Skip to main content

Posts

Debt Relief or Tough Love? Rethinking Charity, Financial Freedom, and Giving Back

  Is it a good idea to help those struggling with debt? I read an article about a famous actor from Wales. He bought the debt from his community at a discount to help his community overcome the challenge of credit card debt. If you didn’t know, credit cards will sell bad debt at a discount so that someone else has the cost and burden of trying to collect. They often buy debt for around 10% of what is owed. In this instance the actor bought over a million pounds of debt for around $130,000. He felt it was too hard for people who are using credit cards to heat their home, or buy food, and he wants to help them. In America there is at least one church that buys medical debt. Its the same idea only instead of paying off credit card debt they pay off medical debt. The biggest difference is that medical debt is not something people have in the UK (I don’t think, I’m no expert). I love the idea of a hand up. Often it takes much less than you would imagine to re...
Post a Comment
Read more
Recent posts

Uncertain Times: Do You Have a Plan to Protect Your Future?

  It seems like a lot is going on right now, do you have a plan? Every time I glance at the news it seems like something terrible is on the verge of happening. Certainly this is by design by the news corporations. But don’t be fooled if you are getting your news from any blogger, (myself included), You Tuber, TikTokker, other social media forums, you are still getting the same scare tactic “news” you get from Fox, MSNBC, CNN or others. It is simply a choice of whether you want to be in an echo chamber. Over all I try to avoid any news and stick to looking a cute cats, puppies, cooking, crafts and incredible people on my feed. But I also enjoy the aggravation I feel when my echo chamber is outraged over one thing or another. All the information can make it difficult to know where to start if you think the economy is going to crash any minute. If you are worried your job will be eliminated, or if you have already been laid off, furloughed, or outright fired, you ar...
Post a Comment
Read more

Surviving the Storm: Smart Strategies for Tough Economic Times

  It’s getting scary out there. Man oh man, all of us need to reflect on how we are going to manage the next couple of years. With inflation, stagnant wage growth, insecurity surrounding jobs and public programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and social security facing challenges from the administration, many of us will be in a world of hurt. The thing is that if you strategize you may make it through this challenging time scathed but not broken. Here’s how- I liken the effort to the problem of eggs. Right now eggs are very expensive in most areas of the United States. What’s a person to do? Well I suggest the easiest thing to do is DON’T BUY EGGS. Eggs are not required for life. This example may seem simplistic, but it is part of a larger strategy. The strategy is recognizing that many things we consider essential are not. They are nice to have but not required to li v e an abundant life. When I think about how I want to spend money I consider the followi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is This Cheating?

  Is this cheating? I have a lot on my plate over the next couple of months so it thought I would share this fantastic YouTube video produced by PBS New Hour way back in 2016. In the YouTube video titled “All the financial advice you’ll ever need fits on a single index card”. The link appears to be broken so look it up based on the title. The video features Harold Pollock, a university professor who offers great advice for the regular working person. If you can’t find the video here’s the gist of the advice and my own commentary if I feel it’s needed- Financial experts say the same thing- Save 10-20% of your income. Saving is hard, and if you don’t make a lot it’s even harder, but even small savings can add up over time. Remember to pay yourself first by setting aside some of your income every pay period. Pay your credit card balance in full every month. If you can’t do this try to stop using your highest interest rate card, pay it off and then do the same w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rediscovering Intentional Living: Lessons from a Double Whammy Vacation

  Recently I went on vacation with my spouse. We had two vacations in one, we flew to the east coast to attend a wedding and hang out with family, and then we flew home to get our car so we could enjoy a tent/car camping vacation. Overall the experience was pretty amazing. However, there were things I didn’t take into account before I left. Firstly I didn’t realize how much time away from work I would need. Since we were going to be away for about three weeks I needed a week before we left to organize everything. What everything? Packing for lots of social events surrounding the wedding for example. Packing for a wedding is different than packing to go camping. We had to prep the car for a long drive in varied conditions. We packed the car with our tent, sleeping bags, pillows, camp gear, shoes for different conditions and more. In the end, it ended up being perfect, but also time-consuming so I decided to stop writing for a while to focus on our vacation time. Upon retu...
Post a Comment
Read more
Back in mid-April, I started what has become a pretty chaotic late spring season.  We flew to Atlanta for a wedding that included many social gatherings. I have anxiety which has been challenging to manage over the past two years so the many events were hard on me, but I managed with the use of some drugs, even though I say in my headline I don’t manage stress with drugs.  How do I square this? Am I a liar? Not really.  After we went to the wedding we flew home picked up our car and went car camping for two weeks in the American Southwest. It was glorious, but not without challenges as well.  Upon return home, we hosted a lovely Mother’s Day luncheon. I served tarragon chicken, dauphinoise potatoes, and a pretty lemon Swiss roll cake, filled with berry jam and a coconut cream cheese frosting. After that, we hosted my spouse’s son for about a week.  All the travel and hosting required a lot of planning, something I love, but also it was stressful and disruptive ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Debt-Free Living: Navigating Buy Now, Pay Later and Financial Freedom

  Buy now, pay later? I have strong feelings about credit card use, but what do I think about buy now pay later? I noticed this option come up when I made purchases from an online retailer. The item was about $150 and the retailer allowed me to pay for it over time, without interest. Seems like a great deal, right? Well in fact what appears to happen is that some people use this method to make purchases and even though they are not incurring interest - they are purchasing many more items than they normally would if they were paying for the items all at once. My spouse showed me an Instagram post of comedienne Jimmy Carr speaking about making purchases at the mall. Just a note -I don’t recommend Jimmy Carr as a comedienne, even though I really enjoy his work. I don’t recommend him because he is very offensive and may not be palatable for some. In any case what he said in the Instagram post was (I’m paraphrasing) Stop buying things at the mall, in ten years you won’t even know wh...
Post a Comment
Read more