Hope for your financial life and beyond

Check Your Debt Emotions at the Door

Getting out of debt and moving towards a cash based existence can create a lot of emotional turmoil. Today I’m guest posting at The Debt Myth about my experience with just such a move.

There is a door waiting for you to walk through. It leads to a land of contentment where you can live without fear of creditors dialing your number. There will be no late fees or interest payments in this land and the money you make will be 100% fully yours.

This place I speak of is known as Debt Free Land. It exists…it really is out there.

I navigated the path to this land and have been living peacefully here for the last year – 100% debt free, payments to no one.

But it wasn’t an easy journey. There were many obstacles and emotions I had to overcome along the way. In fact, the most difficult part was simply starting…

Click here to continue reading at The Debt Myth…

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A New Reason I’ll Avoid the Mayhem That Is Black Friday

Whack FridayMany of you will rise out of bed at 3:00 am Friday, grab some coffee and head out the door to go stand in line at your favorite retail store, hoping to get a jump on the holiday shopping season. It’s an annual tradition, this Black Friday shopping trip that gets so many people worked up into a frenzy. I’m sure many people love the action and excitement of it all.

Me? Meh…I find it not enthralling. I’ll take my extra hours of sleep.

There are a host of reasons I chose not to shop on this day. Thanksgiving turkey hangover. The crowds. Getting prepped for the OSU/Michigan game (yes…I do this a day early…Go Bucks!).

But this year I’ve added another reason why I’ll just never go shopping on this day.

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3 Sneaky Marketing Words Companies Use to Lure Consumers

sneaky marketing wordsIt’s a beautiful, sunny October day here in the South. One where the temperature is just right and fall has knocked the humidity on its knees. The kids are playing in the front yard and I’m strolling to the mailbox to see what goodies the postman has dropped off today.

Reaching into the box I find the typical…bill, bill, Value-Pak ads, postcard advertising a lawn care service and lastly one shiny, black envelope that is obviously a credit card mailing from the logo printed on the front. What caught my eye however was not the logo but the three little marketing words printed just below the fold on the back side of the envelope…

It read: “We miss you.”

Awww…how touching.

Let me shed a tear as I throw this in the trash, all the while having Klymaxx’s “I Miss You” lyrics churning through my head.

Marketing Words of Love

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Emotions and Investing Do Not Mix

Today I’m guest posting and commenting at the personal finance blog Frugal Rules. Click the link below to read about why emotions and investing don’t mix, including some boneheaded investing mistakes I’ve made through the years when my emotions got the best of me.

emotions and investingSome things fit perfectly together. Peanut butter and jelly. Batman and Robin. Yellow and blue. Separately they have value. When combined they create something extraordinary.

The same cannot be said for emotions and investing. Like oil and water, they simply don’t mix. There is no place for emotion in the investing world if you want to have success.

My Emotional History With Investing

I started investing in 1996, just after my wife and I were married. It was the height of the 1990s bull market run that saw computer, technology and Internet stocks in particular soar to record highs. A company could go public one day and be at $200 a share the next without ever making a single penny in profit. (That’s a slight exaggeration but accurately defines the lunacy of the time.)…

Click here to continue reading at Frugal Rules

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