Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips roundup!
Rules to live by when the economy heads south. Boston.com and FIRE Finance
Smarter than the average bear market. "Yet with these terrifying headlines every day, it’s like people have become blind, yet highly literate zombies who wander aimlessly from one newspaper to another. Being dumb is not just focusing on the wrong things, it’s making poor financial decisions and then throwing up your hands and wondering why you don’t have enough money a few years later. If you own only one stock — especially if it’s your employer’s stock — then you are a fool." I Will Teach You To Be Rich
Avoiding bankrupcty when you're sick. Queercents
Comfort foods are all the rage during economic hard times. A grilled cheese sandwich is the height of frugality. Here's a recipe. Cheap Eats
Tips for jet-setting, worldly types. "Most tickets are changeable, no matter what is written on them. If you run into trouble, don’t give up – the airlines can make exceptions under the right circumstances. It doesn’t always work, but good things often come to those who are persistent." Zen Habits
Throw the bums out. AIG is rightly still getting hammered by the government for acting like a bunch of jerkwads. NY Times
What if there were no Joneses to keep up with? The Simple Dollar
Free grub in your birthday suit! Lots of restaurants give you free food on your birthday. Dean provides a list for all of you who love a free-ish lunch. Mr. Cheap Stuff
Less time, less spendy. Reducing your time at the supermarket will help you spend less. "[L]ast weekend at the grocery store I was unnerved by displays of snack foods, ice cream, Halloween candy, and ready-made items like deli entrees and rotisserie chickens. Seeing them was like hearing fragments of a language I used to speak. What was all this stuff?" MSN Smart Spending
Giving when you're not really getting? Is your charitable giving going to change as the economy worsens? Free Money Finance
And it begins. Credit card companies are cracking down on consumers because they are panicking as much as everyone else. Walletpop
When time IS money. Small ways to work smarter on your PC. Dumb Little Man
Why total meltdown is unlikely. "I continue to think that global governments will get this figured out and credit markets will start to ease before truly awful consequences take hold. We're in for a recession, not anarchy." Motley Fool
Richy McRichpants. What does it really mean to be "rich"? Can you be rich without realizing it? Get Rich Slowly
Why your credit card debt is partly to blame for this financial mess. "By 2006, though, consumers were not only spending more on everyday goods -- remember, spending 89% of income -- but also spending more to pay debt. They were spending 13% of their incomes to cover debt, Church notes. So households were spending everything they made -- and borrowing some more money on top of that -- just to get through the average year." Freep
When being cool as a cucumber matters. Why staying calm in an economic crisis is better for everyone involved. Five Cent Nickel
Goodbye, schadenfreude. "Until last week, Europe had witnessed the type of anti-American gloating usually seen only during the soccer World Cup, the quadrennial event in which the American team is routed in the early rounds." Slate
Tips and tricks for budgeting. Some of the best (free) tools you can use to save money and reduce debt. No Credit Needed
Iceland almost goes bankrupt. Who knew that countries could even do that? "Iceland's dramatically transformed stock exchange offers a clear indication of the massive blow dealt to the country's economy, recently based almost entirely on a financial sector that represented between eight and 10 times its gross domestic product." AFP
Hard times call for simple soutions. Why simplicity offers a fairly easy path to saving money. Mighty Bargain Hunter
HAHA! It can be fun to see what people wrote about a few months ago, when the economic collapse was becoming a reality and lots of people said it wouldn't happen anyway. Reuters
Is tax season here already? Oh, it never ended. If you filed for an extension, you have to actually file your taxes by today. Consumerism Commentary
California is selling itself to the American consumer. Want a piece of the action? Bloomberg
Talk about lemons into lemonade. So what if your 401K is down 40%? Stocks are going to be cheap. All Financial Matters
Oooh la la. Does this mean that sales of cheese and cigarettes will decrease? Europeans react to the economic crisis. Xinhua News
Slippery slope. If the cost of oil keeps falling, will we keep pushing to drill? CNN
Safe bet. Everyone is buying safes for their home because it's frowned upon to keep your money under your mattress. LA Times
It's the little things that count. There are plenty of ways to pinch pennies - here are 101 pinching techniques. Our Four Pence Worth
Discount on discount chain membership. Sam's Club memberships can be had for $10 for the rest of the year. Bargain Hunter
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This blog is great to keep up with what people are thinking and to actually help me find important information.
I've been working hard to save and stay away from more risky things since I read stickyasset.com. I know with the help of this site, I will know even more.
Thank you again.
Wilson
It's great to have regular readers and commenters. Thanks for the feedback.
Thanks for pulling together such a comprehensive and diverse collection of posts from around the blogosphere. I think in these challenging times, there is a great opportunity for Financial Bloggers to inject some wisdom and different perspectives into the financial community.
Over at BehaviorGap.com, we're really focused on investor behavior and it's impact on long term investment results.
Another great edition Andrea!
I especially liked that LA Times story. :D
Thanks for the mention. A great resource of useful information.
Cheers,
FIRE Finance
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