A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by Market Place from American Public Media. A reporter had seen some of the posts on this blog about the economy (you can read some of them here, here, here and here), and wanted to interview me. I went in for a 15 minute interview at my local NPR radio station and — not surprising to me since I’ve actually worked in radio — I ended up with a couple of small sound bites at the end of a news package focused on “ordinary” people offering ideas for fixing the economy.
But it …read more

Earlier today, I wrote a post about how encouraging educational efforts can aid in the fight against poverty. But there are plenty of other personal finance blogs out there with great Blog Action Day posts addressing the issue of poverty.
Here is a sampling of some of the other personal finance blogs involved in Blog Action Day:

That One Caveman: Educating the future

Free From Broke: Causes of poverty

Moolanomy: War on poverty
Get Rich Slowly: What you can do
Free Money Finance: You can help
My Investing Blog: More on poverty
Girls Just Wanna Have Funds: Women and poverty
Cash Money Life: Poverty in America and …read more

When it comes to personal finances, sometimes we need to remember to get back to the basics. If we focus on some of the “bigger” things like investing or crushing debt, sometimes we can get discouraged. Also, sometimes we lose sight of some of the basic truths of personal finances.
I came across two great posts recently that address two personal finance basics that we would all do well to remember: saving money and taking good care of our credit.
Saving money
This is a big one. And I’m not talking about clipping coupons and getting a “deal” on something you might not …read more

As I followed my husband around the store today, watching him take whatever he felt like and put in the cart, I asked if maybe we could start shopping with a list. After all, inflation is something that is starting to creep up on us. I’ve been very tolerant of this non-list way of shopping for seven years. But as I stood there watching the grocery total climb (while my stomach sank), it was really hard to think that not having a list was a good thing. So we’re going to try out a list next week. And hopefully …read more

Even though it has yet to be “official,” many are worried about recession. More importantly, many are worried about how their personal finances will survive a recession. Now, though, another worry is looming on the horizon: Unemployment.
With unemployment at multi-year highs, some people are wondering how they should proceed. My brother-in-law is one of these folks. He lost his job about two months ago and has yet to get another.
Wisebread offers some very practical advice about 7 things you can do if you are unemployed. Here they are, with my thoughts on the subject:

On Saturday, Liz, of Successful Blog fame, put together a Blog-to Show. Yielding Wealth participated, along with hundreds of other blogs. It is a great place to go to find new blogs to read and connect with. Here are some of my favorites that were on the Blot-to Show:

Small Biz Survival
Space Age Sage
On Simplicity
Principled Innovation
Ideas for Women

And, of course, fellow b5 blogs Golden Pencil and Home Biz Notes participated as well.

Well, it really isn’t right now. But Jon Stewart can make it seem so. You might have already seen it, but it’s worth another look.
Happy Friday!

One of the things that can exacerbate the current economic condition is panic, and the thought that this is the only time such an economic problem has befallen the United States. However, economic down cycles are natural — the unreasonable thing is expecting unlimited and constant growth.
Over at Stock Trading to Go,  Blain Reinkensmeyer shares some of the economic downturn cycles that the United States has weathered in the past 80 years:

Great Depression (1929 through the late 1930s)
Recession of 1945.
Recession 1948-49.
Post-Korean War Recession (1953-54)
Recession 1957-58
Recession 1960-61
Recession 1969-70
1973 & 1979 energy crises
Recession 1981-82
Recession 1982-83
Western recession 1988-1992
Recession 2001-2003

It is impossible to completely …read more

Right now, there is a lot of focus on the economy, and on how the economy affects personal finances. This is a Big Deal in this year’s election. The major presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, are bending over backward to convince us that each of them has the right idea when it comes to the economy — thus affecting your personal finances as well.
While taxes have been getting a lot of play (John McCain has decided that the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy — which he opposed — should be made permanent), there is another proposal that …read more

A few days ago, I wrote about 5 things you should avoid telling the car salesman. The prompted me to start thinking about my car, and considering how much its costs. Sure, it’s paid off right now, but we had to buy the thing AND pay finance charges. Besides, here are some of the ways our car is still costing us money.

Gas.
Maintenance.
Insurance.
Depreciation.
License.
Registration.
Property taxes (this depends on state).
Safety and/or emissions checks (also depends on state).
Parking.

Indeed, before you commit to buying a car, consider the true cost. Here is some information from the American Automobile Association regarding the cost per mile, per …read more