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Working With a Financial Adviser: Selecting the Right Planner

This article was written by Flexo in Financial Advice and Advisers. 14 comments.

This is a series on finding, selecting, and working with financial advisers or planners. Recently, I evaluated the types of financial professionals and described the various professional certifications to help readers start on the right track. This article looks at the research you can do to narrow down your choices, getting you to your initial meeting.

When you select a financial planner, consider it like entering a long-term relationship. If the professional isn’t right for you, you don’t want to waste your time on more than a first date. The best relationship is with someone who understands you — your goals, your situation, your background, your needs, and your desires.

The certification

Just like you have non-compromising criteria for potential spouses, such as religion, political leaning, or sex, you shouldn’t settle for a less than stellar planner who doesn’t meet all of your needs. Start with the certification to narrow down your pool of potential planners.

For overall financial planning advice, the three best designations are Certified Financial Planner® (CFP), Personal Finance Specialist (PFS), and Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC). Requiring a professional to have one of these three designations narrows the field considerably, eliminating possibly hundreds of individuals who call themselves financial planner in your vicinity.

Even after this elimination, you could have hundreds of listings. A quick search helped me determine that within five miles of Princeton, New Jersey, there are at least 140 Certified Financial Planners, Personal Finance Specialists, and Chartered Financial Consultants. The number would double if I expand the search to fifteen miles.

The personal recommendation

It’s easier to use your social network for recommendations for dates. Your close friends understand your personality and might be able to lead you to someone who would be a good match. I found my dentist and my accountant through recommendations by friends and family, and so far, the recommendations have proven to be good. More people visit dentists regularly than financial planners, so you might have to dig deep into your network to find a quality recommendation.

With a personal referral, there is a good chance that the friend who recommends the professional has had a positive experience — and a positive experience from a friend or family member carries much more weight than a positive experience from a stranger posted on an online review website.

Online evaluation

That doesn’t mean you should ignore information online, however. Before you schedule a meeting with a financial planner, whether recommended by a friend or not, check to ensure their certification is in good standing and they have not had any disciplinary actions. You can find this information on the websites operated by the certification boards — the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, the American Institute of CPAs for PFSs, and The American College for ChFCs.

Don’t stop there. The Securities and Exchange Commission keeps records on financial advisers who offer investment services. Find the planner’s Form ADV and read both parts it carefully. This will tell you if the financial adviser is paid by fees, commissions, or both. This is an important issue because you want to ensure that the advice you receive is not influenced by the planner’s own financial gain. A “fee-only” planner helps make that point. A “fee-based” listing, where the planner’s income is partly a fee and partly commission, could be a red flag.

If the financial planner isn’t registered with the SEC, and not every planner needs to be, check with your state to ensure their business can legally operate and does not have any disciplinary actions not already noted by their certification board.

The connection

You can learn much about a person by looking at their online presence. You probably wouldn’t go on a first date without searching the Internet for mentions of their name, and the same should be true about your financial planner. You should find professional results. While online marketing isn’t the final determination of the quality of a financial professional, you might find some red flags. The financial planning firm should at minimum have a website offering business information, but look for the additional steps that planners often take to increase their professionalism online.

Does the primary planner operate a blog? Planners with blogs are not necessarily better than planners without blogs, but by reading a website updated frequently with information relevant to financial planning, you might be able to determine that they have a passion for their work. Conversely, if you find a personal blog that is not at all professional, and are sure the blog belongs to your financial planner, you might save yourself from wasting your time.
Is your primary planner published? If your planner has written and published a book 00 not necessarily an e-book, this could be a good sign. If he or she regularly contributes to major publications, there is a good chance the planner has been vetted by editors to be knowledgeable. Again, this doesn’t ensure the financial planner will be the best fit for you, but it’s a good sign.
Does the primary planner have an extensive LinkedIn network? Like it or not, LinkedIn is the de facto standard social network for online professionals. While LinkedIn recommendations are often worthless, a business professional should ensure that their LinkedIn profile reflects the image they wish to project. On the other hand, if the professional is more active on Facebook, spending most of their free time playing FarmVille, consider whether you want this person to be providing financial advice to you. Anyone is free to do what they like with their free time, but I would consider someone who was concerned with their professional online identity over a planner who didn’t care.

