How Some Financial Decisions Are Like Bounce Houses

December 07, 2012

I read this article about the increasing number of “bounce house” injuries and at first I thought it might have been a hoax. But then I remembered a bunch of kids’ birthday parties that I’ve attended and if my memory serves me correctly (and that’s not always such a sure thing!), there has been at least 1 injury at each party. One was particularly memorable because it was one of my good friends who was in the bounce house with her son and his head collided with her lower lip.  A whole lot of paper towels and a few stitches later, she had a fat lip for over a week.  Her son, to this day, jokes with her about the time he nearly knocked her out and made her go to the hospital.  (It was an urgent care center but he likes to embellish a little bit for an audience.)  Everyone loves the idea of a bounce house.  Not everyone loves the end result of jumping around in one.  They may look wonderful, but it isn’t all a 100% pure joy.  Continue reading “How Some Financial Decisions Are Like Bounce Houses”

Tips to Keep Your Holidays Debt and Stress Free

November 30, 2012

As I write this, it’s only a month before Christmas and all I’ve seen and heard today are ads about Black Friday & Cyber Monday.  I have to admit that it makes me not want to shop at all this year!  (If you’re on my Christmas list, you might want to read another planner’s blog this week!)  Continue reading “Tips to Keep Your Holidays Debt and Stress Free”

What Tootsie Rolls and Financial Aid Have in Common

November 23, 2012

Much to the chagrin of dentists everywhere, Tootsie Roll has been a staple of the candy business for a very long time.  This article talks about the Tootsie Roll Company being a very secretive organization.  And we thought it was just the CIA that operates in relative secrecy!  Tootsie Roll doesn’t give tours, they don’t give interviews to analysts and they don’t operate with much transparency.  It’s as if they have some magical mystery formulas that they don’t want the rest of us to know.  That reminds of an email that I saw from a friend at work this week… Continue reading “What Tootsie Rolls and Financial Aid Have in Common”

Work More, Stress Less?

November 09, 2012

In several of my recent conversations with employees of companies that have access to our financial helpline, I have talked to people about their monthly budget.  Often, the line between success and failure for their monthly budget has been a matter of a few hundred dollars per month.  In a good month, they have $100-$200 in excess cash flow.  But…it seems like there is NEVER a good month and there are ALWAYS extra expenses.  A car breaks down, kids get sick and need to see the doctor and get a prescription or there is some other expense that blows up the monthly budget. For people who are in this situation, there are a few things you can do to make it more manageable and reduce the stress level of the situation.  The cumulative level of stress was very evident in their voices, and the reason they called the financial helpline was to find a solution to their budget issues but also to drastically reduce the daily level of stress. Continue reading “Work More, Stress Less?”

What We Can Learn From the Top 25% of Credit Scorers

November 02, 2012

One of the things that I believe is that one of the best ways to learn how to do something well is to learn from someone who is already doing that thing very well.  It’s a long established tradition.  When we want to improve our golf game, we get lessons from a pro.  When we want to make progress in our fitness levels, we can work with a personal trainer.  When we want to create a new dinner, we can turn on the Food Network and, after salivating because of the absolutely amazing way that some of the dishes are prepared, find a new dish to put on your dinner table.  This concept can be translated directly into the financial world and recently it has.  This article from FICO talks about the habits of those with credit scores over 785, which places them in the top 25% of all credit scores.  Continue reading “What We Can Learn From the Top 25% of Credit Scorers”

What I Learned From Being a Victim of Identity Theft

October 26, 2012

A few years ago I was the victim of identity theft. Someone in Texas (where I’ve never lived…) was using my name and Social Security number and had gotten an apartment, satellite TV, utilities, and accounts with some local food establishments.  Oh, they went to the doctor a lot too.  Continue reading “What I Learned From Being a Victim of Identity Theft”

Beware of Reverse Mortgages

October 19, 2012

One of the hidden nightmares of the financial crisis over the last few years is coming back into the news again.  And, I’m hoping that it won’t stay hidden forever.  I’m talking about reverse mortgages.  Continue reading “Beware of Reverse Mortgages”

Is Your Budget Penny Wise and Pound Foolish?

