Secrets of Personal Finance Summed up on 5 Business Cards
By DaveM | December 15, 2007
Everything I’ve believed in and written about for the past 20+ years just got summed up in a great post over at The Simple Dollar. No further introduction is necessary for this one…
Enjoy!
Everything You Ever Really Needed to Know About Personal Finance on the Back of Five Business Cards
Topics: Money Management, Financial Planning, Personal Finance, Business, Saving, Investing, Making Money, Debt Reduction | No Comments »
BEWARE! Phone and Internet Fraud Reminders
By DaveM | November 30, 2007
Unfortunately, it’s that time of the year when phone fraud and Internet scams are on the rise.
As the holidays approach, the scumbag shysters are even more intent on ripping you off.
Sadly, the scammers get more clever every year, and innocent people keep getting fleeced out of their hard-earned money.
Follow these simple tips and you shouldn’t have any problems: Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Identity Theft, Scams, General | No Comments »
Teaching Your Kids Dollars and Sense
By DaveM | November 29, 2007
Tomorrow is a big day at the Mauder household… Our 19 year old daughter is finally moving out on her own.
Yup, she found a small studio apartment and signed a rental agreement. Of course, she only has a part time job that pays around $200 per week, she has zero savings, and up until yesterday she didn’t even have a car of her own!
Earlier this year, she decided to drop out of college and take a year off to “find herself”. Since then, she’s been mixed up with friends who are “less than desirable” (from the parental perspective), she has been doing some things we don’t approve of, and she goes out dancing at bars on “goth night”. She stays out until the wee morning hours, and then sleeps all day. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Smart Money Tips, Financial Planning, Personal Finance, Personal Development, Saving, Budgeting, Retirement, General | 1 Comment »
Trying Out a No-Brainer Investment Strategy
By DaveM | November 28, 2007
Lately I’ve been researching and learning about an interesting investment strategy called NoLoad FundX. I first heard about NoLoad FundX when I posted a question about investing & trading strategies over on Steve Pavlina’s forum.
That (somehow) led me to a neat little blog called Millionaire Mommy Next Door. The Millionaire Mommy herself uses this strategy and has blogged a few times about her experience with it.
Basically, NoLoad FundX teaches a systematic investing methodology called Upgrading. It involves buying no load mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETF’s) that rank high in their scoring system, and holding those funds as long as they continue to outperform their peers.
When funds start to fall out of favor in the rankings, they are sold and replaced with current high-rankers. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Investing | 8 Comments »
Mental Blocks to Making Money (and a solid punch in the gut)
By DaveM | November 22, 2007
Steve Pavlina posted a great article yesterday about making money and two common mental blocks to effectively doing so. I can see myself in both of the mistakes he discusses, but mistake #2 really felt like a punch in the gut.
Here are a couple excerpts from Steve’s post:
The notion that you generate income by trading value is a simple concept, but it’s amazing how many people still don’t get it.
By focusing on trying to get money, you’re missing the point. The point is to provide value to others. This means serving people in a way they aren’t already being served, in a manner that aligns with your unique creative self-expression. Share what only you can share. Express what only you can express in the way that only you can express it.
Holy crap, the man is talking about me!
Topics: Business, Personal Development, Making Money | No Comments »
Best Laptop Bag in the World!
By DaveM | October 9, 2007
OK, this has absolutely nothing to do with matters of money, but I have to share my excitement with someone. My wife thinks I’m crazy and won’t listen to me…
As a computer engineer, I’ve tried more laptop bags, briefcases, and backpacks than I care to remember. Most of the time, they are either too big, too small, don’t have enough pockets, too heavy when filled with all my stuff, or some other such thing.
I’ve purchased bags and taken them back to the store a few days later because I didn’t like something. And believe me, I’ve spent anywhere from $20 per bag, on up to well over $100. It doesn’t matter - they’ve all had their little flaws.
That all changed recently when my 16 year old son was helping me hunt down the “perfect” bag online. After I shared all my most common complaints with him, he set out to find a solution. And find a solution he did!
Topics: Reviews, General | No Comments »
A Total Money Makeover Update
By DaveM | September 18, 2007
The Money Matters blog is LONG overdue for an update, so I’ve decided to share where we’re at with the debt reduction plan we started back in March 2006.
Before getting into that, let me first apologize for hardly blogging over the past few months.
Honestly, I have no excuse other than laziness and procrastination. 
I suppose I’ve become one of “those” bloggers I dislike… You know, the ones that get pruned from your RSS reader list every so often.
If you’re reading this, I guess I should consider myself fortunate for having made the cut thus far.
Anyway, just to refresh your memory, here are a few links going back to March 14 when I first started posting updates about our dismal debt situation and the plan to remedy it: Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Credit Cards, Debt Reduction | No Comments »
Free Life Transformation Kit from TRN
By DaveM | August 11, 2007
I know, I know… You probably thought I died or something since I haven’t posted in so long. The truth is that I recently started a new job with a really big computer company and I just haven’t spent much time working on my website in a while.
So, why the post today? Well, if you’ve read my Brain Hacks page, you know I use and endorse the personal development products from Think Right Now! (TRN). Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Freebies, Personal Development | No Comments »
Getting Started on the Road to Financial Freedom
By DaveM | May 6, 2007
I’ve been to so many personal finance sites that just blog about new topics all the time, but they don’t offer guidance on what do first, second, and so on. They just expect you to read all their posts and figure it out for yourself.
That approach doesn’t work for me, and I suspect it doesn’t work for you either.
Here are some things you absolutely must do (IMHO) if you’re just getting started on the road to financial freedom: Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Financial Planning, Personal Finance, Money Management, Smart Money Tips, Debt Reduction, Budgeting, General | No Comments »
FOR SALE: One Partially Developed and Slightly Used Beef Jerky Website
By DaveM | April 23, 2007
UPDATE: Unfortunately, there were no takers and the jerky website died a slow and natural death.
After all the recent hub-bub about my new SBI-built beef jerky empire, I’m sure at least one or two of you is wondering what has been going on lately.
The short answer is…Not much.
Since I revealed my new site in January, the number of hours I’ve spent working on it can be (easily) counted on one set of fingers.
Unfortunately, here’s what I discovered… I’m not passionate about beef jerky (or buffalo jerky, or even turkey jerky). There, I said it.
Try as I may, I just haven’t been able to get myself motivated to continue developing the site. Without the passion, there’s just not much else there to keep me inspired to work on it.
Having said that, I still love eating jerky, and I still think it’s a great business idea — for the right person.
Which brings me to this shocking announcement…
Topics: Site Build It (SBI), Business | 3 Comments »