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Blog Feature: Average Joe’s Money Blog #yakezie


04 Feb

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Posted in blogging, Finances, Writing | 2 Comments »

I wrote a post called “Average Joe’s Deserve to Retire, Too.” Average Joe wrote a post about financial lessons in board games. A geek/ personal finance blogger friendship was born.

Average Joe’s Money Blog is written by two finance professionals, Average Joe and the Other Guy, and they manage to provide sound financial advice in an easy to read format with a good sense of humor. We like humor.

Average Joe is also a cat guy, and managed to convince someone else to write a post that links personal finances to crafty old cats. How can you not like that?

Happy New Year


01 Jan

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Posted in Budgeting, Finances, Writing | Comments Off

New Year, new you? New Year’s Resolutions? Are you reflective, or are you making plans and setting goals? Or is it just another day, albeit one that comes with a day off from work?

I don’t make resolutions. I do like to reflect and plan on a fairly regular basis, so why not as the calendar year rolls over.

You’ve heard some of these goals before, because I just have to keep plugging away- work on my writing, submit more, review our budget, adjust for changing circumstances, volunteer. I can’t do it all, but I can do quite a bit.

Blog Feature: Money for College Project


24 Dec

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Posted in blogging, Finances, School, Writing | Comments Off

Today’s featured blog is Money for College Project, a personal finance blog that tries to focus on ways to pay for school without getting student loans- something I am highly supportive of, though I don’t find student loans to be the boogeyman that some do.

This week the question was specifically asked: Is a College Degree Worth Taking Out a Student Loan?

It is not a rhetorical question. It is a question the Occupy folks are asking, though after the fact. It’s a question that we as a society need to be answering. Should an education require mortgaging your future?

Scan This!


20 Nov

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Posted in Finances, Food | Comments Off

Joined the National Consumer Panel- we’re like a Nielsen home, but instead of TV, it’s for what we buy. There’s a bit more work to it than I originally anticipated, but it’s still not too bad. We’ll see if the rewards being worth the work involved.

The biggest problem is that the scanner wants to transmit information late on Saturday nights, and it beeps when it does so. Considering it’s in our room, it wakes us up, resulting in the scanner being shoved in a drawer. Then I have to remember to pull it out and transmit manually on Sunday.

Movie Review: Hobson’s Choice


14 Nov

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Posted in Finances, Movies | Comments Off

Hobson’s Choice is a favorite of a dear friend, so on Saturday night, I joined in her annual Thanksgiving viewing. She describes it as a romance without all the pesky romantic bits, which is a rather fair assessment.

It is also the story of how one woman took control of her own future, in a time when women had very little control, even over their own lives. (The movie is set in turn of the century Victorian England.) The ending is happy, not just because this is aHollywoodcreation, but because the protagonist wouldn’t have it any other way.

Start Saving Now


08 Nov

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Posted in Budgeting, Finances | 2 Comments »

Since I stopped doing Your Money Fridays, and started my personal finance blog (now titled The Dog Ate My Wallet), I haven’t written much here about personal finance. But I thought this was interesting:

It’s estimated that Gen Y will need around $2 million in savings in order to retire comfortably. And this is assuming they don’t retire until 70.

In slightly less general terms, it’s estimated that Gen Yers will need 18.7 times their final salary saved up and Gen Xers will need 16.1.

Pensions are almost non-existent and government assistance is declining. Guess it’s time to start saving.

National Consumer Panel


07 Nov

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Posted in Advertising, Finances, Food | Comments Off

We’re a Nielsen family. Not for TV, they wouldn’t want us for TV. We are a Nielsen family for groceries. I signed up and on Friday we received our scanner. Now, every time we shop, I need to scan in our purchases, put in what we paid, and then the little scanner transmits the data back to Nielsen. I think we might officially be part of the consumer price index…

In exchange, we’ll qualify for gift cards and special promotions (hopefully on items we buy).

It’s cool, though C thinks it’s creepy as the scanner plugs right into our router.

Occupy Wall Street


31 Oct

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Posted in Finances, Politics | Comments Off

I support the Occupy movement. I do not believe that corporations should have the same rights as actual citizens, especially since I do not have all the same rights as a corporation, one being a business entity and the other being, well, a person. I don’t think General Electric should pay less in taxes than I do. And I am not talking percentage wise, I’m talking real dollars. General Electric paid $0 in taxes last year, in fact, they got money from the government. How is it that my tax dollars are subsidizing GE? They do not need the money.

Most Valuable Lesson from the Women in Red


26 Aug

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Posted in Budgeting, Debt Reduction, Finances | Comments Off

I’ve learned a lot on the money message boards, both when they were at MSN and now at ProBoards. I haven’t used everything I’ve learned, but that doesn’t make the information less valuable. It gives me more options and options are good.

But the most valuable thing I’ve learned from Women in Red or Your Money? That you’re not alone, that a support group, even a virtual one, can be indispensible when it comes to reaching your goals.

I can be fairly certain that we wouldn’t be at the place we’re at without the support I’ve received from these boards.

What do you want to be, when you grow up?


19 Aug

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Posted in Finances, Work | Comments Off

Before this thread devolved, there were some great stories about how people chose their careers.

Turns out, some people know what they want to do from a very young age. Some of them did that, and some still ended up in positions very different from what they envisioned and loved it.

Some went with what was practical and made money. Some fell in to careers and some just work jobs, wishing they were doing something else.

But the point is, you do not have to decide what you’re going to “be” at 18. Life takes us different places. Be open.

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