Posts Tagged ‘Personal finance’

5 Things You Can Learn About Credit from Gangster Flicks

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Credit advice from “Goodfellas”? You bet! These financial experts read between the lines of classic gangster movies to deliver the goods. Grab a cannoli, and get the dirt on credit protection. Bada bing!

The World Is Yours… If You Don’t Get Cocky

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“Say hello to my little friend.” ~ “Scarface”

Like the submachine gun Tony Montana wielded in “Scarface,” your credit cards are powerful. They can open doors, but they don’t make you invincible.

Denise Winston, money expert for Money Start Here, says, “Just because you own a gun doesn’t mean you know how to use it.” The same principle applies to credit cards. “Respect it, practice using it, clean it, and keep it in a safe place… maybe even under lock and key.”

Having credit cards can lure you into a false sense of security. The best financial protection is a good credit score, which can “dictate the quality of your life – where you live, what job you have, and what you drive,” says Winston.. “Managing and protecting your credit score can make deals happen and command respect.”

Be Wary of Favors

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“I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.” ~ “The Godfather”

Unless you have a gun to your head, think twice before signing up for a rewards credit card. Real-estate lender Todd Huettner, president of Huettner Capital, says, “Card promotions can lower credit score more than other cards.” Plus, every new card requires a credit inquiry and disturbs the average age of your file, both of which ding your score, says credit education expert Solomon Algazi of Credit Servicez.

Most interest-free periods are costly, with rates over 20 percent if the balance isn’t paid in full by the end of the promotion, says Huettner. “They offer these discounts to make money on finance charges.”

No doubt “The Don” will collect on his favor, so “Only use the promotional card that saves you money if you have money to pay off the purchase immediately,” says Huettner. Miss the drop-dead payoff date – it’ll cost you an arm and a leg.

If It Looks Like a Rat, It Probably Is

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“If you had any idea of what we do, we would not be good at what we do, now would we?” ~ “The Departed”

“This quote sounds like the guys who created credit score algorithms,” says Huettner, who acknowledges that the ways to improve your score are often opposite of what you might think:

• Do open a new account. If you don’t have much credit, add some. You need breadth and depth – at least three cards open for at least two years. Boost your score further – get approved for a limit that’s double or triple what you plan to charge on the card.
• Do close accounts. You don’t need a charge card for every store at the mall. Open accounts will show you can manage credit, but too many cards (more than 10 or 15) are suspect.
• Do use a credit card. Make a charge to one or two cards twice a year. Pay them immediately. Demonstrate that you can manage your credit.
• Don’t use a credit card. Having unused cards helps your utilization rate, showing you can have access to credit and not use it.

“It’s never the amount of money you owe that tanks your credit score,” says Algazi. “It’s always your debt utilization ratio – the amount of your overall available credit you’ve used up. The higher your ratio, the lower your score.” For example, a $10,000 combined credit limit on three cards and $7,000 in credit card debt means your utilization ratio is a high 70 percent. “The ratio gives a general idea of the leverage of the individual along with the potential risks the individual faces in terms of their debt load,” says Algazi.

Unlike gangsters, credit cards don’t honor a “code of silence.” Misuse them and they’ll go straight to the credit bureaus to ruin your financial reputation.

You’re on Your Own

goodfellas cast

“Everybody had their hands out. Everything was for the taking. And now it’s all over.” ~ “Goodfellas”

“Until recently, money was easy to come by,” says Gail Cunningham, vice president for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. “Now interest rates have gone up, credit lines have been lowered, annual fees have been added on, and accounts have been closed.”

As “Goodfellas’” Henry Hill says, “Your murderers come with smiles… as your friends… and they always seem to come at a time that you’re at your weakest and most in need of their help.” Says Cunningham, “The credit scoring model is similar to the Mob – pay on time or you’ll suffer immense pain!” But it’ll be a lower credit score – not the muscle – that comes knocking.

When you’re strapped, you might be tempted to utilize payday loans and non-traditional forms of credit that are willing to do business with you… for a price. Instead, create a budget, track spending, and try to save. “Lack of savings often delivers the financial knock-out punch, causing people to make decisions that aren’t in their best interest,” says Cunningham.

