You Can Benefit from Impending Inflation

I have a suggestion for how you can benefit in residential real estate from the approaching inflation.

When writing about inflation, most personal finance writers (including Mr. ToughMoneyLove) spend most of their energy on damage control. We talk about investing in gold, commodities in general, or inflation protected securities such as I-Bonds and TIPS. There is a lot more of that going on now because of current government fiscal and monetary policies. Most experts just can’t see a way for our economy to avoid the ravages of escalating inflation in the very near future.

Read more

Another Weapon in the Battle Against Media Fees

If you are a regular reader, you know that lately Mrs. ToughMoneyLove and I have been working on cutting the monthly fees that we pay for electronic media and communication services.

Yesterday our oldest son tipped me off to a new online TV offering from Hulu. Read more

Keeping Tabs on Uncle Sam

If you are interested in money – as in your own money – and you believe in the power of the ballot box, now more than ever  you need to keep up with what the government is doing and saying. It used to be that we would get our information on government activity from print media. That won’t work anymore. It’s too slow and the lights are slowly being turned off in the newspaper business anyway. Read more

A Simple Way to Feel Wealthy on a Middle Class Income

This post is about simple things that a not so rich person can do to feel wealthy. Read more

Economic Justice and the Supreme Court

With President Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court, the question of  ”economic justice” as a goal of a liberal judiciary has re-surfaced and is now front and center. Read more

Memorial Day 2009

Please enjoy your Memorial Day holiday by celebrating the freedoms earned and preserved by the sacrifices of our fallen veterans and their families.

This short video may help:

Photo credit:  Astrid Photography

Hard Truth Week in Review- Memorial Day Edition

Mrs. ToughMoneyLove and I are spending the long weekend at the lake with family (and rain, unfortunately). So this time is about enjoying the fruits of financial planning, all while remembering and appreciating the sacrifices of our fallen veterans.

I did read a few things this past week that I think would be worth your time:

The Money Hawk wrote an excellent post/rant about the so-called crisis of the uninsured in U.S. healthcare. 

If you are looking to sell or trade stuff to add value to your own life, the Simple Dollar has links to 14 barter sites where you can join in the fun.

Four Pillars explains why you should not underestimate the value of small improvements in savings or income.

Also check out these blog carnivals where my writing appeared this week:

Carnival of Money Stories hosted by Prime Time Money.

Carnival of Personal Finance hosted at Wisebread.

Festival of Frugality hosted by Living Almost Large.

Enjoy and appreciate the rest of your weekend.

Ally Bank Foolishly Losing Our Business

GMAC Bank has re-branded itself as Ally Bank. Mr. ToughMoneyLove is not impressed. The reason? Ally Bank has not changed it’s new account policies and fixation on credit scores. Because of that, we are moving the rest of our money away from Ally/GMAC to a bank that values customers with money more than customers with credit scores.

First, some history of how Ally Bank earned the “fool of finance” designation. Read more

Don’t Let this Crisis Go to Waste

We have heard several prominent Democrats say over the past year that a good economic crisis should not be wasted.  To them, a crisis brings fear and distraction to the people which can be exploited. They do this by introducing hugely expensive new programs and boldly extending regulatory authority, all in the name of “reform” The Democrats have been true to their word thus far, exploiting away.

Read more

The Problems with Credit Card Reform

I’ve been in some debates with other personal finance bloggers about the merits of the bill that the Senate passed yesterday. This is the bill that “regulates” the credit card industry. In this case, “regulates” means that the federal government is now setting some key terms of the agreement between the bank and the cardholder. I don’t like it. Here are my issues: Read more

Next Page »