#256: Spare Some Change? (Friday, November 25)

I had a wonderful conversation with a couple of girlfriends this past weekend about (people's ability to) change. A couple days later, I read about a guy in Canada who'd saved $723 worth of change in seven months. And then I overheard someone on the bus saying she had to go switch out her change at the machine so she could go Black Friday shopping. So I figured it was a sign that this week's Good Friday idea should be about change. LOL.

I once read that the average household has $90 worth of change lying around the house. $90! Either I'm living in the wrong household, or I'm sitting on a goldmine. So what do you do with this spare change? Here are a few ideas:

• Use it for your holiday shopping
• Pay a bill
• Use it for your kids' allowances
• Donate it to charity; in some countries your 60 cents could do a world of good
• Do something fun: go on a date, treat yourself to dinner, etc.
• Invest it

I guess we could all use some change...And speaking of change, help change your community tomorrow by patronizing a small business in your neighborhood. Support Small Business Saturday! 

#255: Deal Breakers (Friday, November 18)

"A deal breaker is ‘the catch’ that a particular individual cannot overlook and ultimately outweighs any redeeming quality the individual may possess." - Urbandictionary.com 

In every relationship (whether it's a friendship or a romantic liaison), there are deal breakers. Deal breakers are just another way of saying "standards"; it's the measuring stick that helps each of us define our personal limits of what we will and won't accept.

The other day, a friend and I were talking about financial deal breakers. He had two: his prospective mate "must have good credit", and if over 30 she must also have "at least one major asset such as a home, a car, a business--something we can build on." Thankfully, I wasn't trying to date him. LOL. (I discovered, the hard way, that in America paying off your bills and canceling your credit cards actually hurts your credit score. Go figure.) I thought his second deal breaker was a little excessive, but what was even crazier is that my friend was seeking qualities in his prospective mate that he had yet to accomplish, thus breaking the Golden Rule of Deal Breakers: never write someone off for something that you don't possess yourself.

Deal breakers often get a bad rap, but from a financial perspective they can actually be quite helpful when trying to meet your financial goals if they're not too restrictive or unrealistic. You can have financial deal breakers for yourself, or for your partner...which may not be a bad idea considering that many marriages break up over money matters.

My personal financial deal breakers:

• No layaway: If I have to put it on layaway, I don't need it. And after hearing about Chuck Schumer's latest initiative regarding layaway, I'm glad this is one of my deal breakers.
• No loans: I really HATE owing people money. If I have to borrow money to pay for it, I don't need it. Obviously, this excludes major things (college education, home purchase, car purchase) or if I fall on hard times, but this is the general rule.

What are your personal financial deal breakers? 

#254: Rebounding from A Bad Situation (Friday, November 11)

"If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;"  - Excerpt from If by Rudyard Kipling 

The other day I was watching a program on TV. They were interviewing Carl Payne, one of the main characters on the Martin sitcom. He was working as a car salesman in LA, and from the line of questioning, I could tell that the interviewer was trying to make it seem like he'd fallen from grace ("How do you go from Martin to this?").

I thought Carl Payne's response was brilliant: "I love what I do, but more importantly I have a family to feed and there's no shame in honest work and taking care of your family." Brilliant.

Nowadays, I'm noticing that a lot more celebrities and athletes are going broke. It seems like every few years Toni Braxton is bankrupt; Terrell Owens just petitioned a judge to reduce his $40,000/month child support payments because he couldn't afford it and I'm sure this NBA lockout will likely produce a few more. So I was very inspired to read this article about basketball couples who are changing their financial strategy in preparation for the lockout. It sounds like they'll be one of the success stories.

I know it's annoying to regular Joes like you and I who live on substantially less incomes to understand how someone with a multi-million income could be broke. But it's not the situation itself, but how you respond to the situation that determines the outcome. Most of these bankruptcies are a result of poor financial management, not how much money they earn.

But you even after a financial crisis, you can rebound and rebuild. It is up to you and your attitude. Will you be a Carl Payne or a Toni Braxton?

#253: Turn Your Thoughts Into Action! (Friday, November 4)

After last week's post, I was delighted to discover that people are using their power and speaking up. In fact, I recently read about a bank transfer day, started by a consumer just like you and I, who was frustrated with the fees of Bank of America.

On the inaugural day, which will be celebrated tomorrow, November 5, customers are encouraged to transfer their balances from (for profit) banks to (non-profit) credit unions. I don't know if that was the impetus for Bank of America to cancel the debit card fee, but I'm sure it didn't hurt. And other banks, after seeing the near-revolt B of A experienced, have sensibly decided not to implement similar fees...for now.

If you decide to take advantage of Bank Transfer Day to move your balance, do your research. Compare rates, fees, etc. for different banks on bankrate.com and make sure that you're making your choice based on the features you're looking for in a bank, rather than just moving it to a non-profit institution to avoid fees.