The first date

After you’ve done your research in advance and possibly discussed your financial planning needs via phone and email with a select number of finalists, it’s time to meet in person. Financial planners should offer a free initial consultation. Use this as an opportunity to interview the planner, asking about their code of ethics, fiduciary responsibility, compensation sources, experience, and financial philosophy. You’ll have the chance to describe your situation and determine how well the planner listens and understands your unique circumstances.

The first date with your financial planner is a complicated interaction, and you may benefit from not immediately entering a relationship from the first planner you meet with. When getting ready to involve someone else with your finances, it helps to take the process slowly.

There is more that goes into this initial meeting, and that will be the topic of a future article.

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QuickBooks 2010 Now Available, Discounts for Readers

This article was written by Flexo in Software. 15 comments.

My accountant has strongly suggested I move my business-related financial accounting out of my personal Quicken file and into QuickBooks. It has been a slow process so far, and I have determined that I have not done a great job of separating my business finances from my personal finances.

QuickBooks 2010 was released yesterday. The software comes in a number of different flavors and the variety is a bit intimidating. I downloaded the QuickBooks Simple Start Free Edition in order to get started, but this edition of the software is limited to the point that it is insufficient for me. The Free Edition is limited to only twenty customers. In this version there is no connectivity with banks. While a very basic business could get by with these features, even running websites requires something more robust. One feature I would have liked with the free version, or the $100 (on sale for $80) QuickBooks Simple Start, is the ability to enter my bills as I receive them.

If you’re serious about keeping your books, it looks like your best bets are QuickBooks Pro ($200 on sale for $160) or QuickBooks Premier ($400 on sale for $320). You can also find editions of Pro and Premier that allow more than one user to access your data at the same time for an additional price.

Intuit also offers one version of QuickBooks for Mac.

My accountant says he has a few clients who upgrade their version of QuickBooks every year, so in order to complete their tax returns, he must also upgrade every year. It looks like I’d be best suited for QuickBooks Pro but I want to do as much as I can in the free version of Simple Start.

There are too many flavors of QuickBooks to list, but you can find discounted prices on all Intuit QuickBooks products here.

Consumerism Commentary is an authorized affiliate of QuickBooks and Quicken.

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Measuring Financial Progress: Net Worth vs. Net Investable Assets

This article was written by Ray in Personal Finance. 5 comments.

This is a guest article by Ray, the owner and primary author of Financial Highway, where he discusses investing, saving and practical money management concepts. You can check subscribe to his RSS feed or follow him on Twitter.

I strongly believe that tracking your financial progress is crucial to reaching your financial goals. If you visit personal finance blogs on regular bases you have already noticed that measuring net worth is very common and many bloggers make it public like Flexo does here. There are a couple of metrics that can help you track your financial progress: Net worth and
Net Investable Assets are two most common and each provides different information. Let=92s take a look at each and determine which of the two measurement methods is better for tracking your financial progress.

Net worth

This is the most common metric you will see around and it’s simple to calculate. Net Worth illustrates how much you are worth after all your assets are sold and all debts have been paid off. The formula is simple:

Net worth = Assets – Liabilities

Debts include your consumer debt (credit cards and loans) as well as your mortgage. Assets include all your investments and savings (including emergency fund and retirement funds) as well as your home, cars and other personal property. You simply add up all your assets and subtract your debts from it and you have your net worth. Although this is often used in determining your financial strength, I do not consider it the best measurement. It assumes that you sell all your assets at the current value; this is not always a practical option.

Net investable assets

This term is often used in the investment industry; we would primarily track our clients’ net investable assets because this would be the amount we could work with. The net investable assets calculation is slightly different than the net worth calculation, and to me it’s somewhat more practical. In calculating your net investable assets you do not include your personal properties such as car, home and cottage. You simply add all your savings and investments and subtract your consumer debt (credit cards and loans). This leaves you with investable assets. This tells you how much money you have available without selling all your personal properties.

We do not subtract your mortgage because you need a place to live and if you do not have a mortgage than you would have rent to pay so it’s a regular expense. The net investable assets calculation gives you a more accurate measure of your financial independence.

Net worth or net investable assets?

