I am an avid reader. My favorite genres are fantasy, sci-fi, action-adventure, business and economics. I can easily spend eight hours reading and be fully content. I use both the Kindle and Barnes & Noble apps on my tablet and cell phone. It is not uncommon to find me reading while following my wife around the …
Documentary: In Debt We Trust (2009). While a large number of Americans carry a certain amount of personal debt, very few are really aware of just how common and widespread the debt crisis has become. This documentary takes an in-depth look at the relationship Americans have with their credit cards and discusses how shopping, and rabid consumerism, has …
Documentary:The Water Front (2007). This short documentary (53 minutes), tells the story of a Detroit suburb, known as the birthplace of the auto-industry. Before Detroit, its appointed emergency city manager Kevin Orr, and its financial collapse, there was Highland Park. In June 2001, due to the city’s mounting fiscal crisis, an emergency financial manager was …
Documentary: Fixing the Future (2012). In this documentary, David Brancaccio asks the question, “Do people exist to serve the economy, or should the economy exist to serve the people?” Mr. Brancaccio visits people and organizations across the country that are attempting to reinvent the American economy at the grass root level. These pioneers look to create jobs and build …
Living frugally means more than simply looking for ways to spend less. According to dictionary.reference.com… fru • gal [froo-guhl] economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful. Economical in use or expenditure might refer to spending less. However, how might a savvy individual save prudently and not be wasteful? Here are a few practices …
Living Frugally: Loose Change, Contributions, and Scraping Read More »
Documentary: Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare (2013). I recently watched this documentary and it captured my attention because of the grotesque amount of money we spend on healthcare each year in the United States ($2,700,000,000,000), the ongoing visceral debate about the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and my own belief in the connection between …
I know several very short-sighted people. They live for the moment, they don’t plan far into the future and as a result, they are always running low on time, money, and freedom. Their time is always short because they constantly squander it. A daily planner is almost a foreign tool in their minds. They refuse …
Broke. That was my financial situation in 2001. Following my divorce, a close analysis of my monthly income and expenses revealed the ugly truth. I was broke. It was during that period that I first stumbled upon the idea that there are a lot of similarities between the concepts of fiscal and physical fitness. Just …
Documentary: Detropia (2012). The following synopsis was written by Caroline Libresco: Detroit’s story has encapsulated the iconic narrative of America over the last century – the Great Migration of African Americans escaping Jim Crow; the rise of manufacturing and the middle class; the love affair with automobiles; the flowering of the American dream; and now . …
Report: The Failure of the 401(k) (2010). Written by Robert Hiltonsmith of Demos, a non-partisan public policy research and advocacy organization, the research report examines the retirement security – or more accurately, the lack of security – provided to American families by 401(k) plans. The report concludes that retirement security has deteriorated in the past generation …
