Money Tips Network

While we may be sad to say goodbye to summer, the appearance of pumpkins cheers us up. They are a reminder of upcoming holidays — Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Spices frequently used with pumpkin trigger our olfactory senses, which give us excitement and happy memories.

In February 2005, Sarah and I were handed a completely unexpected piece of information. Sarah was pregnant and our first child was going to arrive late in the year.

It was a life-changing moment. Sarah and I had several months to prepare, of course. Unfortunately, since we weren’t in the best financial shape at the time, we didn’t really focus on the financial implications very hard. Instead, we spent our time on learning how to be parents on a day-to-day basis. How were we going to take care of this baby?

While I’m glad we did so much reading and research and thinking about caring for that baby, I really wish we had spent more time preparing for the financial implications. Many of those issues came up in the first year or two of our child’s life during a period where we were frazzled by the huge life changes that parenting brings about. We didn’t always make the best choices given our exhausted states of mind.

Finances and cheating are amount the most common reasons for divorce. And what happens when you merge the two? You get a case of financial infidelity, but there’s a twist: a third party doesn’t have to be present to cause a problem.

In a nutshell, it’s the practice of concealing assets, debt obligations or conducting transactions behind your partner’s back that could have a major impact on your financial well-being as a unit.

And apparently, financial infidelity is somewhat commonplace. According to the results of a poll published by National Endowment for Financial Education, one-third of adults involved in a relationship where finances were combined admitted to some form of financial deception. Among the list of qualifying offenses were:

Amtrak isn't easy to love, and yet so many of us do.

The pleasure of watching one region of the country transform to another before our eyes — without having to keep those eyes on the road or stay strapped into seat belts — makes up for our rail system's failings.

We expect much from people we see on television. And it’s worse when we perceive someone to be smart and talented, even if they’re speaking beyond their area of expertise.

We think someone who is a great community leader or someone who is a great business leader will make a great President of the United States. We see the similarities in roles and responsibilities and believe that intelligence and talent in one area leads to success in another. The same bias happens in ourselves. Why else would Donald Trump, a successful business person who doesn’t appear to have interpersonal communication skills based on his public statements and television appearances (I don’t know him personally) believe that he could be a successful politician?

If you’re frustrated with the low interest rates of savings accounts but wary of high-risk investment strategies, Certificates of Deposit (CDs) might be your ideal middle ground. Your money will be safe and you’ll receive a better return than a savings account would offer, though the best CD rates largely depend on how long you’re willing to part with your money.

According to Bankrate, the average one-year CD interest rate in 2013 fell from 0.28% to 0.23% APY, or annual percentage yield. Certainly not an imposing return — that is, until you compare it to the average APY of savings accounts — 0.06% — in roughly the same time frame.

We've all heard a lot of bad stuff about plastics over the years. Anything from plastic bottles leaching BPA or other hormone disrupting chemicals into food and drink to the harm plastic bags have on the environment as they pile up in landfills and oceans.

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to five word summaries. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Tracking grocery expenses
2. Price book advice
3. Letting go of old business
4. Credit cards and international travel
5. Compromise and financial goals
6. Enameled cast iron advice
7. Job change advice
8. “Sharing economy” thoughts
9. Amazon Prime question

Ever wondered what it takes to become a successful long term investor?

You don’t necessarily need to have deep macro knowledge about international trends, or a gambler’s mentality. No, long term investing really comes down to your investment principles, and having the courage to stick to them.

In the investment world, there are two basic investment principles. They are:

1. Investing for capital gain
2. Investing for cash flow

One of the foundations for successful investing is to be clear on which principle you want to follow. It’s advisable to choose one as your main principle even if you end up doing a bit of the other along the line. If you decide to go in just any direction at any point in time, chances are you’ll end up being confused – and frustrated.