Is the Economy Improving?

We are hearing and reading some positive economic news this week. The stock market has responded favorably.

Pardon the interruption to your warm glow but don’t be misled by what you have heard and read. Read more

Irresponsible Home Buyers Reaching Deeper into our Pockets

Handout specialist – and professional nose wiper – President Obama has decided to toss more taxpayer money at irresponsible home buyers. (I won’t say home owners because those folks don’t own anything except mountains of debt.) I am referring to the money morons who, when lacking cash for a down payment, used a second mortgage to close the deal.  Read more

Money, Gadgets and Life

Of the millions of blogs published each year, many of the most popular fall into one of two two categories:  technology (gadgets in particular) and money. The ironic parallelism to this phenomenon is that people like to spend a lot of their money on gadgets: cell phones, MP3 players, netbooks, and various other cool whiz bang stuff. Read more

Frugal Living – Have I Seen the Light?

Mr. ToughMoneyLove has several times mentioned on this blog that he likes to refer to himself as a money strategist, not a frugalist. By that I mean I make sure our long term investment plans are fully funded, that we have adequate cash reserves for emergencies, our debts are eliminated, and our essential costs of living are covered. After that, I pay a lot less attention to spending. Based on recent events, I may need to reconsider things. Read more

Hard Truth Week in Review – NFL Draft Edition

Because we are NFL fans in an NFL town, we had a few discussions around the house about the draft. My youngest son is a draft maniac with lots of opinions and data to back them up. I just shake my head at the ridiculous money being thrown at these young men. Most of them have managed to attend college without actually receiving an education. Read more

Obama Wipes the Noses of Crybaby Consumers

This week we saw the spectacle of President Obama wiping the noses of whiny consumers because credit card companies were being mean. He summoned the leaders of those companies to the White House to tell them to stop being such bad people, or he would spank them. Read more

Fool of Credit Card Finance – Reader Report

I just have to pass on this “fools of finance” anecdote sent to me by observant reader Clifton:

I  saw something yesterday that you might find interesting.  My wife and I had taken a short mini vacation to visit some old friends in Las Vegas.  We went to a Wal-Mart there to buy some snacks and ice for a road trip, and wound up waiting in the checkout line behind a very interesting lady.  She was probably in her mid forties, and did not speak English very well.  She was purchasing about $90 worth of assorted household goods, including makeup, some shoes, shampoo and lotions.  What was interesting was how she paid for them.  She produced a total of 7 credit cards, of which 3 were apparently maxed out and cut off.  After many attempts by the checker to put amounts on each card, she finally managed to put the purchase on 4 of the cards.  What I wonder is how anyone would loan this woman a nickel, let alone $90.  I bet she couldn’t get a loan from a family member, but apparently there are 4 banks out there willing to loan her money.  Sad but true.

This “fact is stranger than fiction” report reminds me of the hotel check-in scene in the movie “Best in Show.”  (Hilarious movie BTW) The hotel had declined all of the credit cards that the couple checking-in tried to use. The wife insisted that she had a “good” credit card to present because her payment on that card was only one month overdue. How about that as the new test of credit-worthiness? Maybe the woman at Walmart is proud that, out of seven cards in her purse,  a majority still had some spending capacity available.

The woman in Clifton’s report and the foolish companies that issued her credit cards deserve each other. On the other hand, don’t you wish that the check-out person at Walmart had said something sensible, such as “Are you sure you need to be purchasing shoes and make-up right now?” Or, “May I take some of these cards to the shredder for you?”

Keep these stories coming, dear readers. We can all learn from the tragic yet humorous mistakes of others.

Image credit: The Truth About

Report a Tax Cheat for a Feel Good Reward

Tax fraud and tax cheats – don’t you hate them?  I don’t blog about making money online or selling stuff on eBay. On the other hand, where there is money to be made by exposing tax cheats for who they are, Mr. ToughMoneyLove is behind that cash for trash program 100%. Read more

Private Student Loan Lenders Prepare for Battle

The federal government has been subsidizing student loans made by private lenders since 1965. This must end and, to his credit, that is what President Obama wants to do. Read more

Fool of Family Finance – Dean H.

I have decided to introduce a new “money and behavior” category. I am calling it “Fools of Finance”, in honor of our fellow citizens who act foolishly in their handling of our money (e.g., politicians) or their own money. When they make their money mistakes in a very public way, Mr. ToughMoneyLove believes it becomes fair game for commentary by others. If you throw me the bait, I’m going to take it. Read more

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