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Archive for the ‘Credit/Debt’ Category

The Greatest Risk of the Season

Posted in Credit/Debt, tagged , , , , , , on January 18, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Here we are at the start of a new year. Decorations are put away until next year. The last of the holiday treats have been eaten or were necessarily discarded. And we begin to return to the daily routine. Millions begin to ‘drop the ball’ on their resolutions. And many people open the last and [...]

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Paying the Minimum Costs the Maximum

Posted in Credit/Debt, tagged , , , , , on December 8, 2010 | 1 Comment »

“How long would it take to pay a $500 credit card charge, paying the $10 minimum payment per month, with no interest?” The high school seniors were in a class that prepares them for college. While the question did not challenge their higher math skills, it led to a challenging concept. “Correct, four years, two [...]

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Downgrade Your Lifestyle and Upgrade Your Future

Posted in Credit/Debt, Financial Planning, Investments, Retirement, tagged , on August 17, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Recently I was explaining to one of my staff members that I had decided to drop one of my two fitness studio memberships and save about $40 a month. She said, “So you’ve chosen to “downgrade your lifestyle to upgrade your future.” It was a perfect phrase for the process of achieving financial independence. People [...]

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Taking Your Temperature

Posted in Credit/Debt, Home Ownership, Values, tagged , , , , , on August 16, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Well the last couple of weeks have been interesting in the Baker household. One of the more interesting occurrences happened on a recent Friday afternoon. If you are familiar with Atlanta at all you can easily imagine what the interstates look like on Friday afternoon. So there I am cruising along Highway 78 on the [...]

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Building Your Financial Foundation: Watch Out for Money Complacency

Posted in Credit/Debt, Financial Planning, Insurance, Savings, Spending, tagged , , , , , on July 27, 2010 | 1 Comment »

This is the second of a three part blog on the early stages of the Financial Life Cycle. In my last blog post, I introduced the concept of the Financial Life Cycle. This week’s blog is all about the strategies and pitfalls in the first adult stage, and next week I will look at strategies [...]

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Keeping Score (Part 2): 1 – 2 – 3 Easy Steps to Raise Your Financial Wellbeing

Posted in Budgeting, Credit/Debt, Financial Planning, Savings, Spending, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 22, 2010 | 1 Comment »

In Part I of Keeping Score, we discussed that it’s helpful to know how we’re doing financially speaking. It’s no different than keeping score like we do in other aspects of our lives, such as when we play or watch sports, step on the scale, count calories, or check our cholesterol. Knowing the score keeps [...]

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Can You Handle the Four Fat Financial Fears? (A four-part series)

Posted in Budgeting, Credit/Debt, Divorce, Financial Planning, Investments, Retirement, Savings, Spending, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on June 24, 2010 | 4 Comments »

Part Two:  Outliving Your Income Here are the four fat financial fears to deal with: Volatility (See May 26, 2010 post) Outliving Your Income Getting Organized When Is Enough Information Enough Last month I spoke about volatility and having a mechanism like the 200-day moving average that gives you a clue as to when it’s time [...]

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The Inflation Threat is Real!

Posted in Credit/Debt, Education, tagged , , , , , on June 11, 2010 | 5 Comments »

Every day I pick up a newspaper, magazine, or turn on the news and a headline similar to this one flashes before me. Often it relates to the stock market, economic indicators or some other future event that no one can possibly predict with any degree of certainty. While the subject matter varies, the storyline [...]

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Young Adults Should Learn to Manage Money Without Credit Cards

Posted in Credit/Debt, Education, tagged , , , , on May 18, 2010 | 1 Comment »

I recently helped my 13-year-old daughter open her first bank account, complete with checks and a debit card. We have agreements in place on her use of the card and the checking account, and we will go over her statements monthly. This is a first step for her in learning good money management in the [...]

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Stop Treading Water & Save!

Posted in Banking, Charitable & Planned Giving, Credit/Debt, Investments, Retirement, Savings, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

At some point in our childhood, most of us get over the fear of drowning at the pool. Learning to tread water helps, but as we all know: it doesn’t get you anywhere! For me, incentive came from older friends who were already comfortable hanging out near the diving board at the deep end of [...]

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