Tax Refunds Are Bad for You

As usual at this time of the year I am once again hearing folks talk about what they are going to do with their tax refund. No matter how many tax and financial advisers suggest that it is not good planning to be getting a big tax refund, everyone seems to love it.

Why? Because of what they can buy with it. In these economic times I expect to hear people talk about saving or paying off bills with the refund, but instead they are talking about…

Continue…

Slow to Learn About Money | Too Soon Old; Too Late Smart

Why are we so slow to learn about money? It is an old saying that we have all heard before: “We get too soon old and too late smart.” Sadly, there is all too much truth in that line, and nowhere is this more apparent than when it comes to money.

I think it is an interesting question to ask why this is so.

Continue…

Are You Ready to Retire?

Occasionally a statistic pops out at you that sort of hits you in the head. I read one this afternoon. It’s not a surprising number for me, but it is one that is downright scary when you think about some of the realities of our times.

I read this in the Retirement Confidence Survey published by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. It reports that in 2010, twenty-seven percent of Americans say they have less than $1,000 in savings. Furthermore, more than half of workers (54 percent) report that the total value of their household’s savings and investments, excluding the value of their primary home and any defined benefit plans (there are only 38,000 of these), is less than $25,000.

Continue…

Don’t Be Sabotaged by Stimulus

Without getting sidetracked by politics (not the focus of this blog), it is still important to be aware of the potential disaster in the path of anyone who lets government attempts to stimulate the economy divert them into unsound spending habits.

In general, governments appear incompetent, at a minimum, when it comes to recognizing the cause of our economic woes and the appropriate steps needed to fix the problems.

However, many individuals are choosing to become responsible, intelligent decision makers when it comes to their personal finances. You and I can be among them.

Continue…

Too Depressed for New Year’s Resolutions?

If you are a news addict, as I tend to be, you may also tend to get a little depressed these days. This is especially true when it comes to the economy! How can we hope to do anything more this year than just hold on for dear life in the light of all the negative financial forecasts?

Now we may find ourselves several weeks into a new year with few if any new goals for the new year, financial or otherwise. But is the hope to just be able to hold on for another year enough? Or even as reasonable as it seems.

My answer may or may not surprise you. But in my opinion there has never been a better time to become successful with our money than there is today!

Continue…

Why a Success With Money Blog? (part 2)

In addition to an opportunity to deal with the financial situations we all face in the context of current events, as discussed in the previous post, there is a second reason for launching this blog—the opportunity to get feedback from you, the reader, and to have an opportunity to learn from you and others who have found successful ways to master their money.

No one has a monopoly on the truth. And equally important, no one has all the answers to the problems we face.

Continue…

Why a Success With Money Blog? (part 1)

There are two primary reasons for initiating our blog in conjunction with the Success With Money website. Today I want to discuss one of them, the need to deal with current issues.

My primary focus has always been to help as many people as possible to become as successful as possible with their money. That has called first of all for an explanation of the basic principles and methods needed to make that possible, a program that calls naturally for a static site.

But with that project largely in hand we now want to start sharing ideas about how to apply those principles and methods to the experiences we now face in an economically turbulent world.

Continue…

New! The Success With Money Blog

The Success With Money blog is a natural step ahead for the Success With Money web site.

Success With Money Blog Launches January 1, 2011

For its first three years the Success With Money website slowly expanded and rounded out its content to cover all of the basics for personal financial success. With that foundation well established (although there will continue to be regular updates, expanded coverage, and new application tools), this blog adds a new dimension.

Continue…