In November PBS always hosts their  Annual Reading Marathon . “Wow. That’s the  second  time this month that our financial blogger has gone off the rails regarding blog topics. What does reading have to do with finances?” My answer? Everything. Establishing good reading habits in children–reading 20 minutes a day–can literally change their financial future. Good readers do better in school. Good readers are more likely to graduate from high school. Good readers will probably make more money as adults. Reading changes EVERYTHING          . That being said, books  can  be expensive, but they don’t have to be. Libraries are some of the best resources for book access–they play SUCH an important role in our community. You can also share/trade books with your neighbors, friends, and family members (just make sure you have a good system for tracking book ownership). Second-hand stores or garage sales are awesome places to score gently-used, pre-owned books. Online book libraries, like  Reade

When I started pulling together ideas for my blog post today, this is exactly how I felt–“It has been said that there is no such thing as coincidence in this world.” Who said that? Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian novelist. Right on, Paulo! Why do I say this? Well, today’s Financial Calendar topic is thus, and I quote. “Involve your family in holiday planning. It’s never too early to plan. Brainstorm fun and inexpensive activities. Make a list of service projects to do together. Simplify the season by trimming holiday expenses.” If this interests you (and who ISN’T interested in simplifying and trimming expenses?! You HAVE to get excited about trimming expenses because, after all, you ARE reading a financial blog), then I have quite the resource for you!   I KNOW you are looking for some unique, affordable, awesome ideas of things you can do for all the people on your holiday shopping list (neighbor gifts, anyone?). When you choose to share one of these exclusive concepts with those you

I  missed Mental Health Awareness Day (it was last Sunday, October 10 th ). Now, I’ll bet you are saying to yourself, “That’s a weird thing for a financial blogger to say.” And, under normal circumstances, you would be right. But we are living in times that are anything but normal, wouldn’t you say? Yeah–me too. So today I’ve decided to deviate from regular scheduled programming to bring you something special. Don’t worry, I’ll do a two-for-one post next week to get us caught up on the financial calendar. Speaking of two-for-one, today we’re going to combine two seemingly-unrelated subjects: prevention, specifically on how it relates to mental health, and Christmas. Bear with me. Prevention is HUGE in the financial world. Let’s take the dentist, for example. (Did you know that if you ignore your teeth they WILL go away?) Toothbrushes, toothpaste, and dental floss are relatively inexpensive. And yearly dental x-rays and biannual cleanings aren’t horrifically expensive and are cove

So far, today has been filled with coincidences. I came across this quote that totally illustrates today’s blog topic, and I thought I would share it with you. “Have a vision. It is the ability to see the invisible. If you can see the invisible, you can achieve the impossible,” – Shiv Khera. Weirdly enough, while writing this I had the movie, The Secret: Dare to Dream , playing in the background. It talks about the law of attraction. Good karma? Maybe. So, let’s generate some more! Ever heard of a vision board? A vision board is usually a collage, digital or physical, of words and images that represent goals and dreams. You’ve probably heard me say that a goal that isn’t written down is only a wish–I’ve had experience with that. But while I am a big believer in writing down my goals, I don’t really remember ever creating a vision board. I’m going to change that. And I suggest you do the same (by the way, we have an Adventure for that)! Vision boards can be focused on a specifi