Living within your means

One of the basic tenets of personal finance is that you need to do one thing and one thing only if you really want to get ahead. Surprisingly this one thing is both simple and, in some ways, very challenging. All of the tips and tactics are great, but if you only manage to achieve this one thing, you succeed. What is this magical, mystical unicorn, you may ask? It’s simply living within your means. If you’ve been around the personal finance space or read a few blogs, you’ve probably heard this fantastic term. I think instinctively, we all get it, but I want to step back and define this, so we’re all on the same page. This is partially because everyone’s circumstances are different, and when I say living within your means, pardon the pun, it means different things to different people. Taking a very simple view, ‘Living within Continue Reading

Dealing with car issues in a Pandemic

We’re not traveling as much as we used to, though I’m sure we all want to. Unfortunately, grocery stores aren’t always next door and if you’re buying for a week or two you still need that car. Probably more considering you want to get as much at once as possible. Naturally this is the perfect time for the car to breakdown, which is exactly what mine decided to do.  This started a couple weeks ago when I went to the grocery store. I got our groceries and the way back out I noticed that one of the rear lights was on. As I got closer to the car it turned out it was just a rear blinker light. The car wasn’t on, none of the other lights were on just one lowly light.  I was a little surprised but not shocked, as it had happened before in the winter in Continue Reading

The New Reality: going down to a single income

     Most of us are experiencing a new reality when it comes to work, working from home comes with many challenges, but it’s not the only new reality. Unfortunately, too often this new reality is one where there is less income coming in (layoffs, furloughs, pay reductions). I have now joined this group; we are now down to a single income where we had two and while we are fine a lot of people aren’t. Claiming Unemployment Benefits Today was a bit of a sobering day, I actually filed for unemployment benefits. The process was fairly painless and now I wait and see if there are any issues. My guess is that there won’t be any problems and the benefits will roll in. We as a family are in a position where we know we can weather this situation but it’s sobering none the less. Will we have enough to Continue Reading

Finding the balance between our ‘Wants’ and ‘Needs’

To survive we have a series of ‘needs’ that, pardon the pun, need to be met. Once we have these basic needs met our wants can (but don’t have to) improve our lives. However, for most of us, our lives are spent beyond these basic requirements. We have access to food, water, shelter, and if you’re reading this you are probably relatively safe too. Thus, making the question of ‘wants’ versus ‘needs’ more interesting because I doubt many of us think in terms of true needs. Now more than ever this topic is incredibly important, and I think it needs to be revisited. We’re in a time of crisis when what we want and what we really need is clearer than it has been in years. Knowing what is essential and what we don’t need can be a very powerful tool; one that we can use to our advantage. There Continue Reading

Santa is not dead! The spirit of the season lives in all of us.

My daughter and I were driving to swim practice a couple weeks ago and I was asked a very simple question: Is Santa real? Before I get to how I answered the question, I should make it clear that my daughter is at the age where she’s essentially figured out that Santa = mommy and daddy and the guy at the mall is just someone dressed up in a red suit. The answer to this question wasn’t really what she was looking for but more for some validation of her understanding of the world. While my daughter isn’t a tween yet she is a bright young lady. So how did I answer? Well being the furry green Grinch that I am, I actually told her the truth. No, I am not a monster! She didn’t react the way I was expecting, she wasn’t worried about the fact that Santa is Continue Reading