Don’t Gamble with Credit

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“The longer they play, the more they lose, and in the end, we get it all.” ~ “Casino”

Credit card companies are out to make dough. Don’t gamble with your score. Play by the rules. Aaron Patzer, vice president of personal finance at Intuit, offers tips to stay alert for anyone who might try to blow up your credit score… or your car:

• Hire informants to watch your back. Set up bill reminders with lenders to prevent late payments, which have the biggest impact (up to 35 percent) on your credit score.
• Steal your credit report. It’s free, so there’s no crime. Check carefully for errors – they can be like brass knuckles to your score.
• Diversify your operations. A good mob boss diversifies. About 15 percent of your score depends on your credit mix – credit cards, auto loans, and mortgages.

Whatever your credit situation, don’t be afraid to go to the mattresses to win the financial war. Keep a close eye on what’s yours and never underestimate the other guy’s greed.

5 Things You Can Learn About Credit from Gangster Flicks is provided by Experian.com

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The Best iPhone Personal Finance Apps

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

If your New Year’s resolution included some sort of financial goal, odds are you’ve struggled to keep up with it already. While most people know they should keep some sort of budget, and many genuinely try to, most run into the reality of it all: tracking all those receipts and logging each purchase takes a huge amount of time. Even for those who started with the best intentions, most soon fall behind. That’s why a growing number of people are turning to web- and mobile-based personal finance solutions. Plus, you can access your data from anywhere and it’s easy to keep up with your expenses.

If your main struggle with finances has been forcing yourself to sit down after a long day at work to balance your checkbook, read on for our roundup of a few tools that can turn the tide with the best personal finance apps out there.
you want to:

Manage your accounts with the least work possible

Mint.com: Web, iPhone (free)

Download

Mint is a free web-based application that tracks your spending and your account balances. Mint’s claim to fame is that the site automatically retrieves your financial data from your banks, credit card companies and the like, and tracks your net worth, spending and even divides your purchases into categories for you — so that Amex charge from Taco Bell at 1:43 a.m. on Saturday will automatically get classified as “food.” From here, it’s easy to set budgets for each category and even receive texts or e-mails when you’re low on funds or about to go over your budget in a category.

The downside to all this is that, yes, you’re giving Mint.com all your financial information so they can review your complete financial picture. The information is held on their servers, and they claim to use the same level of security as bank websites do, but you’ll need to head over to Mint.com to see if the security policy is something you’re comfortable with. If you are, mint is a free, powerful and nearly totally automated service to track your finances.

Pros: Free, versatile, automatic, good companion website
Cons: Requires you to share your financial data, not as powerful as more complex tools
you want to:Control what gets tracked and how by hand

Pocket Money: iPhone ($4.99)

Download

If you’re hesitant to hand your finances over to a company like Mint.com to be automated, no need to worry: There are lots of options that allow you to track your spending by hand. And if you own an iPhone, then Pocket Money is worth checking out. Features on Pocket Money include support for multiple accounts — checking, savings and credit cards — and a deep set of options to configure repeating transactions. So you can put in your car payment to apply monthly rather than having to do it by hand each month. The budgeting section allows you to set up the required monthly budgets, but also supports other budget lengths from daily all the way up to annually. Once everything is in, the reporting feature will give you access to graphs and charts to help you analyze your finances. Finally, your information can be exported to both Quicken and MS Money, so you log spending on the road and then work with the data when you’re back home.

Of all the apps we reviewed, this one has the most competition in its category. There are many alternatives to Pocket Money, so look at a few before deciding — many apps have a free demo version available, so there’s no reason not to take a few for a spin. Still, Pocket Money gets our vote for having a large feature set, the ability to export data to other programs, and it even allows in-app purchase of additional reports, graphs and so on for people who want even more features.

