Money Tips Network

Editor’s note: A few times a month, Lance Cothern from Money Life and More will stop by to share some of the best articles from across a variety of publications, including other blogs and mainstream media.

The holiday season is now over which should be a relief for wallets and purses everywhere. I fell victim to the common occurrence of buying gifts for myself this holiday season, but it turns out there are ways to avoid this behavior. Even though the holidays are over, I feel these tips could be applied all year long to make sure you aren’t making unnecessary splurge purchases.

As one year comes to a close, many people like to take a few moments and think about the year ahead. The setting of New Year’s resolutions is a time-honored tradition and a recurring theme at the end of each year. The new year has always been a chance, although somewhat arbitrary, to give yourself a fresh start. It’s a second chance. It’s an opportunity to recommit yourself to the things that are important to you.

Discussions of New Year’s resolutions are almost always followed by statistics showing how people generally fail at keeping the promises they make. News reporters and authors cite the spike in new gym memberships after the new year and the quick fall-off of gym participation as one example of how people with good intentions don’t stick to their plans. Studies show how financial New Year’s resolutions fail.

While some people think that it’s crass to give gift cards or cash as presents, I’m just fine with it. A gift card can show thought just as much as any other gift, especially if you know what the person likes and can give a gift card to a store that they like.

And if you’re of the opinion that gift cards are good, then cash is even better. It’s the most fungible of gifts. There’s very little that’s locked in about what you can buy with cash (except the country or countries that accept that particular form of cash, of course).

Any money burning in your pocket is self-ignited

Along with the ability to spend gift money on whatever you choose, is the ability to not spend it. That’s what we do with our paychecks, right? We budget (or not!), and we decide to spend or save.

Mike Lewis is a financial writer who discusses retirement planning, investment options, smart money management, and insurance.

The odds are astounding, really. Someone won the big Megamillions lottery jackpot of over $600 million last week. Millions of tickets were bought — No, make that hundreds of millions. Did you buy one?

Why? Why would you, or any other rational person, buy a lottery ticket? The odds of winning are incomprehensibly small. And that’s really the key, isn’t it? One in a thousand, one in a billion, what difference does it make? In fact, the perpetrators of the Megamillions lottery changed the odds recently. Previously, you had to pick the correct numbers from 1 to 56. Then they changed it to 1 to 75. How did that affect the odds?

• Before, your odds were 1 in 176 million.
• Now, your odds are 1 in 259 million.

Did you notice? Did anybody notice? Probably not. And that’s what they were counting on. What drives the sale of lottery tickets is not the odds, but the payout — or, to be more precise, the drama of the big payout.

This post comes from Anthony Fontana at our partner site Quizzle.com

It wasn’t too long ago that shopping actually required people to get off the couch and fight through crowds at the mall. That isn’t the case anymore. In fact, online shopping is easier than ever. Just last week I bought two pairs of jeans and a couple shirts, all within a matter of minutes, by using my smartphone.

Back in 2010, near the Great Recession’s nadir, the National Retirement Risk Index (NRRI) released a finding many regarded as troubling in the extreme.

That discovery was that even if Americans worked until age 65 and annuitized all their assets, including the proceeds from reverse mortgages on the homes in which they lived, fully 53 percent of U.S. households were at risk of being unable to maintain their pre-retirement standards of living in retirement.

The announcement got a lot of play in 2010, and fit the prevailing doom-and-gloom outlook of that day. But that was then and this is now. Right? We now have entered a new era of economic vitality, with growing consumer confidence, a more robust jobs picture and renewed hope for the future. Right? So there should be a much brighter picture of retirement readiness. Right?

Au contraire, buster.

JC Penney’s will be luring customers into its stores with pants priced at under two bucks this holiday season.  I do give them quite a bit of credit on that one.  Among discounted Blu-Ray players, large screen TVs, and laptops, pants at better than thrift store prices is so … ordinary.  But so practical!  If I were to try for one (or a dozen) of these, I might have a shot.  I wouldn’t have had to start lining up a week before Black Friday.

“We’re all hurting.  Let’s make sure everyone else hurts more.”

I have no clue what each pair of Izod pants costs JC Penney’s.  It could be that they’re not losing a whole lot of money on those items.  But in general, loss leaders are called that for a reason:  they sell for less than cost.  The store is counting on the loss leader to result in offsetting, profitable sales.

I am an amateur wood-worker.  Right now, I am working on a few Christmas gifts for friends and family.  I thought I’d share a few of the tools that rock – and make wood-working fun.

Last year, I purchased the PORTER-CABLE 20-volt Lithium Ion Impact Driver. Man, this is one awesome tool. It is powerful – and perfect for outdoor jobs. I used mine to build a deck for my shed. Works great.