How should you calculate your financial progress? Well it’s all up to you and what you feel comfortable with and makes sense to you. Recently Trent Hamm of The Simple Dollar announced that he is not including his home value in his net worth calculation, however he is still continuing to count the mortgage in the formula. Although this method makes sense to some I find it distorts things a little. If you do not count your home in your net worth than the mortgage that goes with it should not be added either, hence you would have your net investable assets.

No matter which way you go, or if you decide to make slight changes to things the important thing is to stay consistent and do what makes sense to you!

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Consumerism Commentary Podcast

This article was written by Flexo in . Comments Off

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is a weekly personal finance show, hosted by both Tom Dziubek, a former podcaster with the Wall Street Journal, and Bryan J Busch, who started his first podcast in 2005 for fans of novelty rock music. Each week, the show offers commentary about money management, getting out of debt, budgeting, consumer issues, investing, and the economic issues that touch individuals in the United States and all over the world.

Tom and Bryan are occasionally joined by Flexo, the founder of Consumerism Commentary.

You can subscribe to the Consumerism Commentary Podcast by adding the podcast RSS feed to your audio device or RSS reader. You can also subscribe and download the episodes from iTunes.

Interested in advertising on the Consumerism Commentary Podcast? We are accepting a limited number of targeted, relevant advertisers. More information can be found here.

Here are the latest episodes of the Consumerism Commentary Podcast, with a list of guests and an overview of the topics covered, starting with the most recent:

Episode 146: February 5, 2012. Guest: MD, founder of the personal finance website Studenomics, talks about buying a house in your early 20s.

More about episode 146.

Episode 145: January 29, 2012. Guest: Jenny Kerr from The Jenny Pincher talks about how married women can better prepare themselves financially for a divorce.

More about episode 145.

Episode 144: January 22, 2012. Guest: Andrea Woroch talks about the smartest things to shop for in Winter.

More about episode 144.

Episode 143: January 15, 2012. Guest: Kathy Pickering of H&R Block’s Tax Institute dicusses tax law changes for last year and this year.

More about episode 143.

Episode 142: January 8, 2012. Guest: Flexo, founder of Consumerism Commentary, talks about New Year’s resolutions.

More about episode 142.

Episode 141: January 1, 2012. Guest: Carl Richards, author of The Behavior Gap.

More about episode 141.

Episode 140: December 25, 2011. Guest: Rudy DeFelice, founder of Kidworth.

More about episode 140.

Episode 139: December 18, 2011. Guest: Jonathan Zschau, author of Buying and Owning a Mac: Secrets Apple Doesn’t Want You to Know.

More about episode 139.

Episode 138: December 11, 2011. Guest: Scott Gerber, co-founder of Gen Y Capital Partners.

More about episode 138.

Episode 137: December 4, 2011. Guest: Dr. James Roberts, author of Shiny Objects.

More about episode 137.

Episode 136: November 27, 2011. Guest: Paula Pant, founder of the website Afford Anything, talks about being a landlord.

More about episode 136.

Episode 135: November 20, 2011. Guest: Dinah Sanders, creator of Discardia.

More about episode 135.

Episode 134: November 13, 2011. Guest: Ryan Bales, Founder and CEO of Budgetable.

More about episode 134.

Episode 133: November 6, 2011. Guests: Chris Camillo, author of Laughing at Wall Street: How I Beat the Pros at Investing (by Reading Tabloids, Shopping at the Mall, and Connecting on Facebook) and How You Can, Too.

More about episode 133.

Episode 132: October 30, 2011. Guests: Kristen Christian, founder of Bank Transfer Day.

More about episode 132.

Episode 131: October 23, 2011. Guests: Sarah of, The $60K Project.

More about episode 131.

Episode 130: October 16, 2011. Guests: Richard and Linda Eyre talk about their book, The Entitlement Trap.

More about episode 130.

Episode 129: October 9, 2011. Guests: Phillip Taylor (PT Money) and Flexo talk about the Financial Blogger Conference; Jon Stein from Betterment talks about their new goal-based financial planning tool.

More about episode 129.

Episode 128: October 2, 2011. Guest: Robert Steven Kaplan and Bryan discuss the three questions any organization needs to ask itself before it can succeed, and the best ways to coach the people on your team.

More about episode 128.

