Back in the day, it was called keeping up with the Joneses. (Those darn Joneses. First they got a color TV. Then they got a new Studebaker! Now Jimmy’s getting braces and they’re talking about sending Mary to college!!!) Nowadays, it’s more like keeping up with the Kardashians. (Oh, the new iPhone 6Q is out?…
More than half of Americans say they make New Year’s resolutions, yet only 8 percent are successful at achieving those resolutions. EIGHT PERCENT!! On the face of it, that statistic is pretty depressing, but when you start to think about it, it makes some sense. Setting goals and planning for success is easy. It’s fun…
To really get to the next level to be a gold star conscious spender you have to start assessing your thoughts before and after you make a purchase and question the validity of those thoughts. As you list spending and estimate how much you will be spending, I find that some things have zero emotional…
Bacon is the solution for spending less and saving more. And cheese. Lemme explain. There were years when I was working my butt off building my business and working late hours. I’d stop working for the day, head home and pick up some take-out for dinner. This was happening three or four times a week.…
Try this little experiment: Go back through a month of your credit card statement and your banking statement and answer the following two questions: How many times did you eat out? How many times did you go to the grocery store? I’m not especially frugal myself, but I am organized. I know generally how many…
I’ve been a financial planner and business owner for almost 16 years and traditional finance services annoys me. Yes, there are good people there. But for the most part, it’s sucky. It’s about minimum investments and products and insurance and asset management and BLAH-BLAH-BLAH…… You start to feel like if you don’t meet someone’s minimum…
Whenever someone tells me that they hate looking at their money numbers, it reminds me of how I hate stepping on the scale after a long weekend or holiday season of excess. I KNOW that I have been behaving in a way that isn’t conducive to losing or maintaining my weight, but I went for…
I’ve mentioned before that I have been watching this awesome new sitcom called Mom. It stars Anna Faris and Allison Janney, and they are daughter and mother—-both recovering addicts—-going through all of the challenges that addicts generally face when working through sobriety. I love this show! A few weeks ago, Anna Faris’s character Christy realized…
If you’ve spent any time at all on my blog, you know I am a huge proponent of Mint budget tracking software. No, I don’t get paid to advocate for them (but hello Mint, if you want to pay me, I am totally open to that…). Mint was quite simply the first budget tracking program…
Someone recently asked me what I thought was the most important factor in financial management and wealth building, and I told them it was consistency. That doesn’t seem very sexy in the world of finance, but more than anything, it’s how you attain extraordinary financial results. Why Consistency Builds Wealth When I first started out…
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