personal finance money management

A recent study found that poor folks - households earning under $13,000 per year - spend about 9% of all their income on lottery tickets.

Jonah Lehrer:

The study neatly illuminates the sad positive feedback loop of lotteries. The games naturally appeal to poor people, which causes them to spend disproportionate amounts of their income on lotteries, which helps keep them poor, which keeps them buying tickets.

I wonder what would happen if on a certain number of the losing scratch-off cards, scratching off the latex ink won you free personal finance and budget management services.

Lotteries [The Frontal Cortex] (Thanks to Jim!)

The impact of narrow decision bracketing on lottery play [Journal of Risk and Uncertainty]

The 50-Percent Solution Saves Money on Common Items, Cuts Down on Waste

One way we often try to save money is by avoiding wasting costly things like food, water, or electricity. But consider all the smaller, everyday things you probably don't realize you use too much of.

"Use less of everything to save money" may sound like an obvious tip, but there are lots of things we use every day that we probably use in portions too large. We've already mentioned how you probably already use too much detergent, but it goes for a lot of things, like hand soap, shampoo, or even over-the-counter painkillers. Personal finance blog Get Rich Slowly uses what they call the "50-Percent Solution":

The idea is to reduce by half the amount of these things you use by doling out smaller portions. Normally use a quarter-size dollop of shampoo? Try cutting back to a dime.. . . You can keep scaling back your usage gradually until you hit a point where you actually don't have enough, and then creep back up to the last place it felt good.

How much have I saved on laundry soap over the past year? It's possible to track that data and get a real answer, but I don't keep records that detailed. The dollars I've saved didn't get banked straight into my savings account. Instead, they've padded my margin a bit, making it easier to stick to our budget each week and possible to splurge on treats like dinners out with my husband.

Apart from automating the process with helpful reminders, like throttling the soap dispenser with a rubber band, you can apply this rule to larger things, like shopping, going out, or even therapeutic services to save more and help you get into a more frugal mindset. Hit the link for more details, and let us know if anything like this has worked for you.

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As a new college graduate, it is important that you begin your personal financial life on the right foot. Any personal finance mistakes you make in the first few years after leaving college could have a continuing effect that may last for years. These include having the personal finance to buy a car, a home or even get that career job.

For most new graduates, the most important personal finance advice is to make good common sense decisions. These include paying your bills on time, not spending more than you make and be sure to put money regularly into a savings account for those rainy days. However, the current crop of new college graduates will have the opportunity to some personal finance advantages that many of their predecessors did not. Here are a few personal finance advantages that the new college graduate can begin to use in their beginning years:

Personal Finance and Health Insurance
Until recently, when a college student finally graduated they were kicked off their parent's policies. For those who didn't immediately have a job to fall back on, that could end up being very expensive. However, new federal law says that a college graduate can be covered on their parent's policy up until the age of 26, even if they are not attending school. If the college graduate does not have a parent to fall back on, then they should look into short-term health insurance coverage. Not having some kind of health insurance coverage could be a mistake. One accident or serious illness could end up running a huge bill and place the college graduate in a debt hole that maybe hard to climb out.

Personal Finance and Education Debt
The first payments on federal student loans are due six to nine months after graduation. For those college graduates who may not have a great paying job right out of school, there maybe an alternative. To save your personal finance from ruin, the government is issuing an income based repayment plan. This plan is based on the discretionary income of the college graduate. However, if you do decide to participate in this plan, the lower payment will extend the life of the loan. To protect your personal finance reputation, be sure to make your payments on time.

Personal Finance and Credit Cards
Of all the personal finance problems that a new college graduate faces, credit card management is at the top. The new Credit Card Act passed by Congress has given many consumers some breathing room, but a lack of common sense can get a college graduate in trouble. Make use of credit card information sites that give comparisons on credit cards. Try to keep all your charges to no more than 35% of your credit limit. The lower your balance is kept, the better your credit score. As credit is tight, a good credit score is very important.

Personal Finance and Banking
One common sense goal of any recent college graduate is to continue the thrifty lifestyle you were living while in college. Give yourself time to stash away money towards savings as a buffer to what may surprise you. Most personal finance experts agree that you should have at least six months of expenses saved for those rainy days. Having your money in the bank is probably the best personal finance you can have as a college graduate.

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