QOTD: mr. c shares 10 seconds on fiscal restraint September 26, 2007

beckoning budgets & cursing like a turk September 24, 2007

Yikes it was a tough call — listening to that inner budgetary voice vs the call to wander lust.
For a few weeks, I planned on going with Sean to Istanbul and producing a few live Web shows like Jonny Goldstein does each week.
Yet the truth is, we already savored Hawaii this summer - an opportunity [...]

negotiation tactics & feeling strange: haggling down your credit card rate September 18, 2007

I called two weeks ago to request our credit card rate be reduced; they complied with a one percentage point reduction.
I’m torn on this whole issue. Because for the sake of true blue ownership — I knew the terms of this card and used it anyway, fully aware. Yet at the [...]

marital money mantra #3: giving gifts is not a license to be financially irresponsible August 30, 2007

Oh the irony of having vision with blurred discernment.
Mmmmmaybe that’s one of my top embarrassing fiscal decisions considering two things:
1) My ego thinks she’s fiscally disciplined;
2) In that same week I barked at my husband for over-spending.
Yup I’m rolling in imperfection! Dang if that mantra isn’t worth repeating and recycling over [...]

spending habits, compound investing, & ING takes on annTaylor loft August 23, 2007

The more I read & talk with planners & analyze my family’s habits — the more this proves true:
controlled spending habits can hugely mobilize one’s savings.
It ain’t nothin’ to shake a stick at.
But I love AnnTaylor LOFT!

I would do well to resist that clothing splurge & invest the cash instead.
So I just opened up my [...]

QOTD, class & income, spending habits with barfy stats August 17, 2007

10 second clip:

That really made an impact on my financial thinking.
—as have articles like this re: income growth rates & class. The article talks broadly on income, class, & happiness in the US yet these stats are what got me:
According to Census figures, the average inflation-adjusted income in the top [...]

Savings fable + financial planner says his clients spend, spend, spend August 16, 2007

Stunned I say, stunned!
10 second video: how much his clients overspend per a DC-area financial planner

What drives that spending itch?
In a meeting with a financial planner this week, I asked him how much a higher income impacted one’s success at saving.
He then shared this story that knocked my [...]