So maybe you think I’ve finally gone nuts. “The financial crisis doesn’t matter?” What an outrageous idea! People are suffering, you insist. How can it be that all the money that’s being lost right now, all the fortunes that are spinning down the drain, mean nothing?
Let me clarify. What I’m trying to say is that [...]

So everybody knows what conspicuous consumption is, right? Conspicuous consumption is when you consume for the specific purpose of displaying wealth. Basically, you spend money to impress other people.
We all do this to some extent. I mean, I spent a little money on some decent furniture for my room. I could have left everything in [...]

We should declare war on stuff. In fact, I think maybe I’ll formally do so one of these days. I’ll post about how bad stuff is and how it should be eliminated. You know the kind of stuff I’m talking about: trinkets, doodads, gewgaws, things that seem important in the moment but which add nothing [...]

If you’re a student, you can pay $20 a year for a Student Advantage card and get discounts on goods and services offered by 64 national brands and “thousands of local shops and restaurants nationwide.” Hopefully , if you’re eligible for this thing, you’re not already sold and are getting ready to run some numbers [...]

So I just happened across a CNN Money article entitled Nine cool jobs that pay well. “When you’re surrounded by beige walls reading inane e-mails all day, you can’t help but wonder if there’s a cooler job out there that will still put food on the table,” says the article.
This so describes my feelings when [...]

Does it make sense, every once in a while, to allow yourself a little “break” from being cheap? Is it good to splurge on unnecessary things every now and then?
I’ve been thinking about this for a few days now and I’m still not quite sure what the answer is.
A couple days ago I posted about [...]

It’s said that a penny saved is a penny earned. Well, not if you go right out and spend that penny on something else!
Let me explain.
I recently helped a friend save over $100 on a flight using the strategy discussed in my post How to fly really cheap on Southwest. “Great!” my friend said. “Now [...]

So I recently called in to cancel my American Express Gold Card.
“Well, Sir, if you don’t mind me asking,” began the representative in a tone of voice I can only describe as accusatory, “what is it you don’t like about your American Express Gold Card?”
“Well, it’s not that I’ve have any problems with the card [...]

It seems to me that many people see the word “cheap” in a negative light. I think this is because being “cheap” is associated with being stingy or greedy. A lot of folks, I think, believe cheapness is synonymous with illogical, obsessive penny-pinching - that is, focusing on the small stuff to the exclusion of [...]

I’d like to finally lay to rest the misconception that investing is more important than living cheap.
In the personal finance world, there are those who promote the idea of living below your means and there are those who reject it, pooh-poohing frugality as a form of self-deprivation. Robert Kiyosaki, author of the Rich Dad, Poor [...]