Gather Little by Little

Is this President Obama’s “mission accomplished moment? We might find out this weekend. Here are some articles that I enjoyed this week:

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College textbooks can be a really large unexpected cost. Moolanomy suggests the Best Places to Purchase Textbooks for Students. Before spending money on that brand new textbooks, take a look at this article and give yourself the opportunity to save a few hundred dollars each semester.

Late payments on a loan are not the only way to hurt your credit score. Mrs. Micah lists5 Ways to Hurt Your Credit Score Without Using Credit.

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For the past 2 years, most people (including me!) have been having second thoughts before buying any goods. We didn’t want to make an unnecessary purchases and potentially run into money problems down the road. Each time I stand in front of a store and am about to buy something, I ask myself: “Do I really need it or can it just wait?”

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Last summer, after our house finally sold, I posted a list of our financial priorities  now that we no longer had to deal with the financial obligation of owning a home. I kind of forgot about that post and when I ran across it recently, I was pleasantly surprised to see that we had made progress in most of the priorities that I listed back in July. Eight months have passed since the closing of our home and while we are not rolling in the dough, we have turned a corner of sorts.

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I have received several comments with regards to my previous posts about giving an allowance to my children. I presume this is a very touchy topic since it links to 2 major things in our lives: money and our children. While we want the best for our children, we also want to use our money wisely and teach them to do the same. What is the best way of teaching money management to your kids? I have no clue! However, I still have more thoughts on allowance for children:

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Last week, Mrs. Stew started a sentence with the words, “next time we buy a house . . . ” and then finished the sentence with her idea for our home at some point in the future. I responded that I did not think we were going to buy a house anytime soon, if ever. Of course, Mrs. Stew has heard the statement from me on many occasions over the past two years. I think she had been mostly dreaming out loud while making her buy-a-house plans.

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Don’t forget to set your clocks ahead one hour this weekend. I would like to call for the abolition of Daylight Savings Time. Why in the world do we do this every year? Anyway, here are some articles that I enjoyed this week:

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Ron at The Wisdom Journal figured out where our government learned math. Funny video, check it out.

Jason Topp, one of the writers at ChristianPF, posted a really challenging article about the best ways in which to help the poor. Outstanding post.

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Insurance. Every time this word is heard, we frown; we get sceptical. We all know someone who has a “story about an insurance salesman. Since it is a commission based environment (if they don’t sell, they don’t get paid), many clowns become desperate and turn into i-want-to-make-a-quick-sale insurance agents. They hijack your emotions (look your wife and kids in the eyes and tell them how much you love them”¦ don’t you think they deserve financial security when you pass away?).

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I remarked to my wife the other day that if we have no major, unexpected financial calamities this year, our financial situation might be back to where it was in 2002-2003. That is, back before we had our second and third child, before we went down to a single income, before I learned to budget, before we moved and before we took sixteen months to sell our home in another state. In financial terms, back to a below average debt-to-income ratio, back to being in possession of an emergency fund and back to being able to again contribute to our retirement savings. I do not want to count our chickens before they hatch and I probably just jinxed our prospects, but being almost back to even is a nice feeling.

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As Frank Hubbard puts it, “The safe way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket”. Do you think this is the only way out to save more money? No, it can never be this. Man is subjected to temptation and no one can ignore the sensation that money gives. However, the smarter way for you is to think and spend, than spend to think. If you are a geek or love gadgets, here is something very exciting for you. iPhone applications can now boost up your finances.

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Dave Ramsey has done well for himself as a financial advice guru. He was one of the first people to recognize that our culture is steeped in debt, dependent on debt and that debt was enslaving the American culture. Ramsey has not been successful in changing our cultural dependence on debt, however, there are many individuals and families who owe him a great deal when it came to turning their financial house around. One of Dave Ramsey’s more controversial pieces of advice deals with FICO scores, also known as a credit score. Ramsey has said things such as: your credit score is an “I love debt score” and, Americans today are “worshiping at the altar of the FICO score.” He downplays the importance of a credit score on a regular basis and emphasizes his strategy of paying cash for everything.

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