Do you want to be a successful freelancer? One of the critical skills you will need is money management. Not only do you need to maintain the books and records of each of your side gigs (use my tips on how to do your own bookkeeping), you need to be able to stay on top of your personal finances as well. It takes a lot of time to build up a steady flow of income as a freelancer, … [Read more...]

I consider myself a value shopper. For example, I only like buying clothes at cheap places like Target, Old Navy, and Ross. I have absolutely no desire to buy anything from stores like LV, Gucci or Prada. Luxury goods feels like such a waste of money to me because designer brands have 90%+ gross profit margins. And as a fan of personal finance and minding how I spend my money, … [Read more...]

If you are like most Americans, you probably spend more money on a car than you should. Did you know that during the "Cash For Clunkers" program, the average purchase price of a car was a whopping $25,000? Meanwhile, the average total household income of the car buyer was less than $60,000. Who goes and spends half of their annual income after tax on a heap of steel? Apparently … [Read more...]

This post was written by Derek Sall, owner of LifeAndMyFinances.com, a place where he encourages people to get out of debt, save money, and grow wealthy. This past December I decided to make the audacious goal of paying off my mortgage by the end of 2014. When I sat down and crunched the numbers, I discovered that to even have a chance of paying off the remaining $54,000 … [Read more...]