Episode 127: September 25, 2011. Guest: Mike Egan details several popular myths about social security, saving, and investments, and then explains the truth about each one, giving the reader solid knowledge and formulas about how much to save for retirement.

More about episode 127.

Episode 126: September 18, 2011. Guest: Truett Cathy, the founder of Chik-fil-A, discusses amassing wealth and giving it away.

More about episode 126.

Episode 125: September 11, 2011. Guest: Credit.com’s Gerri Detweiler talks about options for people with underwater mortgages.

More about episode 125.

Episode 124: September 4, 2011. Guest: Deloitte Consulting’s Deron Weston talks about their survey on first-time credit defaulters.

More about episode 124.

Episode 123: August 28, 2011. Guest: Mint.com’s Aaron Forth discusses Mint’s new bill reminder feature.

More about episode 123.

Episode 122: August 21, 2011. Guest: Clark Howard discusses some of the 250+ ways to save from his new book Living Large in Lean Times.

More about episode 122.

Episode 121: August 14, 2011. Guest: Credit.com’s Adam Levin discusses the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

More about episode 121.

Episode 120: August 7, 2011. Guest: Bryan J Busch discusses the impact of canceling cable.

More about episode 120.

Episode 119: July 31, 2011. Guest: CPA Leslie Dawson explains the IRS’s “innocent spouse” relief.

More about episode 119.

Episode 118: July 24, 2011. Guest: Andrea Woroch explains the consequences of extreme couponing.

More about episode 118.

Episode 117: July 17, 2011. Guest: Yaron Samid, founder and CEO of BillGuard, discusses the BillGuard service.

More about episode 117.

Episode 116: July 10th, 2011. Guest: Kevin McKee tells us what it takes to become a thousandaire.

More about episode 116.

Episode 115: July 3rd, 2011. Guest: LaFoy Thomas discusses his book Generational Wealth.

More about episode 115.

Episode 114: June 26, 2011. Guest: Steve Rosenstock, EEI, discusses summer cooling tips.

More about episode 114.

Episode 113: June 19, 2011. Guests: Scott and Bethany Palmer, also known as The Money Couple.

More about episode 113.

Episode 112: June 12, 2011. Guest: Megan Wurm, Money Matters ambassador.

More about episode 112.

Episode 111: June 5, 2011. Guest: Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, also known as The Money Coach.

More about episode 111.

Episode 110: May 29, 2011. Guest: George Hobica, president and founder of Airfarewatchdog. More about episode 110.

Episode 109: May 22, 2011. Guest: Dr. Maggie Baker, author of Crazy About Money: How Emotions Confuse Our Money Choices and What To Do About It.

More about episode 109.

Episode 108: May 15, 2011. Guest: Donna Freedman, columnist for MSN Money and staff writer for Get Rich Slowly. Donna also writes for her own blog, Surviving and Thriving.

Bryan, Donna, and Flexo discuss extreme couponing. More about episode 108.

Episode 107: May 8, 2011. Guest: J.D. Roth, author of How to Build a Better Budget. More about episode 107.

Episode 106: May 1, 2011. Guest: Kate Levinson, author of Emotional Currency: A Woman’s Guide to Building a Healthy Relationship with Money. More about episode 106.

Episode 105: April 24, 2011. Guest: Paul Puckett, author of Investiphobia. More about episode 105.

Episode 104: April 17, 2011. Guest: Kim McGrigg, Manager of Community and Media Relations for Money Management International (MMI), which is sponsoring Financial Literacy Month. More about episode 104.

Episode 103: April 10, 2011. Guest: Geneen Roth, author of Lost and Found: Unexpected Revelations About Food and Money. More about episode 103.

Episode 102: April 3, 2011. Guest: Tom Dziubek. More about episode 102.

Episode 101: March 27, 2011. Guest: Dr. Guy Winch, author of The Squeaky Wheel. More about episode 101.

Episode 100: March 20, 2011. Guest: Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, President of The Charles Schwab Foundation, which is sponsoring the National Financial Capability Challenge. More about episode 100.

Episode 99: March 13, 2011. Guest: Preeti Vissa, Community Reinvestment Director of the Greenlining Institute. More about episode 99.

Episode 98: March 6, 2011. Guest: Mark Brundage, co-founder of Adaptu. More about episode 9.

