Vehicles
You Can Afford It, But Should You Buy It?
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
How well we manage money has much to do with how well we make decisions. How much should we spend on a house? Should we finance a vehicle? A lot of financial decisions can be simplified by using a Cash Flow Plan and taking an objective look at how much a household of our size ... [Read more]
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Avoiding A Common, Costly Budget Mistake
Monday, June 6th, 2011
Homes and cars are typically two of the biggest expenses for most people. With a house, just think of the mortgage, the property taxes, and the insurance. With a vehicle, even if you don’t have a loan, just think of today’s mortgage-like fuel expenses and the insurance. But wait. I missed something. Did you notice? ... [Read more]
Breaking the Cycle of Financing Vehicles
Thursday, April 7th, 2011
Our home may be our castle, but for many people, their car is an extension of themselves. According to a study cited by Juliet Schor in her book, The Overspent American, nearly half of all car owners see their car as a reflection of who they are. The belief that we are what we drive, ... [Read more]
The Best Deals Ever
Monday, February 28th, 2011
Ever since my wife, Jude, found out that Target regularly drops off brand new items at our local Goodwill Store, she has gotten in the habit of shopping there. On a recent visit, she was surprised to find new LEGO sets for 60 percent off the original retail price, so she stocked up on what ... [Read more]
Financial Regrets: Who Hasn’t Had a Few?
Sunday, November 14th, 2010
The personal finance blog Watson Inc asked a great question recently: what do you wish you had done differently financially? The author named four of his own financial regrets: financing a car, taking out too much in student loans, not getting started with investing earlier, and not delaying grad school until he could better afford ... [Read more]
Driving Down the Cost of a Car
Monday, October 25th, 2010
When buying a car, the sticker price tells only part of its financial story. A recent ABCNews.com article about luxury cars noted that at first glance the price of an Infinity EX 35 seems comparable to that of a Mercedes GLK. The average sticker price of each one is a little south of $34,000. However, ... [Read more]
The Road to Financial Freedom…
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010
…is driven in a paid-for vehicle. While developing a set of detailed recommended spending plans for various size households at various incomes, it became clear to me that in order to live in financial freedom it’s essential to avoid financing vehicles. MSN recently pointed out that most of today’s vehicles should be able to make ... [Read more]
Car Loans Gone Crazy
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
America is a car-crazy culture. Consider these statistics from a recent Minyanville article. In 1970 there were 529 cars per 1,000 people in the U.S. Today there are 765 cars per 1,000 people. The number of cars per person in the U.S. is 40 percent higher than in Europe, 500 percent higher than in China, ... [Read more]
Thriving After the Recession
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
While a lot of people are still deeply impacted by the recession, a number of post-recession articles are starting to emerge, including one from US News & World Report that suggested 10 ways to “thrive” after the recession. It described the new “evolved consumer” who “shops with more discipline and focuses on buying products with ... [Read more]
All Worn Out
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
There was a good post on the Wisebread blog recently about the author’s preference for things that wear out rather than fall out of fashion, break, or become technologically obsolete. He noted that people’s primary reason for replacing something used to be that it wore out, whereas today the main reason is more likely due ... [Read more]
