Giving til It Hurts

Pop quiz: It’s December 15th, have you finished your holiday shopping yet? If you’re anything like me the answer is no. I tend to keep shopping right up until the clock ticks down to Christmas. I’m in good company here. Only 16% of respondents to a National Retail Federation poll had completed their...

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Amanda on MSN: Why Your Money Plans Sink or Swim

I haven't been able to post in awhile because I've had a lot on my plate lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't still been fighting the good fight for financial wellness! Check out my quotes in the MSN Women in Red article Why Your Money Plans Sink or Swim....

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The Jack Sprat Accord

Remember that nursery rhyme about Jack Sprat and his wife? Evidently Mr. Sprat had a predilection for leaner fare while his wife was more of a… gourmand. Between the two of them, so the story goes, they managed to efficiently apportion meals and thus together they would “lick the platter clean.”Food...

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The Leased Lifestyle

American Express really had our number when they said that “membership has its privileges.” We love to belong, to feel like we’re part of something. Maybe it’s the association that membership has with being cared for (as by a parent) or with the security of the crowd (as with a… herd. Sorry, folks,...

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Fight, Flight, or MasterCard

There is a lot of buzz right now in the mental health field about advances in neural imaging and the growing application of brain scans. It used to be that the only “topography” clinicians cared about was that of the conscious (pre-, sub-, un-, and regular), but now there is a surge in collaboration...

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Actually, You Are a Beautiful and Unique Snowflake

I have a secret for you. This secret is going to change your life. Here is the big news:Everyone in the world has more or less money than you.That’s right. There is no sameness. No comforting lie that in America “we’re all middle class.”I read a great post last week on Getting Green titled Why I Keep...

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Fees and Loathing

A "sucker punch" is an act of violence where the one being punched is either caught completely off guard by a landed fist, or a punch which is thrown to disable another in a place which is not normally a target in a "fair fight”…. Although it is commonly known to be embarrassing and painful to be upon...

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