I'd like to introduce you to Hank Coleman from Money Q&A, a personal finance blog that I admire. I met Hank at FinCon13 in October, 2013 and thought his story was interesting. Here are the questions I put to Hank recently. 1. What got you started in blogging? I started blogging in September 2007. Believe it or not, I actually started … [Read more...]
How to Raise Successful Kids: What Works Now?
I recently saw a quote: Don't try make your kids have more than you; try to make them better than you. Good advice. Yet our grown children need to have enough money to live on and to raise their families. So we try to teach them about money and about treating others with respect. We live in changing times, so it's a challenge to guide them toward … [Read more...]
Teaching Kids About Money: Would You Pretend to Be Poor?
I heard of a family the other day that had fooled their kids for years about their true financial situation. They had actually inherited quite a bit of wealth, but they didn't want their kids to grow up being "spoiled." The kids did not go to very expensive colleges. They wore clothes like everyone else. They did not take lavish vacations. It … [Read more...]
Kid Proof Decor? What Survives and What Doesn’t
If you have kids you know things around the house seem to get ruined on a regular basis. I know of the many ways that happens having raised three boys and one girl to fairly responsible adults. We lost a number of furniture and decor items via normal contact with kids. I'm sharing what worked, what lasted, and what didn't.Here are the things that … [Read more...]
Is Cheap Going Mainstream?
Smart Saving is "In"Is it cool to be cheap? I'm sensing a change in attitudes. I don't hear "It's only money, honey" anymore.Do your friends brag about how cheap they are? I was at a get-together where that was exactly what was happening. As we sat around a fire into the evening family and friends started bragging about how cheap they were. I mean … [Read more...]
How I Taught My Daughter about Credit Cards
I sometimes feel guilty about what I did to our daughter. Was I being mean or wise? I'm still not entirely sure. This goes back a few years to when our daughter, let's call her Penny, was about 8 years old. She was getting a small allowance that seemed to take care of her miscellaneous wants. But there came a day when that allowance wasn't enough … [Read more...]