Letters To My Credit Card

Some of my favorite writing is in response to reader emails.  Sometimes that means a response to a comment on the website but even more fun are the letters from readers asking for my advice.  Granted, I’ve only had this happen a couple times and half of those were cases of mistaken identity, but the idea of offering advice to someone in need is compelling and engaging and rewarding. Recently a...

You Are What Your Record Says You Are

The title is a quote from Super Bowl winning coach Bill Parcells. The idea is that a team is as good or as bad as its record indicate.  Fans, commentators, and even players like to interpret – or rationalize – circumstances and game events so as to suggest that a team is better, or sometimes worse, than its record might suggest.  A lucky bounce here or a bad call there and those close losses...

Consumptive Footprint

I remember a day in the late 90’s.  More precisely, I remember a particular episode of self talk back in the summer of 1998.  At the time I was living in St. Louis and was only a couple short years out of grad school.  I don’t know exactly what prompted this specific contemplation but it was about money.  It was often about money in those days.  I was learning about money but in a...

Third Time is a Charm

  Indeed, the third time is the charm!  Twice before I’ve been the recipient of misdirected questions.  Visitors looking for Ramsey were stuck with Ozment. But today, the training wheels come off.  I get my very own question to engage.  Granted, my first inclination was that I had been misidentified again, but validation rang through.  Indeed, the question was mine.  I trust I fared...

U-Hauled – A Case Study in CEO Letter Writting

Continuing to take the same actions while expecting new results has been called the definition of insanity.  For this reason, I sometimes cringe when Dave Ramsey advises callers to contact an offending organization daily until an issue is resolved. Calling “an idiot in an cube 300 miles away” over and over again may yield results but it also wastes time and causes much stress and frustration...

Same as Cash is NOT the Same as Cash

We see it in print and over the airwaves.  We hear it on the radio or even over the in-store loudspeaker.  We hear it so often that its meaning begins to evolve.   The words begin to lose their individual meaning in favor of the refined collective.  “SAME AS CASH” This phrase is usually surrounded by such contextual scene setters as “ZERO % INTEREST*” or “NO INTEREST*”. ...

Authorize Yourself

   Who would have imagined it, but C&C Music Factory  Snap may have said it best…. “I’ve got the power“.  That’s an important and significant statement.  You do have the power and you should not be afraid to use it.  However, many of the masses fail to grasp or act on this reality.  These folks seek approval or permission to step up and seize the reigns over...