Your Financial Life, Explained By Dogs + MORE

That “the customer is always right” has gained cliché status in business circles. But even if that phrase has lost its zing via repetition, business owners know that pleasing customers will always be paramount to success.
Sometimes, even the most customer-attentive businesses are confronted with unavoidable circumstances or mistakes that inconvenience patrons, occasionally to the point that they take their business elsewhere…

There’s been a lot of chitter-chatter about kids in my house lately. We don’t have any yet, but as we get nearer and nearer to moving back to the United States (after almost 3 years abroad) my baby fever is alive and well. Seriously, hold me back, people.
My husband and I have had a lot of discussions about how we want to raise our future kids, from the type of people we hope they’ll become to the names we think we love best…

My wife and I have weird work lives. I only have mandatory work from March through August, while my wife works from September through November and January through March. We only overlap for one month out of the year. My wife has begun her first real down period while I’m still in season. One week was enough for her to start thinking of ways to fill her down time, while I need to start thinking about what I’m going to do when September rolls around…

My latest search for a tenant was not easy. After hosting six open houses over a one month period I’ve finally found the one who will hopefully stay for longer than one year, pay on time and take good care of the place. It’s a darn small world because her boss is a fellow tennis club member I see literally every week…

Well that was fast. Yesterday Girl Ninja and I walked through a house, only to find us back in the same house two hours later for an inspection. Yes, things progressed that quickly.
We liked the house, loved the lot, and it’s well within our budget. When those three stars aligned, we knew we’d probably be writing our first offer ever as buyers…

When someone thinks (or writes) about personal finance, there’s a big temptation to focus on the big stuff instead of the small stuff. When you write about big things like buying a car, you can immediately point to how one action can save you thousands. When you write about buying a house, you can point right to tens of thousands of dollars in savings because of a better decision…

This post is from staff writer Honey Smith. On Saturday, Jake woke up restless. Despite the fact that it was 112 degrees outside (argh) he really wanted to leave the house. While I would have been fine staying in, I understood where he was coming from; Jake works from home and hadn’t left the house in at least a week…

It takes $1.23 to buy today what $1 bought in 2003, according to the federal government.If you think that’s bad, then you probably don’t want to hear which prices rose even more than that.Yahoo compiled a list of items with the worst price hikes in the past decade. Here are some of them, along with the main reason for the jump:Read 3 remaining paragraphs on MoneyTalksNews…

We get balance transfer card offers all the time. Unfortunately for those banks and fortunately for us, we do not carry any balance on our cards. We pay in full every month. For those who are already in credit card debt, this guest post from Joshua can be very helpful. Read and enjoy the post!

Have you heard of the balance transfer game? It seems to be all the buzz on several finance blogs that I follow and, rightfully so…

Global warming is out in full force, and it’s hard not to recognize that it’s there. Our planet is being hugely affected by the population’s carelessness, pollution, and usage of harmful materials that go back into the environment.
Most of us want to do right by the planet and decrease our environmental footprint where possible, but it’s hard to know where to start…

The sea is calling you. After all, we’re getting into the thick of the summer holiday season, and who doesn’t like heading to the beach or perhaps on a cruise to make the most of the warm weather?
As for me, I’ve always loved the sea. For decades, my family has stayed at a house on Long Beach Island, where we would gather to soak up the sun, ride the waves and indulge in crabs, lobsters and dozens upon dozens of clams…

Whelp friends, we hit 5 Million page views earlier this month! How awesome is that? 🙂 That’s almost a million for each year I’ve been blogging – pretty sick stuff (we’ve also had over 1,850 articles published and over 50,000 comments! CRAZY!!). I can kinda get now when people say “the first million is always the hardest,” haha… it’s true at least in the blogging world!
With all these changes in my life lately, I’ve also been asking myself what the future will/should hold in terms of this blog…

Hope you’re having a dog-gone good time! Here’s your financial life, explained by our four legged friends…
You’re creative about how you stay cool when summers get hot.

Image by: TheChanel
You always make a second meal out of leftovers.

Image by: rmatei
You do a little dance on payday…

Image by: carterse
Then spend it all on shoes…

Link for teaser title: 

http://www.wisebread.com/deals

Lady Elegance Purse Organizer $5, Crocs Women’s Candace Clogs $15, Victoria’s Secret cuts up to 70% off clearance

If you find yourself trying to get out of debt it can be overwhelming to know that you owe a great deal of money. It can be even more overwhelming when collectors contact you repeatedly in order to try and get you to pay. The good news is that you do have some rights.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is designed to protect consumers from harassing behaviors on the part of debt collectors…

The following is a guest post from Anton Ivanov from Dream Cash True.
Get a good job, live below your means, save as much as you can and invest in index funds. With time, your discipline will be rewarded with a successful retirement. We’ve all heard this financial advice time and time again. It’s the traditional way of building wealth…

Working during the summer when school is out of session is a great opportunity for teenagers to make money and assert their independence. Having a summer job can help you earn spending money, pay for college, and gain practical experience for a future career, all while providing opportunities not available during the school year…

In the past, I have encouraged you to flex your contrarian muscles and scoop up beleaguered European bank stocks because, well… they’re dirt cheap. And they won’t be forever.
Many readers responded by questioning my sanity.
I’m immune to such criticisms by now, though. They come with the territory when you share unpopular investment ideas…