Okay so here we are. The third and final installment of my interview with Dr. Matthew Bowen. I hope it helps answer some of your questions and inspires you to take a more in depth look into your financial behaviors. Be sure to check out part one, and part two if you haven’t already. Thanks! I have been working on this interview with my Psychology of Money and Wealth Professor, Matthew Bowen, PhD, to take a deeper look into why we misbehave the way we do with money. He graduated in Berkeley, California in 1986 and is a licensed psychologist. […] Read more »
Debt Free News From A Debt Free Reader #10
Time again for another Debt Free Friday! This one comes from a friend of mine that I met on the FPU forums, and we’ve been friends ever since. In fact, she started out as one of my accountability buddies. We kept each other motivated throughout our debt free journeys. Golda has been an awesome friend to me during this time! Are you working on becoming debt free? Ever feel unmotivated to continue what you know you should in order to get your finances in order? Perhaps finding someone with the same goals and values as you would be beneficial. It […] Read more »
Life is Like a Budget?
What if Forest Gump would have said, “Life is like a budget. if you have a plan you’ll have some idea of what you’re going to get“? Nothing is perfect, so I am not suggesting that just having a plan is enough. Plans go wrong, but that’s precisely what this post is about—treating your life like a budget when they do. Think of it like this. You have 24 hours in a day. In that 24 hour time you have to decide what you are doing and how long it will take you. If you spend more time on something […] Read more »
I Love You Like A Blogger Memorial Day Edition
Happy Memorial Day everyone! Today we celebrate the lives of those who have fallen as well as those who sacrifice it all so that we may continue live free. God Bless those men and women who sacrifice(d) so much!! I saw on a comedy show rerun the other day where the comedian made a note of how we treat athletes and celebrities. We put them on a pedestal, and in some instances worship them like heroes. They get so much for free because of their status. This comedian earned a lot of respect in my book when he stated that […] Read more »
Enemy of Debt the Super Hero?
PURE AWESOMENESS! Yesterday, Enemy of Debt was introduced to the comic strip world for the first time! Back in February, I sent the creator of the Personal Finance comics an email, suggesting an Enemy of Debt character. Every comic has a villain and since he writes for a credit card site, I thought Enemy of Debt would play the part nicely. He liked the idea, and even took it one step further by asking me to write up a storyline. Having never written anything like that before I was a bit nervous, but I jumped right on it. I submitted […] Read more »
Extreme Circumstances Call For Extreme Measures
Have you ever considered someone to be a little too extreme when it comes to their money? Maybe they were too extreme in saving for their emergency fund, paying off their debt, or just never seemed to do anything fun at all. How’s your financial situation? You might be having fun, but are you prepared for that rainy day that will come? Are you the grasshopper or the ant? When we were paying off our debt we said no to almost everything. Nowadays we are a little more relaxed with how hardcore we are and how much we sacrifice on […] Read more »
Your Interview With Local Psychologist Dr. Matthew Bowen Part 2
As many of you already know, a few weeks ago I published Your Interview With Local Psychologist Dr. Matthew Bowen Part 1. I told you that I received so many questions that I had to break the interview down into three parts. Here’s the second installment. I will be wrapping it up with part three either next week, or the week after. Stay tuned for that. I am doing an interview with my Psychology of Money and Wealth Professor, Matthew Bowen, PhD, to take a deeper look into why we misbehave the way we do with money. He graduated in […] Read more »
Your Financial Mindset Determines Your Ability To Handle Credit Cards
Have you ever taken a position on credit cards one way or the other? I have, and to only say I was passionate about my position, would be an understatement. Just ask J. Money! I must start out by saying that some of you are going to feel as if I have lost my mind, and the rest of you are just going to be shocked completely about what I am about to say. Not because it doesn’t make sense, but because it is coming from ME. 😀 I am no longer the sworn enemy of credit cards. Yes, you […] Read more »
What’s More Important: Your Financial Behavior or How Much You Make?
What’s more important to you? It seems people put an incredible amount of thought into how much they make, but is that the smart thing to do? I mean making good money is definitely important, but should we wrongly list it as numero uno? What about behavior? Ignoring that is kind of like trying to disarm a nuclear explosive without ever having built a bomb. It’s going to EXPLODE! In that situation you have two choices; get out of the way, or blow everything up! Handling money without realizing you do not possess the habits necessary to manage it well, […] Read more »
Using What I Have Learned About Becoming Debt Free To Lose Weight
Today is a big day for me. Today starts the beginning of a 3-month adventure that will hopefully turn into a lifetime of health and happiness. I just recently joined a team of five, four of the five being fellow bloggers, and we are trying to get our physical fitness under control the way we have our finances. The team of bloggers are Baker from Man Vs Debt, Paul from Fiscal Geek, Jessie from PF Firewall, and myself, and we are planning on winning the competition, which will pay the winning team $10,000!! I am excited! There is a fifth […] Read more »
I Love You Like A Blogger…”DAMN LAPTOP!!” Edition
Hey everybody, Happy Friday!! First, I would like to explain why EOD feels like a ghost town this week. I have only posted one article, which was on Monday. I have recently had the opportunity to learn just how valuable my laptop really is WAS. Not all of it was because of my laptop though. To start the week off I had an exam to take on Tuesday and I needed to ace it to keep an A for the semester, so needless to say I spent the weekend, all day Monday, and some of Tuesday studying to make sure […] Read more »
Are You a Financial Rock Star or in Serious Danger? Take This Quiz to Find Out
Hello and welcome fellow debt haters. Being that it’s Monday, you are either broke from the weekend and can’t wait until payday, or you are refreshed and ready to return to this weeks business at hand. I remember what it was like to live paycheck to paycheck and believe me when I say I NEVER want to go back. One of the best decisions I ever made, besides marrying the most beautiful woman in the world and being a dad, has to be improving my finances…hands down! I look back and wonder what I could have possibly been thinking to […] Read more »
Buy I’m Debt Free the Game, and Help Support Big Brothers Big Sisters
Have Fun on a Budget Don’t like to read? Buy the “I’m Debt Free” game RIGHT NOW, so I can give 100% of my earnings to Big Brothers Big Sisters!! If you are a subscriber to Enemy of Debt then you are either working really hard to become debt free, or you simply enjoy my passion-filled rants on why debt freedom rules. If you are one of the few in this country that actually acknowledge debt to be a problem, and you are trying to get rid of it yourself, chances are you are making some less than favorable sacrifices […] Read more »
Your Interview With Local Psychologist Dr. Matthew Bowen Part 1
Have you ever wondered why you behave the way you do with money? Perhaps if you haven’t you should, because getting and staying out of debt is all about your financial behavior. The way I see it, there are tons of “mathematicians” out there that are “in debt up to their eyeballs”. In a recent article I wrote called Becoming Debt Free Is 99% Intensity and 1% Basic Math, I made the case for why becoming debt free was more about your behavior and attitude, than it was about doing math. So if you really want to get out of […] Read more »