October 12, 2012

I talk to a lot of people about their cash flow, budgeting, and debt and when we dive into the details of their monthly cash flow, we tend to look for relatively easy ways to trim spending.  We will look at things like keeping vs. ditching a land line, cutting back on the premium movie channels, and cooking more and going out to eat less.  These are all worthy pursuits and can all lower your monthly cash outflow for years to come.  But I’ll put them in the “micro” budgeting category.  Micro budgeting can save money, for sure.  But is it possible to make an even bigger impact on your budget?  Continue reading “Is Your Budget Penny Wise and Pound Foolish?”

What We Can Learn From “The Will: Family Secrets Revealed”

October 05, 2012

Sometimes my job is really fun!!!  Today is one of those days.  I had the opportunity to check out a TV show before it airs.  That made me feel a little bit like a celebrity.  Here’s the story.  There’s a show on Investigation Discovery called The Will: Family Secrets Revealed and I had never seen the show before.  Because of our blog here, someone from the channel contacted us to let us know that Season 3 is starting soon and graciously allowed one of us to preview a few episodes.  Luckily for me, I was the one who got to do this.  I think I have a new favorite show and I’ll be DVR’ing the series now!  Continue reading “What We Can Learn From “The Will: Family Secrets Revealed””

How Buying a Video Game System Could Save Me Money

September 28, 2012

My kids always laugh at me when talking about video games.  Apparently, I’m the only dad that they know who does not own a video game system.  All of their friends have dads who play video games with their kids and when they are talking about “leveling up” or some new “zone” or “world,” I have absolutely no idea what they mean.  I’m a big fan of doing things with them that don’t involve video game consoles.   In fact, I haven’t played video games since Atari was “the” game system.  But, unbeknownst to my kids, that may be changing in the near future.  Continue reading “How Buying a Video Game System Could Save Me Money”

Should You Pay Your Mortgage Off Early?

September 21, 2012

A topic that comes up all the time in my conversations with people looking for guidance is the usefulness of paying off a mortgage vs. keeping it.  This article talks about three homeowners who developed plans to pay off their mortgages in order to reach goals that are important to them.  One wanted to have his mortgage paid off prior to retiring so that his cost of living in retirement was very manageable.  It’s easier to retire comfortably if your biggest cash outflow item (for nearly everyone I talk to their mortgage or rent payment is by far their largest monthly obligation) disappears.  Imagine how little you would need to live on if you didn’t have to pay rent or a mortgage!  Another homeowner wanted to pay off the mortgage prior to their children going to college so that their monthly income could be used to fund education for the kids and the kids wouldn’t be saddled with massive student loan debt upon graduation.  The last one wanted to aggressively pay additional principal on their mortgage in a bigger house while they had kids at home and after the kids were gone, they downsized and used the equity in the big house to fully pay for a much smaller, empty nest house.   These homeowners all had goals and reached them.  Continue reading “Should You Pay Your Mortgage Off Early?”

How I Saved Money on Some Normally Big Ticket Items

September 14, 2012

I was looking at Facebook a few days ago because I got a notification that my daughter had posted a few hundred pictures and I wanted to see what they were.  She’s a pretty talented photographer already at age 16 and some of her photos make me see something I’ve seen a million times in a completely different light.  As a guy with absolutely ZERO artistic talent, I am amazed by those who do have talent in that area.  It makes me wonder if I’m really her father, because I can’t even draw a recognizable stick figure, but I guess that’s a topic better suited for Jerry Springer than for a financial blog, huh? Continue reading “How I Saved Money on Some Normally Big Ticket Items”

How the Wealthy Think Differently Than the Rest of Us….

September 07, 2012

Last week, I talked about the messages you give yourself prior to setting goals.  In the next 60 days, you’re going to hear a whole lot of political messages talking about the poor, the middle class, and the rich.  I’m not going to get into a political discussion about which policy positions I think would be best for the country, but I will talk about some financial behaviors and attitudes discussed by the author, Steve Siebold, of a book called How Rich People Think.  I read an article written about 21 ways rich people think differently.  While they are all important differences, a number of them stand out as things that we can all do better and perhaps take our own financial lives to greater heights.  If we all started to think a little bit more like this, I can only imagine what differences  we could make in our lives and the lives of our families.  (Disclaimer:  I am NOT part of the top 1% of income earners in the country. I just happen to have been fortunate enough to advise a portion of that population in my career) Continue reading “How the Wealthy Think Differently Than the Rest of Us….”

