I’m sure many of you have already heard this store…Austrian millionaire Karl Rabeder has decided to give away every penny of his $5.3 million fortune, saying all the money makes him unhappy.  He has also sold the interior furnishings business that earned him his fortune.  Many bloggers have predictably applauded Rabeder’s unusually extreme move.  J.D. from Get Rich Slowly commended Rabeder for doing what was right for himself.  Not surprisingly, I have a dramatically different opinion.

Money Isn’t The Problem

Rabeder is quoted as saying

“For a long time I believed that more wealth and luxury automatically meant more happiness. I come from a

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It is a law that a person under the age of 18 cannot apply for a credit card without a proper co-signer. This law does not prevent these youth under 18 from having or using a credit card, nor does it exempt them from the consequences of the debt that is associated with irresponsible spending.

New Year New Rules

There is much buzz about the new rules for credit card companies that are set to take effect in February of 2010.  These new rules will also institute an age limit for credit card holders.  This new Credit Card Act is designed to protect card holders by setting limits for lenders.  These limits will prevent unwarranted and unexpected fees and rates.  The amount of debt that continues to accumulate because of credit card use is on the rise. Mor

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Money makes us feel good, but our compulsion to spend it is most often fueled by our feelings. You may swear you’ll stick to a budget while you are viewing your bank account online, but get yourself in the bright lights of a computer store, and you’ll most likely be responding to the adrenaline of pure shopping excitement.  Our tendency to spend begins as a craving, an appetite of want, even when we aren’t really hungry.  Stores know how to tempt your palate and get you to buy things you don’t need. There’s a definite psychology to marketing. Learn the Jedi-mind tricks of the shopping world, and you can better ward off their power to make better decisions that are right for you.

Make it a Tear Jerker.

Studies show that consumers are less likely to spend after watching a disgusting movie clip, but more likely to buy things when they feel sad and depressed.  Viewers who were shown weeper film clips, like that final scene of ET, were more likely to buy candy to feel better. Sadness has

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It’s been a full week and we are loving our new home.  We are still waiting for the new furniture for our living room to arrive, along with some bar stools for the kitchen, but other than those items, we are all settled.  (If you ever want to find out just how much stuff you have – move!  Whew.)

Obviously, now that we have a house payment, our goals and plans for 2010 have changed.  Instead of aggressively funding my retirement account, like I did for the past two years, we now plan to aggressively pay down our mortgage debt.  That being said, we still plan to save for retirement, kids’ college funds, and other long-term goals.  Here’s the breakdown -

Retirement Savings – 15% of household gross income

Education Savings – $2000 per child, for a total of $6000, per year

Cash Reserves - Increase from current 6 months worth of expenses to a full 12 months worth of expenses

Automobile Replacement Fund – $250 per month

Debt Reduction – Pay mortgage payments early and on time, with a goal of paying off 15 year mortgage in 7 years, or less

As first time home buyers, we will receive the first-time home buyer tax credit.  This money, once received, will be immediately deposited into our ING Direct Orange Savings Account. We dipped into our cas

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In a bid to remove speculation from the red-hot Canadian housing market, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced a series of new rules for first-time home buyers. Suggesting that during the current period of record-low rates, the temptation to take on more debt than would otherwise be prudent must be reigned-in to ensure buyers have sufficient capacity to adapt to higher interest rates.

The new regulations include:

• borrowers will now be required to meet the criteria for a five-year, fixed-rate mortgage rather than the less stringent three-year test
• down payment requirements for borrowers purchasing homes in which they will not be living (i.e.

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