No time of the year can be more detrimental to one’s personal finances than the next 6 weeks of holiday celebrating and shopping. Between, shopping for gifts, preparing large meals, entertaining and friendly gatherings, a household budget can become strained and cause people to rely on credit cards, savings and even expensive payday (or auto [...]

Early in my adult life and financial education, I worked full time while going to school full time. I was very familiar with experiencing “more month than monthly pay.” I couldn’t understand why I was rarely able to meet my monthly obligations because on paper I earned more income than I owed each month, [...]

The budget deficit is at $1.4 trillion….the highest mark since World War II. However, considering all the economic data, the $1.4 trillion is understandable and a sign of the economic times the nation is experiencing. One must remember that the government gets a bulk of its money from the taxpayer and with the [...]

Any unplanned and/or unaccounted for holiday can leave a month feeling a little “longer” for anyone living on a “month to month” budget. Particular attention should be given to the holiday months and the high expenditure amount associated with this time of the year. Typically, the time spanning from Thanksgiving to New Years place [...]

As companies are laying off personnel and employees are choosing early-out options on retirement, many people are found with a “larger-than-pay-period” check in their hands in the form of severance pay. These compensation payments place large sums of cash in the hands of people after lean financial times and leave the recipient facing tons [...]

Okay, the holidays are here. …I was lured to purchase candy by a Halloween display…away from the regular candy aisle. In addition, I witnessed large quantities of canned pumpkins and cranberry products being stocked. Later, while watching the ball games, I noticed creditors gearing up for the spend-crazy, winter holidays. The creditors [...]

Kids have returned to school and between supplies, clothes and books needed to help those little darlings learn as much as possible, now is also the perfect opportunity to educate your youth on some sound principles of personal finance.
Allow kids to view and tabulate receipts for some or all of the goods purchased [...]

Each summer millions of people rush to the gym to improve their health and physical image in preparation for fun times in the sun. However, what’s a great outer appearance if your financial stress is eating cutting years off your life expectancy? However, don’t [...]

I always know when a state’s lottery has reached an unusually high amount by the lines in the stores selling lottery tickets and the general buzz around offices and at the popular lunch spots. It seems most of us are all drawn to financial wealth of enormous proportions and even more so, when the [...]

Recently a conversation on personal finance led to the statement, one has to be “rich” to be financially literate. Well, that statement couldn’t be further from the truth. An awareness of financial literacy allows one to determine their financial means and ability to navigate their personal finances to not only meet financial [...]