Pros: Flexible account setup, repeating transaction and auto-repeat speed up entry, powerful budget features
Cons: iPhone only, $4.99 while some other apps are free, advanced features require additional in-app purchases

Send and receive payments from anywhere with PayPal (free)

Download

While not a budgeting software, PayPal has a number of robust features that deserve a mention. If you bill clients directly or work freelance, PayPal payments are a quick and easy way to move money around. With access to the web or your phone, you can send payment requests or even pay others. Whether you’re trying your hand at using eBay as a side income or tracking billing and payments for your personal business, PayPal can be an indispensable part of the process. And if you’re trying to curb your spending, try this trick: PayPal offers free debit card accounts that can be “charged” instantly with funds from your PayPal account. So, move some money to the PayPal card as your “fun money,” and when the card’s out of funds, you’ve exhausted your entertainment budget for the week. This kind of self discipline can help you stick to a budget.

Pros: Free, easily pay and send bills to vendors/clients, debit card lets you keep funds earned via PayPal separate from your other finances
Cons: Only moves money, so you need a second app to track spending and budgets
you want to:

Cut back on impulse spending on credit: Debt Dog ($0.99)

Download

We all know that buying on credit can add a lot to the “true cost” of our purchases, and we’ve been told that paying more than the minimum can dramatically cut the time to pay off debts. But do you know just how to calculate these changes? Debt Dog makes it easy; you just select the interest rate for a purchase, and the amount to be borrowed. Debt Dog then calculates the true cost of the loan (all accompanied by the oh-so-helpful sound effect of money being flushed down a toilet). You get the amount it will cost after finance charges, and how many months it will take you to pay off the debt. You can also add additional payments on top of the minimum and Debt Dog will show the savings in interest and the faster payoff. If you’ve struggled with putting things on your credit card, or you’re thinking of making a major purchase like a car, the eye-opening calculations from Debt Dog are a bargain at 99 cents.

Pros: Simple interface, easy to understand
Cons: Limited application, no down payment option for larger purchases
you want to:

Track mileage to expense for work or deduct from your taxes: MileBug ($1.99)

Download

If you haven’t been tracking your mileage, you’ve been throwing money away. You can, of course, expense qualified travel expenses for your job, but you can also be deducting travel from your taxes. It’s beyond the scope of this article to explain what mileage you can deduct, but study up — at $0.55 cents a mile the deductions can add up to huge savings at tax time. If you’re ready to start tracking mileage, check out one of the many mileage apps in the app store.

We like MileBug; it has a simple user interface and powerful functionality for people who need to track mileage for multiple vehicles or multiple businesses. You simply set the starting odometer before you start your drive, then ending odometer value when you reach your destination. The app calculates mileage then logs the trip. The logged trips can be e-mailed at any point as an Excel-friendly report for you to hold onto till tax time. Best of all, these reports can be filtered to export only work-related trips, trips in a certain vehicle and so on, making it a snap to prepare your company expense report or any other information you need.

Pros: Stable, versatile and affordable
Cons: Doesn’t use GPS to track mileage
app-ly yourself to save cash

While this certainly isn’t a comprehensive list, it should be more than enough to get you started. The app world is exploding in popularity, and there’s sure to be an app that meets your needs for a financial program. Research a few, take some for a spin and decide what works best. The secret to successful budgeting is to stay on top of inputting your financial activity, and the best way to stay current is to have mobile access so you’re always up-to-date.

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Credit Lessons from Real Housewives

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

They argue with their husbands, care for their kids, and pamper their pets. They get makeovers and remodel already-extravagant homes. And they spend, spend, spend. They’re the Real Housewives of Bravo TV’s successful reality series, and watching them offers an entertaining glimpse of living large. If you look beyond the glam though, the “Real Housewives” are just real women – with lots of credit lessons to learn. We spoke to some “real” housewives who found out the hard way just how important it is to keep an eye on their finances.

Clueless about Credit?

Gretchen Rossi, the youngest “housewife” at 32, is a member of the cast of “The Real Housewives of Orange County.” Rossi was a realtor when she quit to care for her fiancé until he succumbed to leukemia. Though he left Rossi a sizeable gift in his will, she contends that as an independent businesswoman who purchased her own home, car, and other possessions, she doesn’t need a man to take care of her – or her finances.

Cassandra Ladd found herself taking the financial reins from her husband early in their 18-month marriage. The 24-year-old public relations agent from Austin, TX, admits she had limited experience paying bills but quickly discovered her groom was in much worse shape. “He went six months without paying his cell phone bill in college. Luckily for us, it was in his mother’s name.”