What I Overheard at Panera…

August 31, 2012

I was sitting in a coffee shop the other day trying to get some work done.  The power at my house was out because of some pretty wicked storms, so I had to relocate to my local Panera for a great salad and lots of coffee.  For those who haven’t been to Panera, it’s a pretty wide open place and you can often overhear the conversations of others.  I tend to be a “glass half full” kind of guy and I’m always looking for ways to solve problems.  My kids know that if they come to me with a problem, my first question is going to be “what do you think you (we) could do to fix that problem?”  (I am hoping to help raise future problem solvers.) Continue reading “What I Overheard at Panera…”

The “Secret Sauce” Behind Successful Investing

August 24, 2012

Much to the chagrin of dentists everywhere, Tootsie Roll has been a staple of the candy business for a very long time.  This article talks about the Tootsie Roll Company being a very secretive organization. (And we thought it was just the CIA that operates in relative secrecy)!  Tootsie Roll doesn’t give tours, they don’t give interviews to analysts and they don’t operate with much transparency. It’s as if they have some magical mystery formulas that they don’t want the rest of us to know. Continue reading “The “Secret Sauce” Behind Successful Investing”

The Dictionary Now Includes What???

August 17, 2012

I was in the car today and I heard a quick news story about some new words being added to the dictionary. “Brain cramp,” “bucket list,” “energy drink,” “life coach.” and “aha moment” were added to the dictionary, and the most talked about “new words” are “F-bomb,” “sexting,” and “man cave.” I have a feeling that if my high school English teacher weighed in with her opinion of these new words, her opinion would not be favorable.  She was not a fan of “can’t,” “wouldn’t,” and “should’ve.” She preferred that we write both words without the apostrophe rather than use the contraction.  She felt that we were getting lazy with our language and that traditional, established English had more than enough words to adequately express anything that you want to express.  Sometimes evolution/progress is good, sometimes…not so much.  That goes for our language as well as our financial lives! Continue reading “The Dictionary Now Includes What???”

A “Financial Meterorite” Doesn’t Necessarily Mean the End of the World

August 10, 2012

My friends have told me for a long time that I just might be one of the nerdiest, geekiest people they know.  I’m starting to believe that they might just have a point.  I was absolutely fascinated earlier this week (who says fascinated anymore?) when I read a story about a massive meteorite crater that was found in the Canadian Arctic.  Somewhere between 130 million and 350 million years ago (when I was a young man according to my children) a meteorite crashed into Earth and left a crater that is 15 miles wide.  15 MILES!!!!  That thing came falling out of the sky at a ridiculous rate of speed and created a huge dent in the Earth’s surface.  There was also one found earlier this summer that was 62 miles wide and 3 billion years old.  The photos of these craters are absolutely amazing.  When you think about how something falling out of the sky, completely unexpected, can have significant disruption to the Earth’s surface, it reminds me of some of the stories I’ve heard from people about how they’ve rebounded from severe “financial meteorites”. Continue reading “A “Financial Meterorite” Doesn’t Necessarily Mean the End of the World”

The Brady Bunch and My Observations On a Younger Generation

August 03, 2012

The Brady Bunch is coming back!!!  I was very excited to read about that!!! As a kid, I was a huge Brady Bunch fan and if I see it on when I’m scrolling through the channels, I almost always stop and watch for a little bit. I even think Marcia Brady might have been my first celebrity crush. The show is just an absolute classic.  My kids even like it.  And, I can still sing the theme song without hesitating on the lyrics. (For your own protection, I absolutely won’t link an MP3 file here so that you can hear my rendition; your ears would bleed…) Continue reading “The Brady Bunch and My Observations On a Younger Generation”

Why I Hate Credit Scores

July 20, 2012

Some of the most frequently asked questions that I hear in my individual financial coaching sessions deal with credit scores.  How can I improve my score?  If I mess up, how badly is my score hurt?  How long does it take for my score to improve once I get my act together and start having great financial habits?  These are all very good and very relevant questions for many people.  But one of my longer term goals in life is to have no use for a credit score and to not care one little bit what my credit score is.  Continue reading “Why I Hate Credit Scores”