Money has a language all its own. By learning about the words that are associated with money and financial matters, you can take a step towards increasing your financial literacy. Here are a few money words to get you started. An adjustable rate mortgage, also known as an ARM, is something that you want to make absolutely sure you want before you get it. With an ARM, the interest rate on your mortgage starts out low. This can help people qualify for ARMs more easily than for fixed rate mortgages. However, the catch is that at the end of a … Continue reading →

Survival mode. When you hear this term used in reference to personal finance, it means that a person of family is on the edge of financial disaster. When a person or family is operating in financial survival mode, stress levels escalate. Their thoughts become predominated with how they are going to get the food, gas, rent and other necessities that they need when they need them or how they will do without until they can get them. Survival mode is no fun for anyone. If parents are stressed out about money, their children feel the effects because they are less … Continue reading →

My baby daughter’s first birthday is right around the corner. Right after her birthday we’re adopting her. Right after that is my birthday. These are all big occasions that bring up a lot of things I want. My and the kids’ birthday lists are always long on wants. How many of them are needs? I want Signing Time DVDs for Emily to help her learn sign language easier and faster. Does she need them? Probably not because I can teach her the basic signs she needs to function until she can talk. Then again my older toddler daughter has many … Continue reading →

It is a well known fact that money is a common cause of arguments for couples. Sometimes the best way to avoid money arguments with your significant other is to talk about finances as freely as you talk about everything else. Even if money is tight and you are having trouble making ends meet, talking openly about your finances just might prevent a major blow-up later on. If a couple rarely discusses finances, each may think that the other knows what is going on with the family finances. Each person may also think that the other person knows what the … Continue reading →

When you’re in the field of sales, you’ll hear the term “market saturation.” This means that everyone has already heard about your product, and you’re just making the same pitch to the same people over and over again. Yes, repeat sales are nice, but you not only want repeat sales, you want new customers and their repeat sales. That’s how you grow a business. How can we overcome saturation? 1. Move your marketing scope to a new area. Whether that means going door-to-door in a new neighborhood or advertising in a different local newspaper, shake things up so you’re hitting … Continue reading →

I have always admired wealthy people. While I do not personally know many of them, I am always inspired when I learn about the ways that people that are wealthy acquire and keep their fortunes. Today, I learned some very interesting things about millionaires. While the constant media coverage of Hollywood divorces may cause us to associate being rich and famous with being doomed to marital failure, many wealthy people marry only once. It is uncertain exactly how much of an influence this has had on these couples’ ability to be wealthy, but it can’t hurt – divorce can be … Continue reading →

Recently I wrote about the topic of tipping. I’ve never worked as a server relying on tips to make a decent wage. I worked as a hostess in a number of restaurants, but we were paid better than the servers because we didn’t get tips. The server at a restaurant can make or break the entire dining experience. We’ve had servers that have done an adequate job and rightfully earned their 20-percent tip. We’ve had servers who were fun, friendly, and helpful and earned a better tip. I’m sure there are servers that see two small children and would rather … Continue reading →

Many of us do not usually take a step back and think about the thoughts that we have about money. Each of us thinks about money many times as we navigate our way through each day. We stop at the gas station and realize that the cost keeps going up and up. We then wonder whether we should cut back on driving or just figure out how to accommodate the extra cost somewhere in our already thinly-stretched budget. At meal times, we decide whether we will dine out or eat at home – each of those choices involves spending money, … Continue reading →

Do you ever wonder what wealthy people do in order to stay wealthy? There are a few things that many wealthy people do that help to keep their bank accounts growing. There are also a few things that most wealthy people do not do, and they are just as important as those things that they do do. One very important thing that wealthy people do not do is that they do not spend all of their money. According to Thomas Stanley and William Danko, authors of “The Millionaire Next Door”, “wealth is what you accumulate, not what you spend”. Many … Continue reading →

I mentioned earlier in the month that I’ve been taking a 30-day challenge to get more organized. When I started it, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. A course on filing paperwork? Tips for how to tidy up my desk? Lessons on how to create color-coded hanging files? All I knew was that a friend had recommended it, and I was eager to achieve the kind of results she claimed she’d achieved. I signed up for it, and started the first day with no idea what I was getting myself into. An e-mail with a link was delivered to … Continue reading →