Ladd switched all bills to her name but has noticed finance charges increase when she made a late payment. “That’s a mistake I only made once,” says Ladd, although she’s unsure how it has affected her credit score because she’d never obtained a credit report. She speculates, “My credit score can’t be good as I’ve got lots of college debt, even though I pay everything on time… now.”

Credit Lesson Learned: Know the Score

Your credit score is a three-digit number that speaks volumes to lenders about your ability to repay a car loan, mortgage, or credit card debt. All scores are calculated on payment history, amount owed, length of credit history, and types of credit used.

The best way to know your own score is to request one personal credit review a year from any of the three main credit scoring bureaus. It won’t hurt your credit, and the results may surprise you. While Gretchen Rossi’s ability to purchase a home and a car indicate that she has a reasonable score, Cassandra Ladd’s youth and the amount she owes are all factors in how she’ll rate.

Budget, What’s a Budget?

Sheree Whitfield of the “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” is a divorced mother of three who appears to juggle her business and social lives with aplomb. But Whitfield’s confession that she doesn’t budget her money did come back to haunt her. When the hefty settlement from her former husband failed to materialize, Whitfield’s mansion fell to foreclosure. Though she managed to send her debut fashion collection down the runway, Whitfield’s financial future may be at risk.

Clarky Davis wasn’t big on budgeting, either. The self-professed “Debt Diva” with a money management blog to match, says, “I was the poster child for poor financial decisions,” buying clothes, shoes, and nights out on credit. It wasn’t long before the North Carolina native had closets full of clothes and $10,000 in debt. But careful budgeting and a strict payment schedule pulled Davis out in three years.

Credit Lesson Learned: Play Your Cards Right

You have to be in it to score. Lenders want to see that you’ve established a good payment history and having one or two credit cards are essential for building a financial profile. Just don’t bite off more than you can chew.

Paying your credit card bills on time each month is a must to keep your credit score strong, advises Davis, noting the goal should be to reduce your debt to available credit ratio. Those payments must fit your budget while allowing you to maintain living expenses without relying on more credit. Davis says, “Payments should be significant enough that you’re whittling down your principal, not just covering interest. Try to always pay more than the required minimum monthly payment and if possible double that payment.”

I Don’t Want to Talk About It

Though Tamra Barney, the 42-year-old stay-at-home mom of four on “The Real Housewives of Orange County” is often outspoken, she and her husband don’t know how to talk constructively about money. The result? Their finances have taken a hit and their decade-long marriage may be on the rocks.

This doesn’t surprise Darshanna Hawks, who knows first-hand how difficult it is for couples to talk about money. Hawks, a relationship coach in Charlotte, NC, says she and her husband did not discuss their finances the first few years. “We lost money due to mismanagement and not tracking anything in the past,” admits Hawks. The couple implemented a “prosperity plan” that Hawks says is a positive spin on a budget. Now she helps other couples navigate their way through these highly charged conversations, and recommends finding a financial advisor or credit counselor. “[Find] someone who has no bias to help facilitate a conversation, go over the what-ifs, and make a plan.”

Credit Lesson Learned: Seek Professional Help

Though the credit problems that land you in the office of a credit professional will be reflected in your credit report, don’t worry about credit counseling affecting your score… it won’t. Even with assistance, it is important to scour your report for errors, keep an eye out for identity theft on dormant accounts, confirm your credit line(s) with creditors, and review your spending habits.

Whether you are affluent or just getting by, draw up a sensible budget, pay your bills on time, and set reasonable financial goals. If you establish good financial habits you’ll be well on your way to maintaining a good credit score.

Credit Lessons from Real Housewives is provided by Experian.com

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Too Small to Fail

Sunday, January 17th, 2010

 

Photo: RLEVANS

You’ve heard of Too Big to Fail, right? Well, this week I want to introduce you to a simple personal budgeting tactic I call Too Small to Fail. Around my house, this dumb little idea helps my family keep our savings on track and, if you want to be hyperbolic about it, prevent financial collapse. (See, it’s the opposite of Too Big to Fail in more ways than one.) Before I explain how it works, let’s look at what’s wrong with a traditional budget.

