As featured in The Wall Street Journal, Money Magazine, and more!

Search: expense

How To Be Twenty Times Better Than Barack Obama

by Flexo

I offered to write articles for Quicken occasionally, and the first of these articles was published yesterday. It focuses on trimming budgets and expenditures. President Obama has proposed cutting the federal budget by $17 billion. That’s a large amount of money, but it’s a tiny slice, 0.5 percent, of the total federal budget. Here is an ... Continue reading this article…

4 comments Read the full article →

Congress Passes Credit CARD Act of 2009, Now What?

by Flexo

Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted on and passed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009, the Senate’s alternative to the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights. Here are some of the provisions, taking effect in February 2010: Credit card companies must give 45 days notice before raising interest rates. Under current ... Continue reading this article…

26 comments Read the full article →

How Will You Divide Your Wealth Among Your Heirs?

by Flexo

We spend our life in modern society accumulating Things and possibly accumulating money. When you take a step back and look at life on the larger scale, money is not a goal in isolation. We strive to accumulate wealth not to die with our names in various banks’ computers associated with high numbers. There must ... Continue reading this article…

13 comments Read the full article →

President Obama’s Financial Disclosure

by Flexo

In a move should sound familiar to readers who have been with Consumerism Commentary since 2003 and to those who have noticed my monthly personal financial reporting, the President and Vice President have used the White House blog to provide updates on the financial condition about each of the Executive Branch families. President Obama and ... Continue reading this article…

23 comments Read the full article →

Schwab Brokerage Lowers Expense Ratios, Beats Vanguard

by Flexo

Here is some good news for investors. Schwab, competing for investment business with other low-cost mutual fund operations like Vanguard, Fidelity, and TIAA-Cref, has lowered the expenses on a number of their mutual funds. The Schwab S&P 500 Index Fund (SWPIX), which competes directly with the Vanguard S&P 500 Index Funds (VFINX), now sports a ... Continue reading this article…

6 comments Read the full article →

The Unownership Society

by Flexo

Seven years ago, when people I knew were buying houses they couldn’t afford with the philosophy that real estate prices always go up, and the go up fast, I was sitting on the sidelines. I had no money, no desire to settle down, and no belief that real estate in the form of home ownership ... Continue reading this article…

54 comments Read the full article →

CNN Will Grade Your Financial Health

by Flexo

CNN is featuring a short survey to help you determine your level of financial health. The result is presented in a form of a grade from F to A+. My result was an A; I lost points for not having any life insurance. The survey does not ask if there are any dependents. Right now, ... Continue reading this article…

10 comments Read the full article →

Personal Balance Sheet, Net Worth, Income, and Expenses, April 2009

by Flexo

Each month I open my personal copy of Quicken Home & Business to the public. This tradition was the original impetus for creating Consumerism Commentary in 2003. At that time, at the age of 27, I was about one year into managing my own finances. Prior to that, my own money was mostly something I ... Continue reading this article…

8 comments Read the full article →
Page 50 of 114« First···4849505152···100···Last »