Saving Money on Legal Fees

Somehow this weekend I’ve found myself captured by a “saving money”  theme, even though I ordinarily leave that subject to the expert frugalists who write elsewhere.  There are a few areas where Mr. ToughMoneyLove may have a frugalistic knowledge advantage.  One of those is in the area of lawyers and their fees.  That’s because (please don’t hate me if you didn’t know this), I am an attorney in my day job.  (A patent attorney to be precise.)  So I have been billing legal fees to clients for 29 years.  I have also paid lawyers who helped me and Mrs. ToughMoneyLove with wills, trusts, etc.  

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Arming Ourselves to Save Money on Car Repairs

Compared to the frugalistic skills of many other personal finance bloggers, Mr. ToughMoneyLove is a rank amateur.  On the other hand, I am not one to sit back and accept being taken advantage of by entire industries.  Case in point:  My complete disgust with the credit score industry, something I talk about often.

Another industry that is prone to unfairly extracting excessive amounts of cash from unsuspecting consumers is the car repair business.  How many of us experience cold sweats and anxiety when the dealer “service adviser” (a/k/a the grim reaper ) calls to tell us how much of our emergency fund is going to be thrown at what we thought was a minor car repair?  I still do, even after having experienced it going on 42 years. Read more

Stimulus 2009: Our Tax Dollars are “Chump Change”?

I try hard to keep pure politics out of my writing.  My hard truth concerns with the stimulus/spendulus bill are economic, not political.  

Yet, it is hard to ignore some of the statements being made about the Obama stimulus plan by politicians.  Thus, my advice to Obama and his party’s leadership is to back down the political rhetoric and let Obama’s economic team be the public voice for the merits of the plan.

Where are those economic advisers?  Have they been effectively muzzled by political interests?  Do they share my concern that there can’t be a lot of pure economic good inside a stimulus bill that has reached 700 pages in length and is still growing? Read more

Who Will Stimulate the other Economies?

As bad as things are in the U.S., other countries have it worse.  Some anecdotal evidence from around world:

Today, the Bank of England lowered its benchmark interest rate to 1%, the lowest its been since the bank was founded in 1694.  Economic experts expect the U.K. economy to shrink in 2009 at a rate faster than any year since 1946, and faster than any other industrialized country.  Inflation in the UK has dropped by 1% in a month (the fastest ever) is expected to fall well below the target rate of 2%.  To me, that is the most amazing statistic.  And get this:  To protest skyrocketing unemployment and fewer work hours, British workers have been staging walkouts at oil refineries and power plants.  Refusing to work because you don’t have enough work to do?  I’m missing the logic there. Read more

Your Money and Attention to Detail

At last count, two Obama appointees have withdrawn because of tax problems, the latest being Tom “I need a limo and driver” Daschle.  A third tax miscreant is now Secretary of the Treasury.

How does it feel to know more about our tax laws than the Secretary of the Treasury – you know, the guy who is in charge of the Internal Revenue Service?

It does not give me a good feeling at all, but not for the reasons that you might think.

Let’s assume that these appointees are not tax cheats and that, according to their defenders, are persons of the “highest integrity.”  I’m still not satisfied. Read more

Eight Baby Boomer Money Mistakes You Should Avoid

Baby boomers have been receiving a lot of criticism in recent months for their collective contributions to our country’s economic problems.  First, we are blamed for an extreme amount of debt driven consumption that inflated highly leveraged real estate and credit bubbles.  Second, we are now being blamed for an excess of saving when many so-called economic experts are calling for increased consumer spending.  In general, boomers are probably guilty on both counts.   I have a suggestion. Read more

Hot or Not, Managed Equity Funds not Worth the Expense

I believe in index funds over managed funds for several reasons. In today’s market, the number one reason is cost.  Almost without exception, fees associated with a managed fund will exceed those charged by an index fund from a low cost provider such as Vanguard. Read more

Stimulus 2009: Five Programs that Congress Forgot

It’s hard to believe that within the confines of $819 billion of new spending, hundreds of pages of legislation, and 32 new government programs, Congress forgot to provide money for some very worthy causes.  Clearly this was mere oversight.  So Mr.ToughMoneyLove has decided to dedicate this entire post to refreshing the memories of our fearless leaders in Washington in hopes that it is not too late to include these:

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