Tag Archives: Money

Recently, Microsoft released a powerful personal finance spreadsheet add-on for its Excel spreadsheet program, called Money in Excel. The name is a throwback to Microsoft Money, a separate software package for personal finance tracking that Microsoft discontinued many years ago. Now, it exists as a rather powerful spreadsheet template, one …

A few years ago, I went through a period where I longed to spend more time on one of my favorite hobbies: tabletop gaming. I really like sitting down with friends and playing a board game or a card game or a roleplaying game. The social experience, the thinking process, …

Sean Locke Photography / Shutterstock.com The legendary American showman P.T. Barnum once said, “Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant.” And the more it can serve us, the better. However, many of us accept our salaries, spending, debts and financial restraints without much thought. With the right tools …

Dubova / Shutterstock.com Here at Money Talks News, we spend a lot of time telling you how to save money. We’ve explained how to save $ 1,000 quickly and how to save on every online purchase. But what happens once you’ve cut the lattes and canceled the gym membership, but …

Nestor Rizhniak / Shutterstock.com Sometimes, shopping trips can feel like deja vu. Are we really out of dish soap already? Where did all the paper towels disappear to, anyway? Here’s a shopping secret: More and more products now come in reusable versions. Buy once, and you’re set for months or …

Photo by tostphoto / Shutterstock.com Nobody enjoys the expense of filling up an empty gas tank. But you can easily make the situation much worse with a few simple — and very common — money mistakes. Some of these under-the-radar missteps are especially harmful to your budget, especially if you …

Let’s roll back the clock to late 2001 and 2002. I was gearing up to graduate from college in that period and the economy was in the midst of a serious recession. Jobs were scarce, and I was lucky enough to lean on a couple of wonderful mentors who helped …

A few weeks ago, I did a brief radio interview where the hosts of the program asked me whether I thought frugality and cutting expenses or investing and earning more money was more important. I thought for half a second — you have to really think on your feet with …

In psychology, there’s a popular model of how people learn that describes how someone progresses from being a complete beginner at a skill to being proficient at it. In the first stage, called unconscious incompetence, you’re stumbling through your first attempts at something. You’re not just bad at it, you …