When I was growing up, my parents would get the urge every once in awhile to impart money management skills to my siblings and me. They would experiment with different systems for dispensing allowances and organizing income, but most failed due to the lack of discipline on both their part and ours.
Not every system was a total failure though. One such system, the Four-Jar Approach, involved each child possessing four plastic, transparent jars into which income was divided for four purposes: Spending, Retirement, College, and Taxes. Now that I think about it, I never knew where the taxes were supposed to go once they landed in the jar, and what we were being taxed on. Perhaps under the Four-Jar Approach, my parents were entitled to take administrative fees out of allowances. But hey, if it was on purpose, it was cleverly executed.
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Honey, what happens when you have TOO MUCH money? I said to Emma a few days ago. She must’ve thought that we either won the lottery or her husband went crazy, both of which required more attention. With her eyes wide open (I seriously thought it was going to pop out), she said “WHAT DID YOU SAY?.?”.
Let’s imagine with me for a moment that we have enough money to a point where we don’t need to work. Let’s also assume that we don’t really need to think about it much because we also have a wealth management company in charge of handling our assets. How would your life be like? How would your life change?
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I have credit card debts to pay off, student loans to service, bills to pay and a down payment to save up for. I can’t afford to save for retirement.
Sound familiar? With all these obligations, how the heck are we supposed to start saving for retirement, something that could be decades away?
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Making ends meet is more difficult than ever. For families that need childcare, the expenses can be overwhelming. Good childcare is expensive, but it’s not like bad childcare to save a few dollars is an option. Finding a solution can involve some creativity, but the good news is that it can be done.
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I handed him my debt card and the cashier asked if I wanted to charge it credit or debit. Is he insane?
A few years ago when I first got my debit card, I was confused whenever a cashier asked me whether I wanted to charge my card using credit or debit. Debit please, I always said, wondering whether those people recognized that it’s actually a bank card. Eventually, I found out that my debit card was capable of transactions through the credit card network as well. It would still draw money from my bank account though, so the only difference seemed to be just signing versus punching my pin.
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