Money Tips Network

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup!

Money, work, the economy, family responsibilities, personal relationships, and health are today's top triggers of stress, according to research by the American Psychological Association.

Each year, I go to Gencon, a tabletop gaming convention in Indianapolis held every August. Among the major events are two that make it very tempting to open my wallet: a “dealer hall” where various game manufacturers show off their latest wares and an auction house where unusual items are auctioned off to the highest bidder (as well as some more common items that will often go for a very low price).

During my first two years there, I spent more money than I should have. There were many, many games and bargains there and I found myself opening my wallet much more often than I intended to.

Each year, after the convention, I’d try really hard to justify the spending to myself.

It’s just once a year.

It’s a special event.

You’ll enjoy all of the stuff.

Some of those items were major bargains!

You can make up for it by cutting back next month.

This article is by staff writer Kristin Wong.

(This is Part III in a series about challenging traditional measures of financial success. Part I was The “Ivory Tower”: Reconsidering the college investment. Part II was Challenging traditional measures of financial success: Homeownership.)

It was the first semester of my first year of college. My friend and I were driving around our small town, looking for something to eat. But we didn’t have much money, so our options were limited. Chili’s sounded good, but neither of us could really afford it.

Bluetooth keyboards offer a great solution to one of the biggest problems that many smartphone and tablet owners have; it can be quite difficult and uncomfortable to type on these devices when using their on-screen keyboards.

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup!

Look closely and you'll find them. They tool around in old trucks with homemade campers, they create wild sculptures from scrap metal, they fix what's broken and improve what's not, and they putter contentedly in basements and garages deep into the night.

I’m tempted by a lot of purchases. Books. Food. Board games. Gadgets.

For me, the best single tool for controlling those kinds of temptations is to give myself a monthly allotment from which I can spend freely. For example, I might cap my personal hobby and entertainment spending at $100 a month and we might have a monthly cap on food eaten outside the home set at $150.

The challenge comes out when I realize that I have more than $100 worth of hobby temptations in a month. How do I figure out the best method for spending that money?

To solve that problem, I’ve been taking advantage of a little bit of economic theory.

What Is Opportunity Cost?

Wikipedia gives a wordy definition of opportunity cost:

This article is by staff writer Holly Johnson.

Last week I was out walking with a friend when she admitted she was scared she would never have kids.

“We’ll never be able to afford them,” she said as we made our way around the block and up the next street. She and her husband are about our age (and not getting any younger), and I could tell she was worried.

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” I said as I tried desperately to change the subject. That was terrible advice and I knew it, but it was the same advice someone had given me several years before. (And probably for the same reasons.)

When it came to having a baby, I’m glad I followed bad advice