Pimp Your Finances

(The following is a guest post from Vince at Scordo.com - click here to subscribe to his feed) 
 
If you’re a Twenty-something consider yourself very lucky.
You’re probably healthy, super educated (only about 26 percent of Americans have a bachelor’s degree), full of energy, have a full set of teeth, and have very few, real-world commitments.
You’ve probably just [...]

I just want to say thanks to the Green Panda Treehouse for hosting a guest post of mine today.  In case you haven’t heard of it, Green Panda is a personal finance site for college students and new graduates.
The guest post can be viewed here. It’s an introspective look at the things I’ve learned about life [...]

Welcome to the Carnival of Financial Goals.  I chose music for the theme because it’s a great source of motivation for me.  It helps me focus when there are distractions, and it drives me when I need a little more ”ummph” to accomplish a hard task.
There were more than 100 submissions this month, but unfornately, they [...]

In one of my first posts, I started a series called “Get out of Debt!“.  It chronicles my quest to pay off all my consumer debt.  All $10,793.86 of it.
All of it is on 0% interest cards, but I’m still uncomfortable having any debt, let alone that much.  It’s manageable now, but if something happened [...]

Do what you got to do.  And say what you got to say.  Do what you go to do.  Yes, start today.  Start today.
- Smashing Pumpkins, “Window Paine”
The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now.
- David Chilton, “The Wealthy Barber”
When it comes to motivation, we’re our [...]

If you’re like me – or an estimated 13% of people who made resolutions last year – one of your goals was to improve your finances.  For some, the goal was debt reduction (52% of all finance resolutions).  For others, it was saving money (24%), making more (13%), or investing more (7%).
Regardless of what your resolution is for next year, the time to start [...]

Going without teaches you to appreciate what you have, and also motivates you to improve your situation.
In a recent post on kiplinger.com, Erin Burt describes some of the other lessons she has learned from being broke.   Here’s her list and my commentary on each lesson.
1. Know your priorities
When you don’t have enough money, you quickly [...]

My Magic Number

As I type this, I owe $10,793.86 on three credit cards.

Here is where the damage came from…