It’s Time to Invest In a Barcode System: 3 Signs

Written by on · Leave a Comment

Business owners: is it time to invest in a barcode system? Barcodes can be found just about anywhere: supermarkets, hardware stores, diners, bookstores, and all manner of retail outlets. Typically, large businesses use barcode printing and scanning systems in order to operate by tracking inventory, categorizing, organizing, and managing finances. In the past, these tasks have been “no small order,” so to speak. However, the future has brought with it technological innovations that are remapping the way small and large businesses alike handle inventory organization and many other important tasks. Those who have been slaving over pads of paper and […] Read more »

What I Learned From Running The 2014 Twin Cities Marathon

Written by on · 46 Comments

I sprang out of bed at the chime of my cell phone alarm at 4:30am yesterday. I quietly got ready for the day, gathered my things, and quietly closed the hotel room door behind me as to not disturb my sleeping family. I headed downstairs to the lobby to meet some friends and to walk over to the light rail station that would take us to the start line. In just a few short hours I would be lining up with over 11,000 other runners to run the Twin Cities Marathon. It would be my 4th time, and I had […] Read more »

Pay the mortgage or credit cards first? Which do you let be late?

Written by on · 18 Comments

Let me start off by saying: I hope you never find yourself in this difficult situation! Life gets really stressful when money is tight. People get sick, layoffs happen, and the household income drops due to unforeseen circumstances. When you find yourself short on cash, which do you let be late: The mortgage or credit cards? According to TransUnion, one of the major credit reporting agencies, more Americans choose to pay their credit card bills to keep from being late than keep a mortgage current. Is this wise? Let’s walk through a few scenarios to expose the pros and cons […] Read more »

Why you should make your retirement a priority

Written by on · 7 Comments
pension

The other day I was walking our lovely puppy in the nearby park. Dog owners stick together and talk to each other. You’d be surprised what you can learn in the park while throwing a slimy tennis ball around. You don’t believe me? Well, I used to talk to a woman who told me that she’s had lovers all through her marriage. Thing is, I knew her husband as well and liked him a lot. Eventually she caught her and the whole thing ended up in custody battle for the dog. Anyhow, this time there was nothing as dramatic as […] Read more »

Beer, Friends, and Losing Control of your Spending

Written by on · 22 Comments

My last few Monday posts have been a bit heavy and serious, so today I thought I’d talk about something a little lighter: Beer and Movies. Well, to be completely accurate, it’s more about my weekend spending relating to beer and movies. My house is a convenient central meeting point for my brother-in-law and his two best friends from high school. A couple of times a year they meet at my house, go out, and have a great time together. I’m always invited to come with. The first few times I felt a bit out of place, but I know […] Read more »

Credit Cards Should Have A Warning Label for People Like Me

Written by on · 24 Comments

I could tell by the writing on the envelope resting on top of the stack of the day’s mail that it was the settlement check I had been waiting for. I am included in a class action lawsuit against Chase in which they are accused of pulling a “bait and switch” by offering customers a fixed, low interest rate to lure new customers to transfer balances and then later jacking up the minimum payment policy. This happened back in 2009, and resulted in my inability to meet my monthly financial commitments. It was also the driving factor that caused my […] Read more »

Lost Luggage

Written by on · 1 Comment

I was in some form of debt for nearly 20 years. The last three years of my life have been dedicated to radical debt eradication. I didn’t realize it at the time – but debt was kind of like my baby. I thought about it constantly. I would strategize about how to pay it down. I would run numbers in my head. I had a running calculation everytime I spent money. Or made money. I was obsessed. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It kept me passionate. It kept me focused. It provided momentum and motivation. For years. And then… […] Read more »

Fool Me Once, Shame on You. Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me

Written by on · 28 Comments

This past March I loaned money to a fellow single mom friend who was in financial crisis: She and her son were about to be evicted from their apartment. Anyone that knows me relatively well knows that I would do whatever I could for someone in need; a Good Samaritan. I learned this behavior from my father; when I was little he would help stranded roadside motorists and offer his services (he was a mechanic) for “free” or “in trade” for those who couldn’t afford it. While this type of behavior certainly didn’t make him rich financially, I truly believe […] Read more »

Teaching Kids About Money – Here’s What Helps

Written by on · 2 Comments

Photo Credit: Memory_Freak This is a guest post written by Clair Schwan. I can’t say that I have a lot of experience with kids, but I have a lot of experience with money, and part of my childhood involved what I thought was a good training program about the value of money and how it might best be handled. I had four of the best teachers I could possibly ask for – two grandparents who were young adults in the Great Depression, and two parents who grew up in it and struggled through the challenging economic times surrounding World War […] Read more »

Your Interview With Local Psychologist Dr. Matthew Bowen Part 3

Written by on · Leave a Comment

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 »

“Sorry I Couldn’t Tip More, But I’m Broke”

Written by on · 24 Comments

A Little Background Information I work for tips, well at least for the moment anyway.  I have been working at Papa John’s for going on 4 years, and it has been VERY good to me.  I deliver in the UVA area so business is usually better than in other parts of Charlottesville.  It’s flexible, EASY, and I have made some great money, especially when my wife was going through Nursing School.  It has allowed me to spend lots of time with my little man, Isaac, over the years, and to me that is better than any monetary rewards. Here recently, […] Read more »

The Budget Puzzle

Written by on · 6 Comments

Is your puzzle missing a few pieces? Your budget is just like putting together a puzzle. Every piece is important because without all the pieces it will never be complete. If your budget is not a completed plan for how to spend your money, it is not a plan at all. There are many things that have to be considered for a budget to work. The death of a budget is when we feel the budget has failed and we give up. It’s true the budget did fail, but we need to understand that it only failed because we failed […] Read more »