Living for today - Planning for Tomorrow
I’ve been reading a lot about all the possible gloom and doom that can be realized when the majority of citizens start saving more. While no one disagrees that saving is good, we’re starting to hear from more and more "experts" that saving is really best done during economic boom times. It turns out that saving during an economic downturn only makes things worse. Unfortunately,
There is an interesting article over at Fortune magazine called “A recession of biblical proportions“. It takes an interesting look at saving and spending trends during downturns and notes that this recession is different than others in that we are now saving during the downturn as opposed to using previously saved funds to get by. It notes that during the boom times that we have
A couple of years ago my house was known as the “cold” house. Every time my sister came to visit she made sure she brought along sweaters and coats. At that point in time my thermostat was set at 69 degrees during the day and 62 at night. With the temperature at 69 I could easily walk around the house with a T-shirt on and
Back in 2005 I asked the question, “What would happen if everyone saved 10% of their income?“. What a difference a couple years makes. My original theory was that our economy would falter significantly. Here’s what I said back then: My take on this is that, if everyone was consuming 10% less, our economy would head south. Our economy is based on growth, and if
Happy New Year! I’ve had the last two weeks off from work and have enjoyed spending time with my wife and daughter as well as just relaxing around the house. We had a very interesting weather pattern here leading up to the new year so I also shoveled more snow than I ever have in my life. Christmas was low key and I think we
Today was one of those days that you remember for the rest of your life and I didn’t spend a nickel all day. Up here in the Pacific Northwest the weather has been a little abnormal. By that I mean that it snowed. It has been cold for a week and we even saw temperatures in the single digits overnight in a couple areas. With
Okay, so that title probably sounds a little bit moronic. I don’t think anyone can avoid the fraud we’ve seen on Wallstreet over the years. Here are a few of my favorites: Enron Worldcom Madoff Mortgage Securities It seems that the only limit to the amount of fraud on Wall street is people’s ability to imagine it. From energy manipulation to massive Hedge fund ponzi
Well, it never seems to fail. I’ve never been able to time the market and trying to time interest rates has proven to be just as difficult. I locked in our refinance rate at 4.875% for a 30 year fixed rate loan. It’s a great rate and I’m thrilled to have gotten it. Of course rates have come back down further since then. My credit
It was finally too much for me to ignore. We have been paying 5.75% on our mortgage for the last 6 years. We’ve always felt that was a great rate, especially when you consider historical rates. Well, the appeal of a sub 5% loan was finally too much to keep me on the sidelines. We were able to secure a new loan at 4.875% for
Those Brits are really embracing frugality. Rather than go out and spend money they don’t have on useless junk, they are opting to stick to indoor activities that are free: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7755315.stm
