Be Treated like a Credit Card Superstar
2008-02-09 14:47:00
Credit Card companies are raising their rates, service fees and anything else they can, especially those that need to pay their way out of the sub-prime loan mess they created. Guess who is paying for that mess...you. That is unless you stand up for yourself.In 2004 the average cost of customer acquisition for a regular credit card was $100-$120. A Platinum level customer $150-$200! And this was before the credit crunch. These figures are going up...way up. It is the law of diminishing utility. Less available good customers are available, as they already have cards, multiple actually. However the credit companies have to still hit their numbers for Wall Street so what did the do, they expanded the available customer pool by lowering barriers to entry. Lower income, lower FICO, etc.. But now that has backfired so what can they do...steal each others customers and charge their current ones as much as they can.Have you seen your offers lately? Are they getting bigger or smaller? It is ...
More About: Lindsay Lohan , Credit , Superstar , Credit Card

Personal Finance QuickTake: PayPal Rule Changes
2008-02-08 22:28:00
PayPal rankled many of its customers by hiking fees and various recent policy changes. One was particularly irritating: eBay's plan hold payments sent through its PayPal payment service for up to 21 days in certain circumstances. Basically the freeze will apply to accounts that eBay believes are high risk. Holding on to the funds makes refunds faster to return if there are issues. The question is; "What is high risk?"According to the report, you Feedback can be one way to hold up the payment process, to the point where 2 negative comment in a 30-day period, could hold up your payments. As the article asked: Can PayPal legally freeze funds at will for up to three weeks? The answer is yes. While PayPal offers interest-bearing accounts, debit cards, and other trappings traditionally associated with banks, it legally isn't one.A lot of Bloggers are eBay sellers and traders as well and while I would like to see buyers protected, I hope those who are honest don't get punished!How about...
More About: Personal , Personal Finance , Finance , Paypal , Take

KISS me Wealthy!
2008-02-08 14:41:00
I think it was Sleeping Beauty where the all the poor Girl needed was a kiss, from Prince (not the Prince...nor Morris Day and/or the Time, that's another story). I am pretty sure it was because her family forgets to invite the crabby next door neighbor to a party.Well a KISS can help secure something in life, wealth. But the one I am referring to is the acronym: Keep It Simply Stupid!You can over-complicate budgeting and money management to the point where you literally cannot succeed. The first budget I did after our middle-one was born had 373 line items! I had a line item for...gum!What this really meant though was I had 373 potential failure points and only 1 (meet budget) success metric. Now here is the balance:Failure Points - Exceed budgetSuccess metrics - Each of my Top 10 goals, (10 success metrics); Meet my snowball target, pay all of my bills, etc..I think you get the point. These are very easy to understand success points that allow for creativity to achieve the goals....
More About: Kiss , Wealthy