In Loving Memory….

We are all familiar with the images.  Sometimes hidden in the shuffle of “Baby On Board”, “Honor Student” and “favorite team” stickers and other window pasties, they are there and we have seen them.  The well intended but horribly mixed messaged “In Loving Memory of….” tributes tattooing the back windows of vehicles as though conveying some sort...

You Make the Call

Try as we may, we don’t always make the best decisions.  We may improve our odds by creating rules and other criteria to evaluate our options but even in the best of times these rules may develop bends in the direction of our wants. Sure, every rule has its exception, but likewise, the justification slope is a slippery beast. So with that backdrop, allow me to share a recent financial decision...

Bankruptcy, If You’re Going to do it, do it Right!

Such a discussion should start with a clear position statement.  I HATE the idea of someone going through a bankruptcy.  A friend recently shared that he views a bankruptcy like a divorce.  Of course the irony is that too many people do view it exactly like a divorce – a simple ‘do over’, rather than a scar on their financial soul. I have a family member who years ago underwent...

I’m Not as Broke as You Think

Some say that status is an important quality or characteristic for people.  I would argue that the appearance of status is much more important. When I wear my plain Levis jeans I’m not making the same statement as someone in a more fashionable brand – a name I would not even know.  In appearance, our relative affluence may seem out of alignment. When I drive my 12 year old get-out-of-debt-car,...

Bad Money Decisions

We’ve all made poor decisions with our money.  Our ability to admit it simply proves that we’re human and still sucking air.  I know that I’ve made some brilliant mistakes – putting off student loan payments, delaying savings, keeping my first home as a rental and then subsidizing 2+ years worth of mortgages all come to mind but none can top my all-time absolute worst financial...

Voluntary Repo is Bad Practice

There’s a new rash of bad behavior streaking across the American landscape – Voluntary Repos… people are willingly allowing their cars to be repossessed and some are actually walking away from their homes, and mortgages, simply leaving the keys on the kitchen counter. The irony should be lost on no one that this wave of bad behavior comes on the heels of previous bad behaviors –...

Congress thinks you’re an idiot. Are you?