After the dogwoods bloom, you can start to see a fevered glint in the eyes of some homeowners. Suddenly, hardware stores and home improvement centers are overflowing on warm Saturday afternoons, and the sound of hammers banging, power tools humming and Gus down the street cursing at the bare studs in his third bedroom fill the air. Spring is the official start of renovation season, and every year it can bring on headaches, stress and maxed out credit cards. But it doesn’t have to be this way. After five years of renovating a 1921 bungalow, I’ve learned that although home renovation will never be an easy or seamless process, asking yourself a series of questions before you begin can help you make better decisions up front—before you’re several grand into the project and are surrounded by the remains of your kitchen walls.
[ continue reading… ]
I read the book “The Millionaire Next Door” ten years ago, in 2001, shortly after the painful dot-com bust. At the time, I had felt that I needed to reinforce my basic belief system about handling money, the value of money, and what it means to be “wealthy.” Now, after the Great Recession and with a still-shaky economy and a high unemployment rate, the book is as relevant as ever – if not more so.
Define “Wealthy”
When I had first read the book, I really liked the basic premise, which contrasted a “wealthy lifestyle” with being truly wealthy. If I had to pick just one sentence from the book to sum it up, it would be this sentence: “Those who successfully build wealth believe that financial independence is more important than displaying high social status.”
[ continue reading… ]
Let’s be honest: even those of us who have successfully cleared the junk out of our lives have stuff. It might be easier for someone living out of a backpack to keep track of her stuff, but the fact is that we all have clutter in our lives. And, no matter how much stuff any of us have, it’s a good idea to create an inventory of the various things we own.
Of course, creating an inventory isn’t likely to be a simple matter, unless you actually are living out of the aforementioned backpack. But even just getting a list of the big stuff put together can have value. There are a lot of valuable ways that you can make use of an inventory of your possessions, especially if you set it up so that it’s electronic and accessible even when you aren’t in your home. Here are a few.
[ continue reading… ]
April is Financial Literacy Month, and that means it’s a great time to get back to financial basics. You might be surprised, as you look at your financial habits, to find out how many are bad. Sometimes we get too complacent in our finances, and let things slide a little bit. Here are some things to keep in mind as you review your money goals and practices this month:
[ continue reading… ]
My oldest son graduating from high school in two years is an event that is hard for me to believe. Becoming the parent of a young adult is not only bittersweet emotionally, it’s also a bit frantic as you scramble to make sure they have all the skills that they’ll need to live independently.
Here are five of the skills and concepts that will help him manage his money wisely that I want to be sure my son masters before he goes off to live in the dorms.
[ continue reading… ]
Changing your bank can be a major hassle — something that’s rarely worth doing without a very good reason. There are some people who seem to flit from bank to bank, usually in search of elusive high interest rates on savings accounts. But most of us wind up sticking with our banks indefinitely, and that’s not always a good thing.
There are a few situations when making a change is sensible, if not absolutely necessary. At the most basic, if there’s a problem with your bank that is not handled in a way that is satisfactory, take your business elsewhere. Beyond that, there are a few situations that point to changing banks beyond simple problems. Here are a few to consider:
[ continue reading… ]