Budgets ask you to look into the future. People are not good at looking into the future. Just watch a World of Tomorrow filmstrip. Where are my helpful robots? (Zhu Zhu hamsters are not helpful!)

Predictions about money are even less accurate. How much am I going to spend on dining over the next month? Beats the heck out of me. Will we be invited out to dinner? How much money is left after buying groceries? Trying to sit down and write a line item each for groceries, dining, entertainment, and so on is silly. You’ll get the numbers wrong and then feel guilty about it later.

Some people renegotiate their budget over the course of the month. “Okay, we overspent on dining already, so we’ll take some money out of entertainment and skip the movies.” If it’s so negotiable, why write it down in the first place?

I remember my parents making this kind of budget when I was a kid. Once a month, they’d sit at the dining room table and argue. You could see the DON’T COME IN HERE waves from several rooms away. When I grew up and got married, my wife and I adopted the same system, because we didn’t know any better.

Well, not anymore. Too Small to Fail relies on two insights:

1. Budgets make you worry most about small expenses, because those are the negotiable ones. As Michael Rubin put it in a MintLife article last August, budgeting can lead to “relentless focus on minor expenses.” So in our budget, we throw all the small-ticket items into the same category: groceries, dining, entertainment, it’s all the same. If we spend more on dining one week, we spend less on groceries. The total amount in the bucket is important, but the amount spent on each little category isn’t.

To illustrate, our monthly budget (with made-up numbers) looks something like this:

Rent:$100
Phone:$50
Retirement:$25
Vacation fund:$12
Small-ticket items:$30

The numbers are all basically the same from month to month, and as long as it all adds up to less than our monthly income, we’re good.

2. You don’t have to let your boss decide how often you get paid. Have you ever had a job where you were paid monthly? My wife gets a monthly paycheck. I don’t know about you, but I am incapable of making any sum of money last a whole month. Remember Brewster’s Millions? I could have blown the $30 mil in two weeks.

Instead, why not pay yourself weekly? That’s how we do it. We pay ourselves a lump sum every Friday to be used for our daily expenses. (Monthly, nonnegotiable items like rent and utilities come out of a separate account.) Because the money only has to last a week, it’s hard for us to get into much trouble. Sure enough, every week, we spend most of our allowance in the first three days. But then there are only four days left. If we run out of cash on Wednesday and have to raid the pasta drawer for a couple of days, big deal.

I know, this sounds anal and artificial. It is. It’s also effective. Ramit Sethi, author of I Will Teach You to Be Rich, advises you to use barriers to prevent yourself from spending. The classic example is freezing your credit card in a block of ice. This is the same idea: I’m not really out of money when the weekly allowance is spent. But to get more money, I’d have to dip into another account. That’s enough of a barrier to make me slap my own hand and say, “Don’t do that.”

You could even pay yourself twice a week. Or you could use this system to give a separate allowance to yourself and your partner.

If you want to give this a try, start right after you deposit your next paycheck. How much should you pay yourself? It’ll probably take several weeks to figure it out. You’re not trying to put yourself on an austerity program—though if you’re in need of an austerity program, this is a good way to implement it. You want an amount that will cover all of your expenses for the week, but not so much that you’re outspending your income or failing to leave yourself enough to pay your monthly bills.

What about big-ticket items like a new computer or holiday gifts? We save for those, a few dollars a week, over the course of the year.

Too Small to Fail lets you have fun by spending all your money every week. Only you and your helpful robot have to know that you’re being fiscally responsible at the same time.

Matthew Amster-Burton, author of the book Hungry Monkey, writes on food and finance from his home in Seattle.

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Financial New Years Resolutions You Can Keep

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

This is a great post from Mint.com It highlights 10 financial tips for 2010….I don’t think you can go wrong with these tips! I am going to try them out myself!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever put an old chestnut like “save more” or “spend less” on your list of New Year’s resolutions? I’ve done it, too, with results undetectable by the most precise financial calculator.

Instead, here’s a top ten list (in traditional David Letterman order) of concrete resolutions you can actually accomplish. I’m not saying they’ll be easy, but all of these are either on my list for 2010 or are resolutions I’ve successfully completed in years past. Pick a couple of favorites and go to town on them. Happy new year.

