A friend of mine sent me an article from MSN that talks about CEO wages relative to the “Average Joe’s” wages. I’ve heard similiar information before but this one reminded me of how different someone’s life is down in the trenches as compared to an average CEO of a Fortune 500 company. A few of the statistics from the article: The CEO’s at the biggest
How Do You Know If You Are Saving Enough?
I wish I had a nickel for every time this question has popped in to my head. I thought about this a lot more when my net worth was quite low and I had just gotten started. It’s hard to imagine that you are on the right path to retirement when you only have $10,000 put away in your 401k or IRA. So how do you
Time To Spend A Little Money
My birthday is next week. I’ll be turning the ripe age of 36. While this isn’t exactly a major roadside attraction along the highway of life it is important because it’s MY birthday. :) Anyway, I stopped by my sister’s house last night for awhile and while I was there I tried out their new Nintendo WII. It’s absolutely a kick in the pants. That’s all I can
Keeping Score – Personal Finance Voyeurism
I’m going to confess something. I absolutely love to hear about other people’s finances. Why? I don’t know. I guess I’m just a competitive jerk that loves to see how I stack up. Okay, that’s not true but I do love to see how I stack up relative to others in my age category. Knowing the details of someone else’s finances doesn’t help my financial
It’s Not What You Make, It’s What You Spend
Earl Crawley earns $20,000 a year as a parking lot attendant. Even with such a small amount of income he has managed to create a nest egg of over $500,000 in the last 44 years. If Earl is not an inspiration to you then you are a lost cause. You know those simple savings tips that you read on all the PF blogs? They can
Son Won’t Leave Home
I read an article on Salon.com about a woman who’s 30 year old son won’t leave home. Not only will he not leave but he also won’t help share the costs of living there. Every time the mother brings up the fact that she really needs him to help with the costs, he blows up and gets angry. She’s afraid of making too big of
Keep That Car For 15 Years
CNN Money has an article that says you should buy a car and drive it for 15 years. They used data from Consumer Reports and cited some owners that have really racked up the miles on their cars. http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/30/autos/cr_drive_200k/index.htm?postversion=2007083113 I think I need to bookmark this article and read it once per day. I shudder to think about how much money I’ve given away over
Misc Rambling
Have you noticed the market hasn’t been doing so well lately? :) Yeah, me too. My 401k has taken a bit of a beating lately but I know that I just have to hold on for the ride. Rather than fret about the unrealized losses I’ve been seeing, I need to remember that the dips give me an opportunity to buy the same investments at
Mindless Wandering In the Land Of Retail
I had some free time yesterday so I decided to do a little window shopping. Why? you ask. I just don’t know. I haven’t wandered the aisles of stores in months. I figured I’d just kill a little time. As I headed towards the local shopping district I was amazed at the sheer number of cars on the road for a Sunday afternoon. It almost
The Magnetic Draw Of Consumption
I don’t know what the deal is lately but I find myself yearning for stuff. Unfortunately it isn’t cheap stuff either. In the last week I have been looking at: -A new laptop -A new desktop PC -A GPS unit -Granite counters for the lake house -A different truck I definitely don’t need a new laptop. No question about that. If I end up buying