Home Depot/Lowes, Bloomingdales/Neiman Marcus/Nordstrom, Honda/Toyota/Nissan, CVS/Rite Aid/Walgreens, Best Buy/Circuit City (awww).  You’ve seen this.  When one pops up, a competitor is just down the road within a few hours, at most. How can this make sense?  I recall dozens of conversations with my father as a child while driving through town on the way to [...]

The United States National Debt is getting close to $12 trillion.  Amazingly, this is over $100,000 per taxpayer, and close to $40,000 for every citizen.  The rate at which our national debt is growing has increased quite a bit thanks to government stimulus programs, bailout programs, welfare programs, and a bunch of other programs. We [...]

Zombieland looks like an insane movie.  There aren’t many movies that are funny and based around Zombies taking over the world, but one other does come to mind. You may or may not like my lists when I relate something in pop-culture to money.  Recently I chose a James Bond movie, but I’ve also done [...]

You’re reading a blog written by a former chunker.  In high school I almost touched 1/8 of a ton (that’s 250 lbs for the mathematically challenged).  I lost quite a bit of this weight due to motivation but I will never have a six-pack, unless you count Sam Adams.  Losing weight is expensive, not that [...]

I always tell myself that if cable wasn’t free for me, I wouldn’t have it. But then I would miss out on the James Bond movie marathons that run 2-3 times a year. A month or so ago a network ran a marathon like this and I saw Casino Royale for just the second time. [...]

Ever been around that kid (or annoying adult) that asks “why” to everything you say?  I was that kid, and still am today. There is a great technique used to diagnose problems or investigate issues known as the “5 Whys”.  It’s best explained with an example. The car will not start. (the problem) Why? – [...]

Swipe, print; swipe, print; swipe print sign; swipe print sign… These are the sounds of money leaving my accounts and moving into the merchant accounts of dozens of businesses all over town.  Restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, clothing stores, book stores, office supply stores… you name it I swipe it.  Lately, I’ve been making more [...]

Remember the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights?  Congress passed it earlier this year as a way to protect the consumer from those mean old credit card companies.  Part of the law gave credit card companies a little bit of lead time for the new regulations. Some of the regulations include longer lead times to interest [...]