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Foolish ways to go Green - buy an old Suburban, not a new Civic.

Buying a new fuel-efficient car to save the environment over keeping the car you currently have is a foolish and ineffective way to "go green."

This was stated in a recent article on MSN Money about " 6 Foolish ways to go Green".  In this article they state:
The most environmentally friendly car you can drive is probably the
one in your garage, assuming it's in good repair. Say your car gets 20
miles per gallon. You'd like to trade it in on a car that gets 35 mpg.
The new car costs $15,000 more. At $3 per gallon, you'll save ...<< MORE >>
Posted by Rob Morgan at January 11, 2008 | Add Comment

Year-End Wrap-up

The end of a year is a good time to take stock of where we are in our personal financial life and to make tweaks and adjustments to keep us on the High Road. Here's a run-down of things we've covered (or not) over the past year, to use as a reference.
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Posted by Rob Morgan at December 10, 2007 | Add Comment

Security Freeze!

Credit Freeze!


Time to put a Credit freeze on all your accounts, and never lift it again (unless buying a home).   A credit freeze is the ability to put a blocker, or freeze, on your three credit bureau files as the most powerful and effective way to stop identity theft from ever getting started. Millions of people are spending upwards of $100 or more a year for credit monitoring that essentially informs you, after the fact, that you have been a victim of identity theft.  How silly is that!  Why not just prevent the credit from ...<< MORE >>

Posted by Rob Morgan at November 2, 2007 | View Comments (1) | Add Comment

I will stop worshipping at the altar of the FICO

I have come to realize that the nation as a whole has become conditioned to worship at the altar of the FICO score.  What does this mean?  This means that we all have been brainwashed in believing that it is very important for our own personal sanity to strive to have good credit, and that the single number that represents our success in that regard is our FICO score.  

Well I am no longer going to listen to this preaching from the credit agencies and credit card companies.  I have completely lost the faith.  They tell me that my credit score is ...
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Posted by Rob Morgan at October 30, 2007 | Add Comment

The Single Key to Financial Freedom

What is the single key to financial freedom?


I heard this mentioned in a financial podcast and it bears repeating.  If there is one underlying key, one character trait that absolutely has to be in place in order to achieve financial freedom, it is this:






Delayed Gratification


Put off the GOOD now to have the GREAT later.  Without this trait, financial freedom is unachievable. 

A second trait as a follow-up is the ability to be teachable.  We have to swallow our pride and learn from what others may have to teach us, ...<< MORE >>
Posted by Rob Morgan at September 20, 2007 | Add Comment

Why don't we want help?

Why are all of us, in one way or another, reluctant to seek help examining our finances? 

I just read an article from Smart Money magazine where funds that were earmarked from the 2003 settlement between the SEC and the brokerage industry earmarked $85 million for investor education.  However, 4 years later, that money is used for things like a set of episodes on PBS in a series called MoneyTrack that only aired at 5am.  Fewer people watched the show than watched reruns of Mama's family.

I'll be the first to admit that I am unlikely to just walk into the ...
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Posted by Rob Morgan at September 5, 2007 | Add Comment

Millionaire Discontent

Just read a good article from the NY Times (an oxymoron, i know) that describes how Millionaires in Silicon Valley are discontent with their wealth and so keep working long hours at stressful tech jobs to get to the "next level."   

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/technology/05rich.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&ref=technology&pagewanted=print

In this article, someone who has $2M in net worth is struggling to get to the $5M level.  $5M?  they're struggling to get to the $10M level.  And so on, and so on. 

One person in the article had a net worth of $50M in 2000 and went out and bought a 5 bedroom house in a ...<< MORE >>
Posted by Rob Morgan at August 6, 2007 | Add Comment

Attitudes toward Personal Finance

A recent study showed that people who have incomes over $100k think of their financial decisions with a 10 or 20 year mindset.  They have vision for what they want to accomplish in life, and will consider the long-term and cumulative compounding effects of decisions they make today. 

Conversely, people who have a "poor" mindset (not "broke", but poor) think only of their financial decisions in the context of the upcoming Friday night.    "Payday on Friday, live for the weekend, broke on Monday".

There are generally 3 reasons for this:

  1. "Family of Origin" - a person's upbringing ...<< MORE >>
Posted by Rob Morgan at July 12, 2007 | Add Comment

Financial House Blueprints

What does our "Financial Dream House" Look Like?

Today in CashChat we drew the blueprints for our "financial dream house."  A pretty simple house, actually.  The concept is that everything has to be taken care of at one level of the house before we can build on the next higher level (you have to build a 1st floor before you can build a 2nd floor when building a house).  

The Basement:  
We want our basement to be dry and empty.  We don't want water in our real basement, and we don't want the water of debt in the basement of our financial house.  ...<< MORE >>

Posted by Rob Morgan at April 10, 2007 | View Comments (1) | Add Comment

What is "The Secret"?

We are watching "The Secret" on DVD.  What is the secret?  It addresses the law of attraction - "Like attracts like." 

After we are finished watching "The Secret" I will post the inside secrets that we have discovered from watching "The Secret"!

...<< MORE >>
Posted by Rob Morgan at March 14, 2007 | Add Comment
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