Living for today - Planning for Tomorrow
by: Me
http://biz.yahoo.com/special/save05_article2.htmlWe are a nation of “Spenders”. This is a great article that talks about our nation and how we are the richest on the planet and have the highest GDP, but yet rank WAAAAAAY last in savings http://images.businessweek.com/ss/05/06/global_savings/content.htmThis is the map that shows what the countries contribution to the global net savings/debt is. Notice the U.S. is at ($724) billion. No one else even comes
by: Me
I have manually kept track of my finances with an Excel spreadsheet for years now. It’s got great charts, and it is doing the trick, but I’ve always wanted to keep track in MS Money or Quicken etc. Each time I’ve tried, I find that I can never get my accounts balanced. Any ideas on how to get started? Are there any secrets? I’ve used
by: Me
This is very cool. It lets you choose your occupation, education level, income level, and net worth and tells you what class you would be considered to be in. It’s interesting to see how they’ve rated some of the different professions etc. Very much worth your time to check it out: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/national/20050515_CLASS_GRAPHIC/index_01.html
by: Me
So, I’m sitting here having my morning coffee and reading the Sunday paper. Safeway (grocery chain) has a full page ad in the paper that says if you spend $50 in their store, you can get an extra 3 cents off per gallon of gas. If you car holds 15 gallons of gas, that’s a whopping $.45. So, what is that? Less than a 1
by: Me
This is a great article that lists the different debt levels for mortgages, cars, consumer credit, student loans etc. The numbers are pretty darned high. I’m glad that we aren’t staring at any of these numbers in our house (with the exception of the mortgage). Anyway, interesting to read through. Check it out here: http://money.cnn.com/2003/09/25/pf/millionaire/q_debtstackup/index.htm
by: Me
I read an article about people that are trying to flip real estate. It just reinforces my opinion that, even with real estate prices as high as they are, you still need a clue to make money in real estate. The article makes a couple good points though about the fact that with so many people buying properties to hold either short term, or long
by: Me
If you haven’t been to http://www.fatwallet.com, I highly recommend it. I think that, as a substitute for throwing away my money on cars, I have turned to electronics as a decent substitute. You can spend pretty significantly on electronics and still not lose the kind of money that you can on a new car (think depreciation). Now, I don’t spend a ton of money on
by: Me
Well, according to this article, we have a record number of millionaires out there. That’s great news, unless you aren’t one of them. I’m on my way, but I haven’t made it yet, and the road looks long and bumpy. Highlights: There are 7.5 million millionaires in the country now A 21% increase in millionaires year over year There were only 6 million millionaires in
by: Me
You have got to read this article in the Seattle PI. It looks at Payday loan companies and what kind of interest they charge. How about 391 percent? I just don’t know how people can offer this and sleep at night. It’s interesting (not surprising) that they saturate areas that have lower incomes and prey on the people that can least afford to use their
by: Me
I have an opinion. Okay, well I have a lot of opinions and here is one of them. Everyone that is able to, should buy a home. I’ve read, on many blogs, and other articles, that home ownership isn’t necessarily for everyone. I won’t disagree with that but I think it’s only that rare person.Here is my very unscientific opinion on the subject. It’s no