On New Year’s Eve, a friend of mine made a post on a popular social media site that was meant to be sardonically funny. I am including it here for your scrutiny.   While I did shake my head in disbelief and showed this post to a friend of mine that shares my financial views, I was not AT ALL happy with Discover. Excuse me, but on what planet does a LOAN make you DEBT-FREE?!? There were lots of comments on his post, some serious and some witty. My friend himself actually made this comment with the above graphic, “Wait...can you define 'debt-free' for me again, please?” Insert education clip here: by very definition from the all-knowing Google, debt free means “not owing any money.” Not so many days later I was enjoying some slight down time in front of the television (I say slight because I was actually still working) and there was a commercial from another monetary establishment that was basically advertising the same thing, “Get a loan from us and be debt-free.” What a...

I am so popular. I get MULTIPLE phone calls per day from numbers I don’t recognize–so many I don’t even have time to answer them all and chat. They are SO concerned about my car warranty. I also get lots of mail from my adoring fans–more than I have time to read–many of which want to “give” me some money (well, credit, anyway)! And they are SO dedicated...even when I move 4 times in less than 2 years, they still manage to find me! In case you couldn’t tell, that was my attempt at sarcastic humor. By the way, don't fall for the money giveaway thing. Just burn those "checks" that come in the mail. While I do get a few scam calls during the day, I just turn my Android phone face down and it mutes the ringing (iPhone users, don't despair, I think you can enable this feature too). The mail? I shred and recycle it. Like you, I’m annoyed at the waste of paper and postage from unsolicited correspondents. What to do? There are “Do Not Call” lists that you can get on, and I...

You’ve heard it said that the only thing constant is change. For those of you who, like me, like bits of trivia, that phrase came from Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher. But I digress. Change–there is good change (hey, who doesn’t want a pay increase, right?), and there is bad change (I’m willing to bet you can come up with one of these on your own and don’t need me to make any suggestions). Sometimes changes force us to, well, change.     Today we are talking about a particular kind of change–growing pains. While growth can bring about changes, if you dot all your i’s and cross your t’s it doesn’t have to hurt, at least not as bad as you might expect. What I’m really trying to say is as you HAVE changes in your life (new home, bigger family, more assets, etc.) you also need to INSTIGATE changes. One of those involves reassessing your insurance needs. You should do an annual financial "checkup" to make sure you are properly insured in all areas of your life. If you aren...

A new year is historically a time when each of us promises ourselves  that we are going to implement positive variations in our lives in some form or another...I am going to eat less junk food. I am going to get more exercise. I am going to lose weight. I am going to get more organized. I am going to be a better mother, grandmother, friend, or (insert your relationship-word here). My favorite? I am going to get in control of my finances. More often than not, executing these new actions means doing something really hard...changing. Change is not easy, and it often means facing some tough, deep-rooted habits and lifestyle behaviors–demons, if you will. It can be uncomfortable and scary. But, as they said in the Old West, sometimes you gotta grab the bull by the horns. In the days of the cowboy, ranch hands literally wrestled with steers.   It was part of their everyday working life throughout the west, and it was dangerous. While facing your financial situation might be frig...