Living for today - Planning for Tomorrow
A team of psychologists may have discovered why money can’t buy happiness. Pictures of dollar bills, fantasies of wealth and wads of Monopoly money arouse feelings of self-sufficiency that result in selfish and often anti-social behavior, according to a study reported Friday in the journal Science. Read the entire article here
Every now and then I wonder if I’m too much of a tightwad. I’ll confess that there are a few things I do to try to keep our costs down. In no particular order: Religiously turn off the lights (and usually turn on the CFL bulbs instead of regular light bulbs (We have some of each in the house due to preferences) Try to go
It’s times like this that I wish I was rich. Heck, I don’t even need to be filthy rich. Just average rich would be outstanding. I’ve heard people say that rich people just have a different set of problems. Well, I’m ready to try those out for awhile. If I could just find a way to work my way in to that economic demographic. Lately
I watched a show this weekend that highlighted 7 lottery winners. These lottery winners were a bit unusual because they actually still had a little of their money left. Their jackpots ranged from 2.4 million all the way up to 91 million. The show highlighted how many of these people had been extremely down on their luck before they won. One was living in a
It’s week three of the new schedule at our house. Things have been going well, but I’ve been expecting that sooner or later I’d need to take a sick day to stay home with our daughter. Today was the day. It just doesn’t make sense for my wife to stay home with her at this point. She is only “temping” and doesn’t get any paid
I have to confess. I really enjoy reading about other people’s finances and day to day dealings with money. I wish that Oprah would have a weekly Debt Diet episode so that I can see more families who are either struggling with their finances, or are doing exceptionally well with them. Honestly, I think I’d rather see a reality show about families that are doing
I’m now the proud owner of a partially completed second home. Okay, we are going to call it a cabin but it’s a 30X32 building. The first floor is all one large garage. The second floor is a two bedroom 1 bath apartment, I guess you’d call it. When it’s done it will have hardwood floors and granite in the kitchen. I’ve been looking around
Here’s an interesting article on the costs of keeping someone alive, and when it might not be worth it. My personal opinion on this is that I would not sacrifice the rest of my family’s life and money to try to stay alive a little longer. http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/08/15 What would you do if the doctor said, “You’ve got 3 months to live. We might be able
I keep reading about all the people that are one step from doomsday. Most of these people are dealing with adjustable rate mortgage increases. Why did they get an adjustable rate mortgage in the last couple years? From a purely financial perspective, it seemed like a riskier approach because interest rates were some of the lowest in 40 years. I can appreciate that the low
Awhile back I watched a series called “Country Boys” on PBS. The series was about two young men who were dealing with life in Kentucky. One guy, “Chris” lived in what I would call utter poverty. His family lived in a single wide mobile. His dad was a lifelong alcoholic that ultimately died of liver disease. His mother was an uneducated woman who drifted from