Episode 97: February 27, 2011. Guests: Dr. Doug Hirschhorn, author of 8 Ways to Great: Peak Performance on the Job and In Your Life. More about episode 97.

Episode 96: February 20, 2011. Guests: Tod Marks, senior project editor at Consumer Reports, and Nico Willis, author of Death of the American Investor (The Emergence of a New Global eShareholder). More about episode 96.

Episode 95: February 13, 2011. Guest: Tom Dziubek, frequent host of this podcast and a recent customer service representative at one of the U.S.’s ten largest savings banks. More about episode 95.

Episode 94: February 6, 2011. Guest: Liz Weston, author of The 10 Commandments of Money. More about episode 94.

Episode 93: January 30, 2011. Guest: David Bach, author of Debt Free for Life. More about episode 93.

Episode 92: January 23, 2011. Guest: Carmen Wong Ulrich, author of The Real Cost of Living. More about episode 92.

Episode 91: January 16, 2011. Guest: Aaron Patzer, creator of Mint.com and Vice President of Intuit discusses Mint’s partnership with Scholastic. More about episode 91.

Episode 90: January 9, 2011. Guest: Stuart Diamond, author of the book Getting More: How to Negotiate to Achieve Your Goals in the Real World. More about episode 90.

Episode 89: January 2, 2011. Guest: Flexo discusses the concerns and challenges invovled with self-employment. More about episode 89.

Episode 88: December 26, 2010. Guest: Leigh Mutert, CPA and Community Manager at H&R Block, discusses the new tax laws. More about episode 88.

Episode 87: December 19, 2010. Guest: Jane Honeck discusses topics from her book The Problem With Money? It’s Not About the Money! More about episode 87.

Episode 86: December 12, 2010. Guests: Andrew Buckley and Jay Sheehan, members of the Hit and Run History documentary team discuss the costs involved with making a documentary. More about episode 86.

Episode 85: December 5, 2010. Guests: Nate St. Pierre, founder of the community building website ItStartsWith.Us, and Budgets Are Sexy founder J. Money talk about their new micro-giving endeavor, Love Drop. More about episode 85.

Episode 84: November 28, 2010. Guest: Stew Langille, Director of Marketing for Intuit Personal Finance Group talks about Mint’s new real time consumer spending tracking website Mint Data. More about episode 84.

Episode 83: November 21, 2010. Guest: Laura Rowley, columnist at Yahoo Finance and author of the book Money and Happiness: A Guide to Living the Good Life. More about episode 83.

Episode 82: November 14, 2010. Guests: Adrian Nazari, founder and CEO of the online credit & loan analysis tool Credit Sesame and Jon Stein, founder and CEO of the online investing service, Betterment. More about episode 82.

Episode 81: November 7, 2010. Guest: Adam Baker, author of the Sell Your Crap series of guides. More about episode 81.

Episode 80: October 31, 2010. Guest: Farnoosh Torabi, author of the book Psych Yourself Rich: Get the Mindset and Discipline You Need to Build Your Financial Life. More about episode 80.

Episode 79: October 24, 2010. Guest: Bob Meighan, VP of Consumer Advocacy at TurboTax talks about potential income tax changes. More about episode 79.

Episode 78: October 17, 2010. Guest: Kimberly Palmer, author of the book, Generation Earn: The Young Professional’s Guide to Spending, Investing, and Giving Back. More about episode 78.

Episode 77: October 10, 2010. Guest: Pam Lassiter, author of the book The New Job Security: The 5 Best Strategies for Taking Control of Your Career. More about episode 77.

Episode 76: October 3, 2010. Guest: Tara-Nicholle Nelson, from the real estate website Trulia, discusses Trulia and price reduction trends for houses that are listed in the U.S. More about episode 76.

Episode 75: September 26, 2010. Guest: Fred Williams, author of the book Fight Back Against Unfair Debt Collection Practices: Know Your Rights and Protect Yourself from Threats, Lies, and Intimidation talks about how consumers can protect themselves against debt collectors. More about episode 75.

Episode 74: September 19, 2010. Guest: NBC “Today Show” editor Jean Chatzky talks about her National Money Talk Night event and her new book, Not Your Parents’ Money Book: Making, Saving, and Spending Your Own Money. More about episode 74.

