Tag: savings

Personal Finance Beginnings: What To Tell Your Kids About Money

Personal Finance Beginnings: What To Tell Your Kids About Money

(photo: my young uncle washing his hands in an outdoor fountain in Bagnara, Calabra – Village of Pellegrina) One of the most important life skills you can teach your child is how to save or, more specifically, why it’s important to save.   My parents would often bring me to the bank as a small child and I observed my mother writing and cashing […]

Read more ›
How To Save: 21 Tips

How To Save: 21 Tips

Photo of some master elder savers. A recent newspaper article stated: The savings rate of Americans, meanwhile, jumped to 5.2 percent in the period April to June, the highest since 1998. A higher savings rate, however, could slow economic recovery because consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity. I read about the above implication over and over again […]

Read more ›
How Much Money Is Enough For Your Emergency Cash Fund

How Much Money Is Enough For Your Emergency Cash Fund

Now more than ever the idea of an emergency cash fund is critical.  Many personal finance gurus recommend that individuals and/or families put aside at least 3 months of living expenses in a conservative vehicle (such as a CD, money market fund, or traditional savings account).   Living expenses include: mortgage, taxes, utilities, food, gas, and car payments.   An emergency […]

Read more ›
Becoming Economically Resilient During Tough Times

Becoming Economically Resilient During Tough Times

Trent over at The Simply Dollar blog had an interesting post this morning on “A Long December”; that is, how, for many American’s December will be a tough month given job cuts, gift buying pressue, investment/401K performance, and the poor economy in general. Trent’s post got me thinking about my childhood and how my parents (pic: that’s my mother on […]

Read more ›
How to Set Financial Goals and the Work Needed to Get There: The Simple Version

How to Set Financial Goals and the Work Needed to Get There: The Simple Version

Becoming financially independent is about setting goals and staying on track in order to achieve those goals.  In my view, most Americans are in poor financial shape (i.e., living on credit, spending more than they earn,  not saving enough or at all, etc.) because they have not set financial goals, partly due to not knowing how to do so (that’s my […]

Read more ›
Classic New York Times Headline: Given a Shovel, Americans Dig Deeper Into Debt

Classic New York Times Headline: Given a Shovel, Americans Dig Deeper Into Debt

I’m convinced that your average American citizen has the financial IQ of a cockroach.  After all, where else in the Western world is the savings rate less than 1 percent (the instinct in the US is to spend rather than save and that’s a problem)!  Read the latest on America‘s financial disaster (consumer debt and the mortgage crisis).

Read more ›