By 2 Cents on April 15th, 2010 | Category: Budgets | One half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.
~ Sidney Howard
Update: This article was featured in the Carnival of Money Stories posted at Buxr as well as the Festival of Frugality #226 posted at Beating Broke. Thanks!
I’ve written often about the importance of tracking your income and spending. Whether you want to call that a budget or something else is up to you. Whether you want to track every penny or just have a really good set of spending boundaries is up to you too.
In fact, your whole life is up to you, and you have a choice and a lot of say in how it turns out. Suppose you’ve finally had it with living pay cheque to pay cheque. You’re tired of being out [...]
Read on and enjoy … What If Your Budget Doesn’t Balance?
By 2 Cents on March 19th, 2010 | Category: Family | If your own life is an example of what you don’t want your child to grow up and become, you are a bad parent.
~ Larry Winget
I often draw parallels between financial health, and health in many other areas of life. I’ve compared the noise from the media to empty calories. I’ve compared debt to an alcohol hangover. I’ve written about how good financial habits are like eating your veggies.
I think food is a lot like money. The problems we have with money, like the problems we have with food, are largely math problems. You cannot consistently consume more calories than you burn and expect to be healthy. You will become overweight and you will eventually experience some of the health problems that go along with that: fatigue, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc..
Likewise, you cannot consistently spend more money than [...]
Read on and enjoy … Friday Food for Thought: 10 Signs You Are a Bad Parent
By 2 Cents on March 15th, 2010 | Category: Economics | The gap in our economy is between what we have and what we think we ought to have – and that is a moral problem, not an economic one.
~ Paul Heyne
Update: This post was selected for the Best of Money Carnival 43rd Edition: Current Events and Oddballs posted at Money Crashers. Thank you!
When I wrote about 5 Financial Toxins and Antidotes, I sited our zeitgeist (spirit of the times) as one of the toxins. Our drive for “more stuff now” seems to have become a part of our culture. It’s considered normal by the majority of the population. I have a theory on how we got here and I’ll sketch it out here, leaving a lot out so that I’m not too long-winded. (I know. That would be a first. )
How Did We Get Here?
By 2 Cents on February 11th, 2010 | Category: Family | Love is a game that two can play and both win.
~ Eva Gabor
Update: This post is included in The Carnival of Personal Finance CCXLIV at Len Penzo dot Com. Thanks!
Our Love & Money series continues today with a look at how to handle money with your partner. Conflict over money is always right near, if not at, the top of the list of reasons for divorce. This goes right in line with my theory that if you can find balance in your financial life, it can spread to other areas. Given the divorce statistics, the converse seems to be true as well.
So how can both players win at the game of love without money mucking up a good thing?
Resign yourself to the fact [...]
Read on and enjoy … Love & Money: Rules of Engagement
By 2 Cents on February 9th, 2010 | Category: Family | Loving is not just looking at each other, it’s looking in the same direction.
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1939
Update: Mr. Cheap over at Four Pillars has been running a series of posts on love and money last week and this week. I have really been enjoying them. You might too!
We continue our Love & Money series today with a look at compatibility. How compatible are you and your partner? Does compatibility mean similarity, or do opposites attract? There has been a lot written about how important choosing a partner is to your life and your money. It’s also really important that we get this stuff ironed out well before we make a lifetime commitment, or at least before we combine our finances with another person’s.
Give Me a C . . .
[...]
Read on and enjoy … True or False: Compatibility = Similarity
By 2 Cents on January 6th, 2010 | Category: Money Psychology | Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.
~ Andre Gide (1869-1951)
Yesterday we talked about the abundance of advice available, especially at this time of year. Experts and gurus are prolific sources of this “noise“. So what’s the difference? In my mind, an expert is someone with above average knowledge about something, whereas a guru is someone who is perceived by many to have a higher, usually more inspired knowledge. For me a guru is an expert with charisma, and they may or may not possess the skills to back up their reputation. Gurus and experts can both be helpful, but like any other source of information, caution is warranted.
Many experts and gurus have only the best intentions. They want to help people solve problems. But there are those who are more interested in personal gain. Most provide information that is [...]
Read on and enjoy … Gurus & Experts: Should You Listen?
By 2 Cents on January 5th, 2010 | Category: Money Psychology |  And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the noise! Oh the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise! That’s one thing he hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!
~ Dr. Seuss, from How the Grinch Stole Christmas
How the Grinch Stole Christmas is one of my favourite holiday classics – both the book and the animated version. I know. Christmas is over. Still, I thought about the quote above because the New Year seems to bring with it even more noise than the day to day hum of advice, analysis and marketing that surround us throughout the year.
Every form of media from T.V. to print to, yes, the blogosphere is buzzing with predictions, recommendations, and information for us to use in 2010. Balance Junkie has been no different, although I hope you find the information useful.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t listen to anyone. [...]
Read on and enjoy … How To Sample Wisely From the Noise Buffet
By 2 Cents on January 1st, 2010 | Category: BJ News | We will open the book. It’s pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.
~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce
Wishing you and yours happiness and health in 2010!
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