Money Tips Network

Alissa Fleck

As a teenager, I looked forward to growing up and leaving home so I could eat all the junk food I wanted. But now that I’ve done that, my perspective has changed. I avoid junk food at all costs. I’ve matured a lot when it comes to money, too. As a kid I dedicated every [...]

Oh, how I wish I could go back and talk some sense into my free-spending teenaged self from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

This blog was posted by Alissa Fleck

Some reader stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failure. These stories feature folks with all levels of financial maturity and income. Want to submit your own reader story? Here’s how.

I don’t spend lavishly on clothes, hair appointments, or travel. I drive a 12-year-old Honda Civic. I got into debt by trying different business investments, including real estate and selling refurbished tablets. I also took out a student loan that I really didn’t need but couldn’t turn down the money I automatically qualified for. Those are the main sources of my debt.

By now you've heard of the contretemps aboard an airliner last weekend during which one passenger prevented the seat in front of him from reclining through use of a device called the Knee Defender. Frustration ensued until the passenger seated ahead doused the passenger seated behind and the Captain diverted to another airport and both passengers were escorted off the plane. Ever since, the Internet has been all worked up about whether or not the Right to Recline is an actual right (a recent poll suggests a majority of Americans think it's a right).

Once again, we're heading into the home stretch; the big shopping days are going to be here in no time. Black Friday, Holidays, New Year, it's all just around the corner. But for many of us, there are still a few great months of sunshine. And whatever the weather, there are always great bargains to grab, if you know what you're looking for. Here's the list for September.

First, What to Buy…

Obviously September kicks off with Labor Day, and you'll find a lot of retails stores taking advantage of that long weekend. This is also the month we kick off Oktoberfest (yes, it starts on September 21st) and cheese pizza day (September 5th). But if those aren't appealing, check out the following deals.

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some awesome articles on eating better food for less, making big life decisions, and cheap baby essentials under $30.

Top 5 Articles

Shop Like the French. You'll Eat Better Food For Less — Shopping often and buying whole foods can help you eat better food for less. [Free to Pursue]

Welcome to the new normal: The average worker today stays in a job for 4.4 years.

You should probably expect that number to get even lower as 91% of Millennials expect to stay in a job for less than three years. (See also: 25 Career Changes You Can Make Today)

And while being labeled as a job hopper may make you less attractive to future employers, there's no time to waste if you don't like what you're doing. Here are seven tools to check if you're on the right career path.

Financial independence is a tricky phrase because it can mean different things to different people.

Right now, I view financial independence as being a state where I no longer have to work for money. Yet, seven or eight years ago, I might have viewed it as simply being free from worrying about my next paycheck. At different points in there, I might have seen financial independence completely differently.

Along the way, I’ve come to realize that financial independence is made up of a series of stages. Some people might see more stages, while others might see fewer; I see four clear ones.

In my own financial journey – and in the journey of others that I’ve had conversations with – “financial independence” generally means the next stage that hasn’t been achieved yet.

This article is by staff writer April Dykman.

My personal finance education began here at Get Rich Slowly. I went from owing more money than I had to being debt-free (although now I have a mortgage). And along the way, I learned about money on websites and blogs. I used Mint to get my spending aligned with my goals and to track debt repayment. I opened and started managing my husband’s and my Roth IRAs online too.

Most people like movies where the main characters get into a world of hurt but then, somehow, escape at the last minute and all is well.

The movie I'm about to tell you about is not like that. At least not completely.

The first part is what you'd expect (the world of hurt part), but unfortunately there's no happy ending.

Yep, it's a film about the retirement crisis in America. Here's a video summary of the movie:



The film covers several people planning to retire with absolutely no financial plan to do so. As you might imagine, that plan isn't going well.

A few key quotes: