My goal for the second part in this three-part series is to recommend actions for when you’re about to draw from your emergency fund, have been drawing from your emergency fund, or are nearly out of emergency fund money. The reality is the strategies for all three situations are nearly the same—the main difference is … Continue reading Part 2: Emergency Fund Emergency
Recently, a headline grabbed my attention. That doesn’t happen often these days because I’ve vowed to be more aware of and intentional about ignoring sensational headlines, mostly because the articles typically don’t have much substance or meaningful analysis behind them. But this one caught me—hook, line, and sinker. The article I read was centered around … Continue reading Part 1: Emergency Fund – A False Sense of Security?
Have you ever pondered if the premium cleaning solution is worth the extra money? Is it truly THAT much better than the generic or store brand versions? On the opposite end of the spectrum, is the premium couch THAT much more durable than the cheaper versions? In this article, my goal is to explain why … Continue reading Paying a Premium
When is the last time you set a goal—be it for your spiritual life, professional life, family life, social life, physical or mental health, or any other areas? Has it been more than a week? More than a month? Hopefully not, but has it been more than a year? If so, it’s time to dust … Continue reading Financial Goal Setting
The importance and impact of down payments toward a loan is a widely-debated topic, especially now while interest rates are some of the lowest on record over the past 60+ years. It’s hard to go a week without reading or hearing about falling mortgage rates, zero interest financing, or the like. Sadly, there are some … Continue reading The Impact of Down Payments
Think for a moment about the last time you purchased a vehicle at a dealership. Does it bring back fond memories? For most people, the answer is no. In fact, Edmunds.com did a survey of over 1,000 people in 2014; to say the results were enlightening is an understatement. Let’s review a few of the … Continue reading Tips & Tricks for Buying a Vehicle
In other articles here on Sow a Dime & Reap a Dollar, I’ve discussed prioritizing spending, wants versus needs, budgeting, waiting 30 days (see links to these articles below), and a variety of other topics aimed at improving your financial future. If the content in those articles didn’t help you with tackling your spending, I … Continue reading Wait for a Windfall
As human beings, the desire to make things simpler is hard-wired into our brains. Sometimes this can lead to undesirable outcomes: for example, maybe we took a shortcut on the front end of a complex project, hoping to beat a deadline, only to realize we skipped over key information, causing us extra work to double … Continue reading ABC = Always Be Challenging
Have you ever been on the verge of deciding between a couple of alternatives and felt you lack a relevant, comparative benchmark? Maybe if you could use one final metric to compare Alternative A to Alternative B, it would make the decision easier? The good news is one such benchmark exists, and the better news … Continue reading Cost per Unit — The Universal Benchmark
This article is written in memory of my Nana and Papaw. They were born in the early 1930s and thus were members of the Silent Generation. Ironically, most people have never heard of this generation—we’re more familiar with the Greatest Generation, the Baby Boomers, or the Millennials. The Silent Generation includes people born between 1928 … Continue reading What Would Our Grandparents Do?
