Free From Broke

A Personal Finance Blog for Regular Folks

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What Are Your Kids Gift Expectations?

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I hear people complain that they have to buy expensive things for their kids because it’s what they (the kids) expect.

Some don’t know what they are going to do this holiday season as times might be tight for them. How are we going to get little Johnny the latest (insert expensive popular toy here)?!?

Here’s what I say – Don’t!!

Where do your kids get their expectations from? Do they get them from friends? From television? Those are influences but not the real source.

Children get their expectations from their parents!!

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Financial Freedom Starts with a Low House Payment

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Is achieving financial freedom an important goal in your life?

If it is, don’t follow the conventional wisdom of buying the most expensive house you can afford.

Sure, by buying the biggest house you can afford you can grow into it, live in it longer and maybe even avoid a costly trade up in a few years.  Fair enough.

But when it comes to achieving financial freedom, buying the most expensive house you can afford is the exact opposite of what you want to do.

In fact it can be said that the more expensive your home is the less chance you have of ever attaining financial freedom.

Expensive homes and financial freedom are what you might call “mutually exclusive”—having one reduces your chance of getting the other.

How could that be?

A house determines general consumption patterns

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What is the National Debt Ceiling, and Why Should You Care?

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Not too long ago, the U.S. reached its debt ceiling.  The amount of money the U.S. can borrow from others is determined by law, and Congress has to approve borrowing beyond a certain point.  In the past, the debt ceiling has always been raised to accommodate the growing debt in the U.S.  Indeed, in the past, both parties have been mostly content to raise the debt ceiling.  Now, though, there is a battle brewing as Republicans refuse to vote to raise the debt ceiling.  That means that the U.S. won’t be able to borrow money in order to meet its obligations.
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How to Figure Out How Much Life Insurance You Need

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One of the biggest questions many have when it comes to financial planning has to do with how much life insurance they need.

There are some rules of thumb, such as getting seven times or 10 times your yearly salary in coverage, but, really, how much life insurance you need comes down to your personal financial situation, and what you hope your life insurance will accomplish.

Why Are You Getting Life Insurance?

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What Are You Doing with Your Payroll Tax Cut?

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At the end of last year, Congress hurried through a tax package.

One of the credits that was allowed to expire was the Making Work Pay tax credit.  However, our representatives replaced the Making Work Pay tax credit with a reduction in the payroll tax paid by employees. This means that you should be seeing a paycheck that is a little bit bigger.

Our leaders, of course, want you to go out and spend that money, pumping it back into the economy.  The whole point of tax cuts is to encourage you to spend so that we can keep the economy, which relies a great deal on consumer spending, moving in a direction of positive growth.  However tempting it might be to spend that extra money, though, it is a good idea to consider how that money can help you down the road.
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