Episode 73: September 12, 2010. Guest: Consumerism Commentary founder Flexo talks about his tips on saving money while at college. More about episode 73.

Episode 72: September 5, 2010. Guest: Steve Siebold, author of the book How Rich People Think, talks about how “world class” people think differently than “middle class” when it comes to finances. More about episode 72.

Episode 71: August 29, 2010. Guest: Zac Bissonnette, author of the book Debt-Free U, talks about going to college without going into debt. More about episode 71.

Episode 70: August 22, 2010. Guest: Michael Gikas, Senior Electronics Editor at Consumer Reports, talks about tips to avoid cell phone bill shock. More about episode 70.

Episode 69: August 15, 2010. Guest: Keri Buster, Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Communications, World Service at American Express, talks about her company’s recent survey about customer service. More about episode 69.

Episode 68: August 8, 2010. Guest: Carol Fabbri, co-author of the book Personal Investing: The Missing Manual, discusses multiple topics related to investing. More about episode 68.

Episode 67: August 1, 2010. Guest: Ramit Sethi, author of the bestselling book I Will Teach You To Be Rich, discusses the importance of earning more money. More about episode 67.

Episode 66: July 25, 2010. Guest: Richard Rosso, CFP and financial consultant at Charles Schwab, discusses his tips on how to prevent a natural disaster from becoming a financial disaster. More about episode 66.

Episode 65: July 18, 2010. Guests: Aaron Patzer, founder of Mint and Rob Garcia, Director of Product Strategy at Lending Club talk about Mint’s new “Goals” feature, then Tom Dziubek and Flexo discuss ways to save money at a ball game. More about episode 65.

Episode 64: July 11, 2010. Guest: Flexo talks about his recommended steps for people to take control of their personal finances. More about episode 64.

Episode 63: July 4, 2010. Guests: Landy Ung, co-founder of coupon and deal-finding website 8Coupons talks about her site’s services and Flexo discusses factors homeowners with extra money should consider when deciding to invest in the stock market or to pay down their mortgage. More about episode 63.

Episode 62: June 27, 2010. Guests: Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, talks about Charles Schwab’s 2010 Families & Money Survey and Jim Kelly, COO of ING Direct, talks about bank overdraft fees. More about episode 62.

Episode 61: June 20, 2010. Guest: Flexo, founder of Consumerism Commentary, talks about money saving tips for the summer. More about episode 61.

Episode 60: June 13, 2010. Guests: Mary Hines, Vice President of ZYNC Product Management at American Express, talks about the company’s new ZYNC charge card. Also, SmartyPig executives Bob Weinschenk and Mike Ferrari talk about their company’s recent affiliation with BBVA Compass Bank. More about episode 60.

Episode 59: June 6, 2010. Guest: Donna Freedman, personal finance columnist at MSN Money, discusses topics such as microsaving and emergency funds. More about episode 59.

Episode 58: May 30, 2010. Guest: Richard Lewins, founder of the LewinsLaw legal practice and author of the book, How to Keep From Going Broke with a Broker. More about episode 58.

Episode 57: May 23, 2010. Guests: Gerry Cuddy, President and CEO of Beneficial Bank talks about Beneficial’s two new education-themed banks in NJ. More about episode 57.

Episode 56: May 16, 2010. Guests: Preeti Vissa of the Greenlining Institute talks about bank overdraft fees and Atakan Cetinsoy, Vice President of Corporate Development and Personal Finance Products at the personal financial management website, moneyStrands discusses his company’s website. More about episode 56.

Episode 55: May 9, 2010. Guest: Kimberly Palmer, senior editor at U.S. News & World Report and author of the upcoming book, Generation Earn: The Young Professional’s Guide to Spending, Investing, and Giving Back, talks about tendencies of the typical Generation Y consumer. More about episode 55.

Episode 54: May 2, 2010. Guest: Schwark Satyavolu, co-founder and president of the service comparison website BillShrink, talks about how to save gas and money during the summer months. More about episode 54.

Episode 53: April 25, 2010. Guest: Flexo discusses his tips on how to explore the art of photography without taking a hit to your wallet. More about episode 53.

