Apologies for the short hiatus, life gets in the way of posting at times but I’m fully re-charged and ready to dispense some tips!  Today I’d like to look at when it’s not appropriate to be frugal; after all, you don’t want to put yourself in a zero-sum game situation because you’ve become a mindless pragmatist!  Here are six areas where […]

(All photos: I posted the three photos above/below for a reason; namely, to demonstrate that, from a US perspective, my family members had a pretty tough life in 1950’s – 60’s Calabria.  However, if you look beyond the conditions in the photos and through the linen shirts that acted as work uniforms, you see happy people in tight knit groups […]

As a teenager, and then well into my late twenties, I didn’t give any thought to the winter months and the brutal cold, lack of consistent sunshine, or the large amount of time spent indoors.  However, now in my mid thirties, I have a deep hatred for the late November through mid-March timeframe.  A neurotransmitter must turn on when you […]

60 Minutes ran a segment on Sunday night on DHL (formerly Airborne Express) and how they will be shutting down their entire US hub in Wilmington, Ohio.  The job cuts in Wilmington alone will result in the lose of 10,000 area jobs.  Moreover, NPR ran a similar story on Microsoft, Pfizer, Home Dept, Caterpillar all announcing job cuts (totaling some […]

Kiplinger’s magazine ran an excellent piece in their February issue on how to cope with financial stress.  The article highlighted six key tactics to deal with a shrinking portfolio: 1. Everything passes.  Financial goings-on are cyclical, like most life events, so just wait out the negative cycles. 2. Exercise.  Working out can help with any type of stress. 3. Know […]

Good Life and Food Most people live beyond their means because they want to feel and be perceived as being wealthy.  A Coach handbag or Mercedes-Benz  sedan screams, “hey, look at me I can spend money and feel good about it!”  Feeling good about buying stuff or leading a “high-end” lifestyle is not inherently a bad thing, afterall we all […]

They say that money can’t buy happiness and I certainly agree.  However, did you ever stop to think about what money can, indeed, buy? Here is a list of ten things that money can help you buy: 1.  Money can buy peace of mind.  Do you have trouble sleeping at night because you are worried about bills or your current […]

There’s something about Warren Buffett that makes me feel warm and tingly all over and it’s not his net worth of $62 billion!  Rather it’s a combination of his personality, habits, and life philosophy.   I first saw Warren Buffett on Charlie Rose (he and Charlie are very good friends) and become captivated with him from the get go (I remember […]

Many of the best personal finance blogs I read on a daily basis, including Get Rich Slowy (which Money Magazine called the most inspiring money blog today), The Simple Dollar, Free Money Finance, and Money, Matter, and More Musings focus on how to save money or lead a frugal life, however we often hear via the media that the US economy is […]

  (photo: the Scordo and Latella families in southern Italy during the annual wheat harvest) Every time I travel to Europe (especially outside of the big cities) I notice that the stress level tends to be much lower than what we have here in the US (regardless of city or town).  Yes, big city folks tend to always be on […]