I’ve been reading the book Predictably Irra­tional by Dan Ariely, and it’s got me thinking.

Ariely is a college professor at Duke Univer­sity who studies behavior – specif­i­cally, irra­tional behavior. He asks questions like, “why don’t we trust politi­cians?” and “Do nurses prefer to use proce­dures that are easier for them or less painful for the patient?” He studies how zero effects our buying habits and why we overvalue what we have.

But the thing I’ve been thinking about the most is his chapter, “The Power of Price”. (more…)

After 4 months deliv­ering pizza, I’ve stepped down from the job that helped put food on my table. Yesterday was my last day.

It was a good gig (after a slow start) but it took a lot of time away from Entre­pre­Life and my rela­tion­ship my family and friends.

Leaving wasn’t an easy decision, but after a bit of looking I found a part-time job that leaves me more time to work on the projects that will define my career – instead of being exhausted all the time.

Like any part-time job, there were ups and downs. Obviously, the best part of pizza delivery is the tips. Thanks to social pressures in America, I get anywhere from 2 – 10 dollars a pizza! Way more lucrative than most minimum wage positions.

Beyond the joys of tips, there are a few other things I noticed. (more…)

No wrong answers on this questionnaire

I’m planning out a short manifesto to outline my philos­ophy on money.

I’ve already written a very brief outline on a scrap of paper and have been toying around with the idea for almost a week now.

I’m liking the idea more every day.

If I’m going to take the time to do this, I want it to be fore you. There’s no reason to write this thing if it’s just to say I did it.

So, as I plan out the future of the manifesto, I want to do it with your input. I’m going to throw up a few questions and I want you to answer them in the comments.

Answer truth­fully and as detailed as you’d like. I’ll take every­thing you say into consideration.

• Does this manifesto sound like something that you’re inter­ested in?
• Do you prefer long (100+ pages) or short (20–50 page) online manifestos?
• How inter­ested would you be in learning a simple method for making financial decisions?
• How do you view money? Blessing, curse, tool, something else?
• Do you consider yourself a money nerd, a free-spirited spender, or something in between?
• Do you love or hate spreadsheets?
• What’s the most confusing thing about money?
• What would you like to see talked about in the money manifesto?
• What’s funnier: a man getting hit in the gonads by a football or a skater falling off his board while grinding and hitting his gonads on a pole?

Thanks for your help!

[Image credit]

That might get someone’s attention…

For some reason, a lot of people are freaked out about carrying cash. The common reason (if you can call it reason) is robbery.

If you carry cash, you’re more likely to be robbed, right?

Not really.

Turns out, thieves aren’t mind reader and, unless Superman has gone rogue, they don’t have x-ray vision either. Most of us have switched to debit cards, credit cards, and other digital forms of payment.

So, unless you’re waving around $300 bucks in your wallet, no one will know it’s there. No one will know to target you.

The Real Danger: Credit Card Theft

Real thieves aren’t waiting to rob you as you leave Chili’s. They’re making real money swiping your credit card numbers and turning them into quick cash.

It’s not just TVs and cash back anymore, either. Since Americans are getting lazier about their finances, thieves collect hundreds of credit cards and charge a small amounts, $10 or $15 dollars a month. In some cases, they get away with for years and collect millions before anyone notices they’re being robbed.

Way more effective than swiping an old lady’s purse.

And the really good thieves, use your social security number to steal your identity and open cards and take out loans in your name. Since most people don’t check their credit report (which you can do for free at annualcreditreport.com) you’ll never know about it until you go to take out a loan and find your credit is shot. (more…)

My soon-to-be old bank

My family is looking for a new credit union (or small, local bank) because Texans Credit Union changed their policy on something small and somewhat petty.

Before I get into what they changed, you need to know some back­ground information.

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you probably know that my wife and I use cash for just about every­thing. We pay most of our bills (utilities, rent, etc) online, but the day-to-day stuff all gets paid with cash. This leaves us at the end of the month with piles of coins. Sure, we could use them, but I don’t feel like carry around that much change in my pocket.

Every 3-to-6 months we rack up around $50 dollars in change. When that happens, we roll the coins up, take them to the credit union, and deposit them into our checking account.

It’s a nice little “cash back bonus” every few months.

The Problem

Last week, we learned the policy on coins had changed. (more…)

Not the bargain I was looking for…

It’s been a lot of fun to research my current book, A Stress-Free Christmas. My favorite part is learning all the tricks marketers use to get us to spend more between black Friday and Christmas.

My research taught me two surprising truths:

1. Marketers have a bag of tricks that work insanely well.
2. Most people think they are unaf­fected by these tricks.

It’s a great duo for busi­nesses, but a bad pair for you.