Episode 52: April 18, 2010. Guest: Adam Baker, creator of the Man vs. Debt website, discusses his new e-book, Unautomate Your Finances. More about episode 52.

Episode 51: April 11, 2010. Guest: Kara McGuire, personal finance columnist at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, discusses several topics relating to money and parenting. More about episode 51.

Episode 50: April 4, 2010. Guest: Cate Williams, Vice President of Financial Literacy at Money Management International, discusses several topics about financial literacy in honor of Financial Literacy month. More about episode 50.

Episode 49: March 28, 2010. Guests: Stacy Johnson, author of the book Life or Debt 2010, discusses ways to overcome debt and Murali Subbarao, founder and CEO of Billeo talks about charitable giving trends that his company has observed. More about episode 49.

Episode 48: March 21, 2010. Guest: Robert Pagliarini, the author of The Other 8 Hours, discusses how to eliminate wasteful activities from your life and better utilize your spare time. More about episode 48.

Episode 47: March 14, 2010. Guest: Lou Scatigna, The Financial Physician, discusses his book and his financial advice. More about episode 47.

Episode 46: March 7, 2010. Guest: J.D. Roth, author of Your Money: The Missing Manual, discusses his new book and how he went from blogger to published author. More about episode 46.

Episode 45: February 28, 2010. Guest: Gary Belsky, author of Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes And How To Correct Them, discusses the aspects of behavioral economics. More about episode 45.

Episode 44: February 21, 2010. Guest: Bob Meighan, VP of Consumer Advocacy at TurboTax, discusses income tax tips related to major life changes such as getting married and buying a home. More about episode 44.

Episode 43: February 14, 2010. Guest: Sam, founder of personal finance website Financial Samurai, discusses the Samurai Fund, retiring after 20 years, and the Samurai Codes of Honor. More about episode 43.

Episode 42: February 7, 2010. Guests: Jeff Bartlett, Autos Deputy Editor at Consumer Reports, discusses recent Toyota recalls and Flexo later discusses money saving tips for Valentine’s Day. More about episode 42.

Episode 41: January 31, 2010. Guest: Samir Kothari, co-Founder of BillShrink, discusses credit card issuers’ compliance with the Credit CARD Act of 2009. More about episode 41.

