Over the past several years of seeing the U.S. unemployment rate remain high (around 8%-9%) and simultaneously delving further into the world of personal finance articles and blogs, I've seen the same advice to the unemployed pop up over and over again, in one form or ... Read more...
Archives for July 2012
Working When You Don’t REALLY Have To
Most people - family, friends, other teachers - think I'm crazy for teaching summer school every year. Especially when I tell them that I get paid on a 12-month schedule (some teachers only get their pay over 10 months and have to be disciplined and save throughout the year for ... Read more...
What’s Next?
Assuming that all goes according to plan (ha!), I will have my three-month emergency fund in place with my next paycheck. Yah! But what's next? I've worked up a few preliminary financial plans based on a few different scenarios that I thought I'd share here so that I can get ... Read more...
So. You Probably Won’t Like This.
But in the spirit of Andrea's post yesterday over at So Over Debt, I'm going to tell the total, 100% truth: Last week, I withdrew $2,400 from my Roth IRA to pay off my credit card and beef up my cash savings. This was an undoubtedly bad long-term move - from a financial ... Read more...
On Becoming a Financial Badass
There are many, many people out there who are financially irresponsible. In fact, I'd wager that these people represent a clear majority of the American population. This is the majority that many PF bloggers (including myself) have counted themselves among in the past - the ... Read more...
Frugal Fashionistas, Hear This!
Remember back in February when I got all excited about showing up at Target at 7 AM to snag some awesome pieces from the Jason Wu for Target collection? Well, Target is doing another amazing collaboration - with Neiman Marcus! That means, come December 1st, I will ... Read more...
What Type(s) of Insurance Do You Carry?
Back in May, I wrote a post about my personal "money rules." For me, money rule #1 is to be well-insured, so I thought I'd delve a little further into this "money rule" in a post of its own. Having a huge emergency fund is certainly a type of insurance, but purchasing actual ... Read more...
I Want to Want Things
A big part of being a personal finance blogger is analyzing wants. We learn to distinguish between wants and needs. We weigh certain wants against others (a new nail polish or a latte?) and choose which one is more important in an effort to keep within our budgets. And often, we ... Read more...
Are You a Spendthrift, a Tightwad, or Unconflicted?
I read this interesting article over at Jezebel yesterday that I thought I'd share with you guys; apparently, a professor at the University of Michigan (as well as other researchers) have found that when it comes to making large purchases - the kind that are expensive, but that ... Read more...