Is pet insurance a good idea? Pets are very expensive these days. As our pets get older, it's very worrisome financially for many of us. Pets are part of our family and deserve the best care, but sometimes it's very hard to shell out thousands of dollars for surgeries and procedures on aging pets. Check out http://www.petinsurance.com to see if pet insurance is right for your pet and your budget.

As seen on the today show. I highly recommend Jean Chatzky and her book "The Difference"



http://www.jeanchatzky.com/category/books-and-more/

By "need," I don't necessarily mean need. Make sense? Every month or so, you'll hear people talk about something they need. But, these things may not always be necessities. Sometimes needs are really wants. There's nothing wrong with buying needs (wants) so long as you have the money to pay for them. Rather than buying these "needs" today on credit, it is important to save up and purchase them outright. And, by waiting to buy these "needs," you may realize they're just wants and you don't want them as much as you thought. It's important to get into this frame of mind at a young age. We live in a time when you can have whatever you want, whenever you want (within reason). But, it'll cost you.

Stop and think about these "needs". You're only fooling yourself.

Do you consider yourself middle class? What is middle class these days? Sometimes I feel like my wife and I make a decent income and all is well and other times I feel as though we’re barely making forward progress. It seems as though everything has gone up considerably in price in the last few years. I remember when gas was actually affordable. I remember when we could get a cart full of groceries for around $50 without using coupons. Now it’s difficult to get out of a grocery store for under $80-$100. We have definitely adjusted our lifestyle accordingly as we drive less and look for better deals. I often wonder what the future holds for the middle class of this country. Have you adjusted your lifestyle because the cost of goods have gone up? Do you think many other people have done so as well?

I've been an ING Orange savings account holder since September '07. They may not offer the best rate for an online savings account, but overall I'm happy with the site's ease of use. When I initially signed up, I contacted a random stranger offering a link for a sign up bonus of $25. When I funded my account with $250 or more, I got $25 added to my account and he made $10. Not a bad deal. So, if you're interested in signing up with ING Direct, please send me an email at slapdash.blog@gmail.com and I'll send you a referral and we can both win!

About 9 months ago I began investing in a Roth IRA through Fidelity. What attracted me to Fidelity is the ability to make monthly contributions and not need a typical $2,000+ initial funding. Since I have quite a few years until retirement, I have invested in the Freedom Fund 2040. Fidelity names their funds after your "projected" retirement date. Over the course of 9 months and contributing $1800 I have managed to lose about $80, most of which occurred this year '08. I think there's a great benefit to investing into my fund monthly. Some months are up, some months are down, but by buying in every month, I'm not locked into paying what may be a high rate at the beginning of the year. If the market goes down as is predicted this year, I will continue to buy on the way down and hopefully be better off in the future when the market heads back up.

I have been very interested in personal finance over the past few years and I'm always looking for ways to manage my family's budget. I have developed several scripted tools over the years and they have worked out ok, but I have to say I'm very impressed with Bank of America's new portfolio tools. I know, BOA... cringe... I have been using these tools for several weeks now and I am very impressed with the ability to effortlessly track my net worth. BOA makes it very easy to add and track accounts.