Earlier episodes of the Consumerism Commentary Podcast

Episode	Original Airdate	Topics and Guests
S02E16 #42	Feb 7, 2010	Toyota Recalls (Jeff Bartlett, Consumer Reports) Saving money on Valentine’s Day (Flexo)
S02E15 #41	Jan 31, 2010	Credit CARD Act (Samir Kothari, BillShrink)
S02E14 #40	Jan 24, 2010	Start Over, Finish Rich (David Bach)
S02E13 #39	Jan 17, 2010	Get Financially Naked (Manisha Thakor)
S02E12 #38	Jan 10, 2010	Eliminating Holiday Debt, (Peter Pham, BillShrink)
S02E11 #37	Jan 3, 2010	Financial Foul-Ups (Brian Scheur, My Next Buck)
S02E10 #36	Dec 27, 2009	Making the Most of Your Money Now (Jane Bryant Quinn)
S02E09 #35	Dec 20, 2009	Pay It Down!: Debt-Free on $10 a Day (Jean Chatzky)
S02E08 #34	Dec 13, 2009	Giving Stocks as Gifts (Dan Greenshields) and Kelly Whalen
S02E07 #33	Dec 6, 2009	The Complete Identity Theft Guidebook (Terri Cullen)
S02E06 #32	Nov 29, 2009	Gift Cards (Jim Sharvin, CPA) and Financial Reform (Heather Booth)
S02E05 #31	Nov 22, 2009	Peer to Peer Lending (Renaud LaPlanche and Rob Garcia) and Target Date Funds (Flexo)
S02E04 #30	Nov 15, 2009	Ask the Headhunter: Reinventing the Interview to Win the Job (Nick Corcodilos)
S02E03 #29	Nov 8, 2009	How to Live Well and Save Money (Sharon Harvey Rosenberg, The Frugal Duchess)
S02E02 #28	Nov 1, 2009	The Smartest Retirement Book You’ll Ever Read (Dan Solin)
S02E01 #27	Oct 25, 2009	War against debt, frugal traveling (Adam Baker, Man Vs. Debt)
S01E26	Oct 18, 2009	MAKE Magazine, Do-it-Yourself, Credit.com (Mark Frauenfelder, Boing Boing)
S01E25	Oct 11, 2009	Sandra Hannah (Smart Cookies) and Neal Frankle (Wealth Pilgrim)
S01E24	Oct 4, 2009	Path to becoming a millionaire (Jen Smith, Millionaire Mommy Next Door)
S01E23	Sep 27, 2009	Negotiating and bargaining (Herb Cohen, presidential adviser, and Teri Gault, author)
S01E22	Sep 20, 2009	Intuit’s Acquisition of Mint (Aaron Patzer, Mint) and Roth IRA conversions (Bryan Olson, Charles Schwab)
S01E21	Sep 13, 2009	How to survive on a teacher’s salary (Danny Kofke)
S01E20	Sep 6, 2009	You Need a Budget (Jesse Mecham) and PocketSmith (Francois Bondiguel and Jason Leong)
S01E19	Aug 30, 2009	Giving yourself a raise (Matt Jabs, Debt Free Adventure)
S01E18	Aug 23, 2009	Snap financial decisions (David Adler, Snap Judgment) and the PowerCost Monitor (Peter Porteous)
S01E17	Aug 16, 2009	Buying and owning a home in today’s market (David Crook, WSJ Complete Home Owner’s Guidebook)
S01E16	Aug 9, 2009	Financial planning (Jeff Rose, CFP) and Cash for Clunkers (Jeff Bartlett, Consumer Reports)
S01E15	Aug 2, 2009	Credit CARD Act (Dr. Robert Manning) and tips for dealing with layoffs (Flexo)
S01E14	Jul 26, 2009	We, the Savers (Jim Kelly, ING Direct) and Feed the Pig (Mackey McNeil)
S01E13	Jul 19, 2009	Tips for graduating seniors (Flexo) and Cash for Clunkers (Bob Meighan, Intuit)
S01E12	Jul 12, 2009	Myths of personal finance (Ramit Sethi, I Will Teach You To Be Rich)
S01E11	Jul 5, 2009	SmartyPig (Jon Gaskell) and new Consumerism Commentary contributor (Jeff)
S01E10	Jun 28, 2009	Frugal grilling (Jim Wang, Grillmaestro) and successful entrepreneurs (Erica Douglass)
S01E09	Jun 21, 2009	Maintaining careers in a recession (Penelope Trunk, Brazen Careerist) and minimalism in personal finance (Leo Babauta, Zen Habits)
S01E08	Jun 14, 2009	Yowza! and TalkAboutIt.org (Greg Grunberg)
S01E07	Jun 7, 2009	Quicken Online (Barron Ernst) and 10,001 Ways to Live Live Large on a Small Budget (Linsey Knerl)
S01E06	May 31, 2009	397 Ways to Save Money (Kerry K. Taylor)
S01E05	May 24, 2009	Following your passion to earn income (J.D. Roth, Get Rich Slowly) and a family budgeting system (Bryan J Busch)
S01E04	May 17, 2009	Financial advisory website Thrive (Matt Wallaert)
S01E03	May 10, 2009	Credit scores (Ken Lin, Credit Karma) and the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights (Liz Weston)
S01E02	May 3, 2009	Recession-proof your relationship (Dr. Bonnie Eaker Weil) and Mint’s new features (Aaron Patzer)
S01E01	Apr 26, 2009	Recession tips (Flexo) and shrinking your bills (Peter Pham, BillShrink)

The Cost of Buying a Home, Low Cost of Living, and Fed Cover-Up

by Flexo

Has anyone been watching the HBO miniseries, John Adams? Although colonial America is not my favorite period of history, I’ve been enjoying the first episodes that have aired. However, during the slower sections of the program, you may want to take the time reading articles from Consumerism Commentary’s history. From the first half of March ... Continue reading this article…

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This Week in the Archives

by Flexo

Throughout the year, I’ll be linking to articles on Consumerism Commentary from previous years. I’m using this as an opportunity to point out any interesting or well-discussed posts that newer readers and occasional visitors might have missed. Here are some from March 1-7, 2006: * Mar. 2: New $10 Bill Circulates Today (3 comments) * ... Continue reading this article…

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