The truth is, you are affected by adver­tising and marketing tricks. They do change the way you buy things.

Here’s some insight into three of the tricks marketers use to manip­u­late how you spend money in December. (more…)

This picture is suppose to make you think budgeting is fun. It’s not working…

I remember the when I realized budgeting in my head doesn’t work.

I was a 22-year-old college student whom everyone assumed was doing great finan­cially. To stroke my young ego, I decided to write out what I thought I was spending each month before I actually looked at my bank and credit card state­ments for my first budget.

I figured I was spending about $200 a month on gas and $150 a month eating out. Besides a car loan, these were my biggest expenses and those amounts included a lot of slack. I never imagined I’d come anywhere close to those numbers.

I was half-way right, I didn’t come close to those numbers. (more…)

I wanted you to hear more stories than my own. So, as part of the My Money Story series I am asking you to submit your story to me as a guest post. All of you have a money story. This is Tim’s story. Tim is a friend of mine and the person who intro­duced me to Dave Ramsey.

First of all, I would like to thank Alex for letting me make a guest post on his Website and allowing me to share my money story and thoughts on money and how to use it.

What is Money? (more…)

CC: taxbrackets.org

I got a letter from American Express (Amex) a few weeks ago.

Usually I just shred those letters, but since my Financial Peace Univer­sity class is collecting credit card offers, I decided to open it up.

Turns out, American Express wasn’t selling me a credit card; they’re selling a savings account.

Saving With a Credit Card Company

I remember when I saw the first Capital One banks going up. I had one of their cards, but even so I thought it was a bad idea to bank at a credit card company. I wasn’t too surprised when the banks took off — even with their crummy accounts and shady practices, people really like Capital One. I think it’s the viking commer­cials.  

With Capital One’s success, I shouldn’t have been so surprised with Amex getting into the banking game.

American Express: Scum of the Earth

American Express claims to be a different sort of Credit Card Company. They do things random things that go far above the call of duty for any business.

In one 1989 example, they covered the cremation and transfer costs of a family whose father died while out of the country.  By trans­fer­ring $2,500 dollars on a Sunday, they saved the family a govern­ment sponsored grief. They never asked for the family to pay them back and they even followed up a few times to make sure the family was taken care of.

More recently, they donated $100,000 to the Japan relief efforts and waved merchant fees for donations to the Red Cross.

How can I call Amex scum of the Earth when they have stories like that? Because for every good story, there are hundreds of bad ones:

• Dave Ramsey’s wife, Sharon, was asked by Amex why she didn’t divorce a man who can’t pay his bills.
• Amex took $2,000 from a guy’s checking account even though they told him they wouldn’t.
• After a man lost his job, Amex agreed to take payments of $480 a month until he got back on his feet. When he called back, they said “$520 is the best we can do.”
• They call old disabled ladies 10 or more times per day in an attempt to emotion­ally abuse them into making payments.
• After paying off her account balance, Amex charged a woman more than $300 dollars in fees on a closed account.
• They transfer customers who are making payments to collections.
• Amex’s collec­tions depart­ment: calls multiple times a day, calls neighbors and family members, and yell at people until they give up their disability income.

There are just a few of the horror stories. Most of these stories come from consumeraffiars.com. There are many more on the web and probably thousands that aren’t reported.

Over and over again, Amex proves they don’t care about customers, they’re willing to lie to get money, and they are okay ignoring the Fair Debt Collec­tion Practices Act.

This is not the way any business should be run. Companies like this should be shut down, not by the govern­ment, but by us. By spending our dollars somewhere else.

You vote with your money every day. If you have an Amex card, cancel it. There are a million other credit cards out there waiting for you (though, I wouldn’t recommend any of them).

Final Thoughts

I will not be opening an Amex savings account. This is non-negotiable. Any business who abuses their customers the way Amex does will never get my business.

This isn’t an oppor­tu­nity to get a high interest rate on a savings account, this is a chance to get in bed with an evil company. I’m called to a higher standard than that, and so are you.

What companies do you put your savings into?

Saving With American Express Is Dumb

Everyone agrees: credit cards aren’t that great.

They abuse their customers, charge obscene interest rates, and do every­thing in their power to take as much money from us as possible. It’s a big enough issue that the govern­ment passed extensive laws about it.

Why do we keep using these products? Because we think the good they bring outweighs the bad. But there really isn’t any good to credit cards, and most of the reasons we believe make credit cards good are things that are destroying us financially.

Here are 5 credit card myths that need to be busted: (more…)