Money Tips Network

If I had to point to one idea that really shook my financial thinking and showed me the value of turning my finances around, it was the concept of exchanging my life’s energy for money, as explained in the wonderful book Your Money or Your Life.

The idea is actually pretty simple on the surface. One of the big arguments in the book is that people trade pieces of their life’s energy for money. Almost every way that people earn income involves exchanging at least some mental or physical energy for that money.

It doesn’t take much imagination to expand that trade to time as well. We trade our time and our energy for money. Whenever we pick up our keys and head off to work, we’re swapping time for money. We wouldn’t (usually) go to work without that financial compensation.

This article is by editor Linda Vergon.

As J.D. Roth put it, “Failure is okay.” We all experience it, and we each have to figure out how to deal with it. Some people even study it. In fact, studying failure is a very productive thing to do. A stress-test can be used to study failure in a proactive sense. It can help predict how and when failure will occur within the confines of a safe, theoretical exercise. And I got to thinking. How can we use that idea to improve our financial situation?

It didn’t occur to me until today, but my husband, Terry, has been stress-testing our finances for a long time. (Ha! I don’t mean that he pushes the budget to the limit in the real sense. But to an engineer with an MBA, it seems that life provides all sorts of scenarios just begging to be analyzed.) He is constantly tinkering with the numbers to glean insights.

The frugal spender may not have all the things that money can buy, but she will have one thing it can't: the ability to laugh at the absurd products other people waste their savings on. The Internet's bursting at its golden-stitched seams with luxury lifestyle sites promoting outrageously expensive or unnecessary products, so have a chuckle at some items you'll need to see to believe.

24 Karat Gold Toilet Paper

At $250 per roll, this gold-embossed toilet paper may just be the most offensively ostentatious bathroom product ever peddled. Buyers can get their TP custom-engraved, or go with standard designs like a rose or "Happy Birthday." Truly, a product for an ass.

Ready for summer? Me too. If you're looking for ways to prepare for the warm weather, we have you covered. This handy list will get you through anything from keeping bugs away to baking dashboard cookies. If you have any fun life hacks to add to this list, please leave them in the comments! (See also: Wear Frozen Clothes and 9 Other Ways to Beat the Heat)

1. Keep Water Cold

Whether you're exercising or just lounging, cold water is only sips away. Before long runs, my husband and I fill up plastic water bottles half-way, then freeze them. When we need our drink, we pop it out of the freezer and fill the rest with fresh water.

As far as foreign travel is concerned, Europe is one of the most romanticized continents in the world. Indeed there is much to do there, from sipping wine under the Eiffel Tower to taking in a bullfight in Spain to zipping along Rome's cobbled streets on a Vespa. And while many Americans still make the pilgrimage to Europe on an annual basis, the lop-sided dollar-euro exchange rate means fewer people in the States can afford to make the trip. Or so they think.

Let's assume you are perfectly qualified for a job you find on Craigslist or LinkedIn, saw in the classifieds (really?), or learned about from a friend. You have the skills. You have the experience. Great. Unfortunately, unless it's a very specialized job, many, many other candidates will be perfectly qualified, too. Or maybe just a bit more qualified.

So how do you get the job?

You have to separate yourself from the pack. These eight tips might help.

Whether you are looking to set up your nest egg or start a new life as a rapid fire day trader, the stock market can be simultaneously exciting and overwhelming. Movies like "The Wolf of Wall Street" simplify the world of shares and trading, making it appear as though anyone with half a brain can jump in and make a fortune. However, while the potential for turning a profit is there, considerable knowledge is required to navigate the loaded language and confusing jargon of the stock market.

Whether you're working through a licensed broker or trying to go it alone, it's important to know the lingo. Here are few key terms to get you started. (See also: Why Invest in the Stock Market?)

I do a large portion of my shopping online, particularly when buying gifts. I’ll spend hours hunting around online for the perfect item or the best possible price on a particular item that I want.

When it comes to the biggest websites – namely, Amazon – I feel comfortable shopping there. They’re quite secure and I’ve shopped safely there for a long time without any troubles.

Sometimes, though, I’ll find a unique item or a very strong price at a website that I’m much less familiar with. I’ll find a board game at an obscure retailer or I’ll find some handmade jewelry for a gift from some nice little mom-and-pop website.

This leaves me with a real dilemma.

I don’t feel comfortable sharing my address and credit card information with someone I don’t know. In order to share that info, I have to trust that person to some degree, and if it’s an obscure website, that trust level is honestly pretty low.

Note: This article is from J.D. Roth, who founded Get Rich Slowly in 2006. J.D.’s recently launched the Get Rich Slowly course, a year-long guide on how to master your money.

A few years ago, my little brother moved his family to Seattle. His wife had received a promotion and an opportunity to work at her company’s flagship location. The offer was too good to refuse. There was just one problem: They moved before Tony could find a job.

Tony’s wife enjoyed her new position and increased salary. He pounded the pavement looking for work. He had no luck. When he was in Portland a few months later, he stopped by my place for a beer.

“How are things going?” I asked.

“They’re OK,” he said, but he paused a moment, which told me things weren’t okay.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.