10. Make or update your will. The number one reason people don’t do this is that they believe they will never die. If you are, in fact, immortal, go ahead and skip this one. Otherwise, if you have a simple estate, you can make a will on the cheap: get Nolo’s Simple Will Book or use their Online Tool for $70 (and it’s on sale for $50 until January 7). If you have a complex estate (do you employ a chauffeur with a name like Worthington?), get a lawyer and remember the first rule of estate planning: don’t forget a little something for your personal finance columnist.

9. Set up an automatic savings plan, if you don’t already have one. Even $5 a week is a fine place to start. SmartyPig works well for this. Pick a specific goal, check your progress periodically, and don’t mess with it—except to increase the weekly allotment.

8. Get rid of useless crap. No time like the present

7. Start a business. Hmm, that sounds too ambitious. Instead, start a side project that happens to be tax-advantaged. And start small. It could be selling crafts on Etsy, any kind of shop or repair work (I sharpen knives, for example), or even freelance writing. Go legit—get your city business license and file Schedule C. Why? Even if you don’t itemize, business expenses are tax-deductible. It’s fun to get paid (even a little) for something you enjoy. And if you become un- or underemployed, having an existing side business gives you something to focus on. Which brings us to…

6. Simulate bad news. Armies and city governments run disaster simulations. You can play the home game, the financial equivalent of testing your smoke alarm. Are you doing enough to prevent an emergency or life change from becoming a financial disaster? (Oh my God, I totally sound like an insurance salesman.) This year, evaluate your insurance, your emergency fund, and your family’s plans in the event of job loss, natural disaster, death or illness, and other bad things. This will not be fun, but you know what would be less fun? Doing it during the actual emergency.

5. Plan for financial good news. Now, this is more like it! Here’s hoping you get a raise, bonus, or inheritance this year. It’s about damn time, right? (I mean, not that I’m actively hoping you get an inheritance. Unless it’s from a rich uncle you never met.) Furthermore, here’s hoping you spend some of it on fun and some of it on long-term goals. Decide now. It’ll take you five minutes. What percent of any unexpected income will you set aside for retirement or the emergency fund this year?

4. Talk to your relatives about a gift moratorium. I know, sounds like negotiating with North Korea. But if you do raise the idea, do it in the summer—far from winter holidays and not too close to anyone’s birthday—and make the terms clear (maybe children and handmade gifts are excluded from the cease-fire, say). Explain that it’s not because you don’t love getting presents, but because you’re taking charge of your financial situation and find it hard not to spend on your wonderful siblings and cousins and uncles without making a pact. Oh, if my parents are reading this, next year I’d like a stocking full of candy and a donation to my favorite charity. And a chauffeur. Kidding!

3. Look into Roth IRA conversion. As of 2010, there’s no longer an income limit for converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. (If you couldn’t convert to a Roth in the past because you made over $100,000, congratulations.) Converting your traditional IRA (or an old 401k or 403b) to a Roth may or may not be the right move for you—talk to your financial adviser—but if you’re even considering it, you’ll need to think about where the money will come from to pay the tax on the conversion. Good news: you can pay the taxes over the course of two years.

2. Take a nice vacation. You’ve earned it. Just one rule: you have to pay cash, and you have to save up the cash with the vacation in mind. This year we’re taking a family vacation to Japan; we’ve been planning and saving for it since 2007. If you follow through on this resolution, do me two favors: have a great time and don’t invite me over to watch your slide show.

1. Don’t buy a house. Okay, maybe this one is just for me. Have you ever saved up for something and then realized you didn’t want it anymore? For years, my wife and I have been socking away money every month into our down payment fund. And it’s getting awfully close to our goal. Due in part to the housing collapse, however, we have completely lost interest in buying a house. So one of our resolutions for this year is to determine how to reallocate that money—probably to beef up our retirement savings and emergency fund. Although, come on, how much can a chauffeur cost? Seriously, that much? Never mind.

Matthew Amster-Burton, author of the book Hungry Monkey, writes on food and finance from his home in Seattle.

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