By: Laura Walton AFC® With Thanksgiving behind us (I hope you enjoyed yours) and 24/7 holiday music everywhere, let’s have fun with some holiday facts. First, the most expensive Christmas card… Apparently the Christmas card was conceived as a way to encourage ordinary folks to use the Post Office! In 1843, Sir Henry Cole asked…
By: Laura Walton AFC® I think I could write a book based on the snippets of conversation I hear walking Tumamoc Hill in the early mornings. This morning I overheard “when I was in New Jersey, we’d camp at the Battenkill River”and “I’m bringing cucumber salad” and “we’re leaving early Thursday morning for San Diego.”…
By: Laura Walton AFC® I often say this isn’t “rocket surgery” – personal finance really just boils down to spending less than you make over your lifetime. On the other hand, that’s easier said than done. Maybe, one day, my blog will detail all the financial mistakes I’ve made along the way. Want to know the most…
By: Laura Walton AFC® Did you know that there is a government unit, the Social and Behavioral Sciences Team, dedicated to improving the effectiveness of government programs by better understanding how we make decisions? Maya Shankar, senior policy advisor at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, assembled the SBST team of 35…
By: Laura Walton AFC® We’ve all experienced sticker shock at the grocery store now and then so it came as a big surprise to me that our spending on food is a fraction of what it has been historically. Today we spend about 13% of our income on food. In 1900, we spent 43%! And, we find…
By: Laura Walton AFC® I often say that wealth is built at the margins – a little bit saved here and there consistently over the years rather than the home run bet on just the right stock at the right time. Americans admit they waste money on inconsequential stuff but just how much and how…
By: Laura Walton AFC® It can be enlightening to learn how people in other countries handle routine financial transactions. Canadians, for example, have a very different approach to home mortgages than we do. A typical home loan in Canada is for 5 years, not 30. Although the loan is amortized over a longer period, the…
By: Laura Walton AFC® It’s one thing to splurge on something you want but another thing to waste money. Eight in ten Americans admit they waste cash but, even so, they’re not necessarily interested in changing their behavior! According to a recent study, the top four financial wastes involve food: Nearly 70% admit they spend too…
By: Laura Walton AFC® I recently blogged about the importance of having a bigger “yes” – a passion that moves you forward in life by prioritizing your choices. Gwen is a friend whose life is a great example of that. I asked her to put into words her journey as her passion shifted from her…
By: Laura Walton AFC® You had to be there! This is a line taken from the recent movie Hell or High Water. The scene is set in a small café in a dusty west Texas town. Two Texas Rangers (Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham) are studying the menu when the waitress approaches – that’s when it…