Affordable Romance
As any man who has ever tried to impress a woman can tell you, a romantic dinner can end up costing you a small fortune. When factoring in valet services, bottles of wine, appetizers, two courses and dessert . . . the bill easily climbs into the triple digits. What’s worse, when you take a date to a fancy restaurant, it’s considered extremely taboo to ask her to stick to tap water rather than bottled. However, there are other ways to avoid racking up a ridiculously high tab. Instead of taking your lady out to dinner, opt for brunch instead. Equally romantic, the prices are less than their … [Read More...]
Financial Lessons From A Hurricane
Back in 2005, I was a new freshman in college. I drove to the university I was supposed to go to, Tulane in New Orleans, the city that I am from. I put my mini fridge, my clothes, my ten pairs of shoes, and my books in my dorm room like thousands of college students across the country. Except, for me, that was the last time I set foot there. A mere minutes after I placed my belongings in my dorm room, the city spread an evacuation notice for Hurricane Katrina, and my life changed forever. After the devastation, the arduous task of helping my parents clean up our house, and the emotional … [Read More...]
Avoid the Dangers of Using a Credit Card this Holiday Season
Many people fall victim to holiday credit card pitfalls every year due to a lack of knowledge about credit, in addition to failure to adequately prepare for holiday shopping using a credit card. Should you open a retailer branded credit card? One of the major pitfalls of holiday credit card usage is that consumers often get convinced by retailers to open a department store branded credit card in order to realize about 10 to 15% savings on purchases at those retailers. While these savings may be tempting, most people don't realize that the credit cards offered by these retailers generally … [Read More...]
Best Alternatives to Credit Cards
Credit cards are often considered essential for many people, especially those who love to go out shopping often or don't want to carry around cash. However, credit cards are also the leading cause of debt and can be dangerous to use if you really don't have the money to pay it off. Luckily, there are many other options that can replace a credit card and work just as a well including low interest rate credit cards. Besides that, it might help you control your spending and keep you from owning a lot of money later. Here are the best alternatives to credit cards: 1.Charge cards: If you want … [Read More...]
How to Write an eBay Ad That Sells
One of the best ways to make a little extra cash each month is to use the internet to sell items that you’re no longer using. Selling items at a more traditional yard sale, or even on Craigslist, often means you have to accept low prices in order to sell your things. On auction sites like eBay, however, buyers look for specific brands and manufacturers, so they often are willing to pay higher prices. Selling on eBay, though, can be difficult if you don’t include the right information. Make sure your ad always has the following elements: 1. Photos An eBay as with no photos will never … [Read More...]
How Credit History Can Affect What You Pay for Insurance
It’s pretty common knowledge that people with great credit histories get better rates on home mortgages, auto loans, and other types of financing. Here’s a fact that’s not as well known: your credit history also determines your insurance score – a number that can have a major impact on how much you pay for home and auto insurance. Insurance Scoring [1] In recent years, insurance scores have become one of the things insurance companies consider when calculating home and auto coverage rates. The scores are considered along with age, driving record, claim history, and other factors, … [Read More...]
Never Forget: We Will Take Nothing Out of the World
As Christians in the personal finance world, we walk a fine line. We need to advocate for personal financial responsibility, for being productive, for being good stewards of our money and for providing reasonably for contingencies for ourselves and our families. That effort has long arms—it extends to income, debt, investing, retirement planning and a host of other money related activities. Against that backdrop we also have consider another reality that our faith teaches us: we will not be here forever. That has broad implications for our finances. We’re not building empires here In … [Read More...]
10 Tips for Home Made Meals and a Fatter Wallet
Eating out at restaurants is one of the leading culprits of overspending in this food-centric culture. It’s easy to justify the steep prices of going out to eat because it’s social, convenient, and exciting to try new flavors and local restaurants. Throughout my endeavors to reduce this expensive habit, I've identified 10 tips to make eating-in delicious, manageable, on budget and entertaining. 1. Cook in Pairs: Dining at home can be just as social as going to a restaurant when you cook with a friend or partner. Between the washing, chopping and cooking, there are plenty of tasks to keep … [Read More...]
5 Ways To Save Money At The Grocery Without Cutting Coupons!
Where I live in Grenada, food prices are sky high. I’m not sure if it’s because of the tourism or if it’s just pain expensive to import so many things. Either way, I’ve had to figure out a few ways to cut my grocery budget. The catch is that because I live in Caribbean, the store doesn't accept regular coupons. They don’t really do that here as far as I know. So, I’ve found a few ways to save money without having to clip them. I know many of you have very busy lives and might not have time to clip either, so here’s hoping these techniques help you as much as they've helped … [Read More...]
“Buy Term and Invest the Difference” – But Do You?
If you’ve recently shopped for life insurance then you know that whole life insurance can be expensive. For this reason most people go with term life insurance instead. What we often hear is “buy term and invest the difference”, but is that what most people do? In truth, if you’re merely buying term life insurance to save money—and you never invest the savings—you may be losing a lot of the benefit that term insurance provides. Permanent life insurance versus temporary life insurance Whole life has three advantages over term life and all three are big. First, whole life is … [Read More...]
5 Economics Lessons Obama didn’t Learn from the Great Depression
One of the more cliché statements one hears in politics is “those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it,” stated by George Santayana. Unfortunately, this statement is very true. And nowhere else is it more noticeable than how the federal government, and in particular President Obama, has attempted to handle the Great Recession. It is easy to try to justify the president’s decisions by discussing the enormous responsibilities he has on his shoulders and the incredible duties he has to attend to every day. The problem I have with this argument is that not only are many of … [Read More...]
Three Financial Decisions Newlyweds Need to Make
Getting married involves dozens of big and small financial decisions, and if you successfully negotiate combining your finances, it’s easy to feel like you've done it all. When my husband and I had been married for a year, I thought we’d done pretty well. Joint checking, joint savings, one credit card for each of us, and no debt. We were exactly where we needed to be. Or so I thought, until I talked to a financial planner. Turns out, savings and credit weren't the only part of our finances that needed attention. There were other key decisions we needed to make that … [Read More...]
