Steadfast Finances

 Budgeting, Personal Finance Tips, Saving Money         7 comments

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Paying bills is a fact of life. We all have them, and we’re required to pay them. Otherwise, after a few months of not paying them, you’ll probably find yourself sitting in a cold, dark house with no electricity, no water, and probably not have a house/apartment to sit in …

 Mortgages, Personal Finance Tips         16 comments

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Amortization is probably one of the most ubiquitous financial concepts that encompasses our daily lives, but yet, few of us know what it means, how it works, much less, how the monthly payments on all our stuff is calculated.
By definition, amortization is:
The reduction of a debt over time by making …

 Personal Finance Tips         5 comments

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Have you ever taken a long, hard look at your monthly mortgage bill and wondered why you’re paying so much more in interest rather than paying toward the loan principal?
Confusing, isn’t it?
How about calculating the percentage of your monthly bring home income that you can’t spend (and creditors always check …

 Consumer Education, Strategic Planning         5 comments

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Obtaining leverage isn’t an easy thing to do. Whether you’re using knowledge that someone may not want to be disclosed, using loaned funds to generate a higher ROI than your scheduled debt payments, or using social pressure to influence someone’s opinion, it can be a tricky, yet highly effective, method …

 Administration, Consumer Education         7 comments

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I’m convinced that Valentine’s Day is a complete ripoff. It’s a poorly disguised, marketing intense holiday to make fools like me feel guilty if I don’t buy my girlfriend a dozen ridiculously overpriced roses or a lame pint-sized teddy bear to show her — each year of course — that …

 Frugal Living, Good Eats, Saving Money         12 comments

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Being a foodie and wannabe chef, I always get a kick out of making my own unique versions of processed foods that I’ve historically bought pre-made off the grocery store shelves. Similarly, being something of a frugal living advocate, I like to cut costs where I can, so it’s just a …

 Consumer Education, Humor         6 comments

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Stephen Colbert has America’s economy figured out: Consumption equals Jobs.
The only problem is…
Banks aren’t lending us the money we need –>
To buy the things we don’t need –>
To create the jobs we need –>
To pay back the loans we can’t afford!
[RSS and email readers may need to click to …

 Humor, Productivity Tips, Strategic Planning         8 comments

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Leave it to Dilbert’s observational humor to make me rethink how I spend my days.

My intent isn’t to ruin your day by questioning if half of the things you do everyday are worthless, or possibly generate an unwinnable confrontation by questioning your supervisor’s project management skills, but have you ever …

 Career, Entrepreneurship         16 comments

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Many people treat someone with a “disorder” with a little bit of hesitation, or perhaps avoid them all together, because the subject matter makes them uncomfortable.
That may be the wise thing to do in some situations, but I happen to think individuals with a healthy dose of obsessive compulsive behavior …

 Buy on the Dips, Investing 101         3 comments

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Sometimes I love earnings season and then sometimes I hate it! If you’re wondering why… see Google’s 30 point nose dive in the after hours market today.
[click image to enlarge chart]

For disclosure purposes, I should say that I did not own Google prior to their earnings announcement but I think …

 Career, Personal Finance Tips, Saving Money         14 comments

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This personal finance question comes from reader Gary, who recently got a surprise promotion and a 20% raise after his boss left the company. He’s married, has a 2 year old daughter that his wife is caring for full time, has a monthly mortgage payment, two monthly car payments and …

 Consumer Education, Frugal Living, Humor         4 comments

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Leave it to the master of observational comedy — George Carlin — to crank out one of the best anticonsumerism bits in history before the war against “stuff” became an observable microtrend.
I say microtrend because don’t believe the movement (if you can call it that) against buying “more stuff” has …