Financial news and information

I saw a statistic somewhere about the fact the nationwide savings average is actually in the negative if you include nationwide numbers for debt. More people are in bigger debt today than have anything to speak of saved for that rainy day.

It’s more than just a little disturbing if you realize that even the 20% of people who have 80% of the world’s wealth can’t compensate for all the people in debt. Apparently, we have a great big spending problem.

…and it all centers around one horribly wrong belief with credit cards.

I like to think of myself as a responsible consumer. That is, I research all the products I buy ahead of time to ensure that it’s not only free of chemicals and toxins, but is also produced, packaged, and shipped in a socially responsible fashion.

However, it’s not just what you buy, but how you buy that really matters.

These are the seven ways to be a more responsible consumer that I think get overlooked much too often.

According to a recent study, two-thirds of undergraduate students graduate with some debt and the average student loan debt is $19,237. That’s right, you read that correctly. The average student graduates with nearly $20,000 of student loan debt.

Does anyone else think this is a problem?

To make sure you or your children don’t spend your post-college years stressing about student loans, consider these alternatives…

I got a call yesterday from a guy with a $14,000 per year cell phone bill. Granted he runs a business and absolutely must have all 10 cell phones — but still, that’s nuts.

I got a call today from that same guy thanking me to no end for the solution I suggested. In all, it’s going to save him $12,000 per year. That’s like, what, an 86% savings… something like that.

What was that miracle $12,000 discounted solution? It’s so simple, I can hear him kicking himself from 6 states away.

The concept of choice or choosing is one we would be wise to learn at a young age. Yet time and time again, we blame external forces for our own bad behavior.

How many times have you said or heard one or all of the following (or some similar version) throughout the course of your life?

“You made me get angry by not doing what I asked.”

“You forced me to behave badly by doing what you did.”

“I wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for you.”

You would think that since I used to be a financial advisor I would be better with my money — but I used to overdraft my account at least once a month. It’s sad, but my New Year’s Resolution was to go just one month without overdrafting.

You see, I do math like a normal human being, and banks do math like… well, banks. I’ve been doing good though. Ever since the New Year, I have only overdrafted once.

There were two key things I changed which prevented me from overdrafting until I forgot why I set those personal rules and broke one… and overdrafted. I guess you need that one regression as a painful reminder.

I spent $400 the other day, all in one day — and it was quite possibly the smartest thing I ever did.

Normally you would think such a splurge would be really dumb, but spending more all at once is a much better idea for a lot of reasons. For one, it gets your buying bug fed. Secondly, you make smarter decisions when large lump sums are involved.

I use to steal money. Yup! That’s right. I would wait until my mom wasn’t paying attention and I would swipe a twenty dollar bill right out of her purse. I was 10. She never noticed which was so cool! I continued my bill swiping late into my twenties. Embarrassing and awful, I know. But I am here to admit the gory details of my mismanagement of money and I believe that is where it started; stealing, quite innocently from my parents.

You see, it wasn’t just the bill swipe… it was the searching of pockets after my dad got home from work (yes, still 10). I thought it was quite clever, actually. He would leave change in his suit pockets and I would find ways in which to redistribute the change. Call it lets say my own little ‘economic stimulus package.’ Other than the fact that I was lifting money from my parents (stealing seems so strong) what is curious to me still, to this day, is why they never noticed? They weren’t playing dumb. They just didn’t have a clue.

We were not rich but we had money. We had everything we ever needed growing up. We were spoiled. My parents were generous and wanted us to have what we wanted because their parents weren’t as capable of giving them what they wanted. I don’t think my parents ever managed a budget. If they did, they would know that twenty-dollar bills went missing mysteriously, often.

With tax day looming large and the IRS preparing their proverbial red pens, you may be a bit concerned about being audited. Just the word “audit” is enough to send tingles up the spine, but it really isn’t as dire as it sounds. As long as you are honest and careful, then you should have nothing to worry about. Besides, your chances of ever being audited are extremely slim.

Despite these words of comfort, you are probably still very eager to keep a low profile as far as the IRS is concerned. The following five tips should make that slim chance of an audit even slimmer.

Entrepreneurs are the brave souls who make our economy go, or at least they were when our economy was actually going anywhere. Especially in this currently questionable financial climate, starting your own business is undeniably a dicey proposition….