In nature, only things happen when people do them under pressure. It is the pressure that causes us to take action.

In school, remember pulling those all-nighters to finish those term papers or to study for that final exam? We all knew the dates when they were due, but the majority of us would wait until the last minute. When we feel the pressure to do something, we will do it. If there is no pressure then we tend to not take action; we are all great procrastinators.

Here are … Read More

Last year, at a speaking event, I posed this question:

What is more powerful – love or money?

To find the answer to this compelling question, I took a survey of the room.  I asked everyone that felt that love was more powerful to raise their hand.  About 60% of the room raised their hand.  Then I asked those who felt that money was more powerful to raise their hand.  Roughly the other 40% raised theirs.

In any relationship you would think that love would always prevail.  But does … Read More

Have you ever found yourself wanting what your neighbors have?

This happened to the Graffney family in the action comedy movie, Keeping Up with the Joneses. 

If you had a chance to see the movie, I’m sure you had some good laughs.

The story takes place in an American neighborhood where the Joneses move in across the street from Jeff & Karen Graffney. Things seem to be grand from the outside looking in with the new neighbors. Tim & Natalie Jones drive a new Mercedes, wear designer clothing, and have … Read More

When you look at money, you probably think of it as something simple.  Money is paper, a piece of metal or a number in your bank account.  The goal is to acquire more of it and everything will be ok, right?

Why is it then that money is the number one stressor in people’s lives?  Why is it that money ends up being so complicated?

I just read 50 Weird Ways People Go Broke and the article reveals how people make poor financial decisions. Investing in a pyramid scheme, being … Read More

Layoffs, health complications, and car troubles may come as a surprise if you’re not a psychic. Surprise expenses can result in unpaid medical bills, withdrawals from retirement accounts, late mortgage payments, and even bankruptcy. The best way to prevent this is to create and stick to an emergency fund.

Determine your End Goal

First, figure out your ultimate goal. Every household has different incomes and amounts of spending, so, you need to determine how many months of expenses you would like to cover.

According to an article by twocents.com, many … Read More

School’s out…
the air is warm…
Its time for vacation deals!

Planning a vacation involves many factors, such as organizing meals, recreation, transportation, packing, and souvenirs. It’s easy to overspend on a vacation and you don’t want to fund your vacation on your credit card or stress out over the planning.

Paying for your vacation should not stress you out; you should be excited to have some time to relax and re-charge with your family.

You won’t be stressed out if you come up with a plan ahead of time, … Read More

My dad lost his job when I was five. After seeing my parents’ marriage fall apart, I learned many things that could’ve helped keep our family together. Here are seven do’s and don’ts to help you keep your family together while maintaining financial calm during a job loss.

Can you remember much from age five? I have very few memories of that year: teaching myself to tie my shoes, my dad being on the couch a lot, my mom being at work a lot, our van getting taken away by … Read More

When I was in college, I worked summers at Target as a cashier. As part of my job, I helped promote the saving deals that Target offered, like Pharmacy Rewards and RedCards, the store’s debit and credit cards. Because I was an employee, I took advantage of these shopping deals, too.

For me, the best deal from Target was their smart phone app called Cartwheel. The app had a list of coupons for hundreds of items in the store, and you could save the coupons you wanted to a barcode.… Read More