From the category archives:

Personal Finance

You’re an Impulse Buyer. Blame Yourself? Or This Chemical in Your Brain?

I read an interesting story in NPR this weekend showing how impulsiveness is tied to the chemical content in your brain. Akin to how plaintiffs attorneys have tried to use genetic makeup to explain why criminals do what they do, I wonder if people knew what their dopamine levels were in their brain, if they [...]

Read the full article →

Charitable Contributions – Avoid being Ripped Off

While people mean well by donating money to seemingly noble causes, often times that money ends up being eaten up by administrative costs, waste, or outright fraud. The other day, I came home from work and my wife was at the door with a teenage kid holding a clipboard talking about clean water and pollution [...]

Read the full article →

Is a Security System Worth It? It Depends

Last night was one of those nights I wish I had a security system. I’m a light sleeper to begin with, but when I hear a huge bang in the house, I spring out of bed, fists clenched ready to take on the invisible intruder. This happens about once a month and it drives me [...]

Read the full article →

Stolen Driver’s License? How to Protect Your Identity and Credit

The other day, my wife was at the town pool with the kids (for the first time ironically), and she had her Driver’s License stolen out of her beach bag, presumably because it was in a plastic bag with a few bucks. She had her guard down because she was sitting with other moms she [...]

Read the full article →

With Rates This Low, Should You be Borrowing to Invest?

I read a rather controversial article recently in the Wall Street Journal aptly entitled “Leverage Baby!” outlining the case for taking on debt to invest it at a higher rate. The main premise of the article was that now may be an optimal time to actually take out loans at extremely low interest rates, use [...]

Read the full article →

Extra Income vs. Saving Money – Have You Considered Everything?

I’m sometimes confronted with various options for either making additional money or saving money by doing something myself, and I then need to reconcile that with my available time. Add to that mix the financial benefits net of expenses and taxes and before you know it, it’s become a little more involved than just gross [...]

Read the full article →

Harvesting Our Own Food for Health, Fun and Savings

This weekend, the family went strawberry picking at a local organic farm. We also started a small garden last week at home. While eating organic, local farming, home gardening, sustainable foot, etc. seem like trendy fads these days, we’ve been giving these ideas a try and we like the experience and the results. How to [...]

Read the full article →

The Cost of Revenge is Staggering: A Tale of Divorce and Financial Ruin

Sometimes I’m amazed by what people do to each other – and their children. What started off as a somewhat typical occurrence in American culture (sadly) resulted in the complete ruination of a family’s future due to poor choices and impulsive behavior. I bumped in to an old friend of mine the other day and [...]

Read the full article →

Is it a Gold Bubble When You can Cash in Gold at Sears and KMart?

If last week’s story on how you could now extract gold coins from an ATM in Dubai didn’t hint at a gold bubble, and tonight’s rant by Jim Cramer about 6 reasons to buy gold (now, that’s a timely call 2 years into the run!) how about when cash-for-gold stands start popping up in big-box [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries