Posts filed under 'Bad with Numbers?'
No more excuses! A new iPhone app from Quicken connects you with your bank and also let’s you enter your cash purchases.
You know…the money that seems to leave your wallet without your knowing it… and which you can never figure out where it went…
It even tells you what’s left – how much money you have in your account. What, no iPhone? You can still use their simplified version at m.quicken.com.
http://blog.quicken.intuit.com/2009/04/30/introducing-our-first-iphone-app-quicken-online-mobile/
July 27th, 2009
Which have not been uttered…
Can you embroider “My 401K lost 30%” on this pillow? Are you sure I can’t pay more? Does my bank account make me look fat? Do you think my credit card company has my back? Is my CPA single? Taxes anyone? Do you think his checking account is what killed him? How great is my bank card photo? Can you make my paycheck smaller?
June 8th, 2009
If you want to learn about personal finance, Suze Orman can be terrific. She is knowledgeable and helpful. But she can also be intimidating, patronizing, and borderline mean. Her approach is to treat folks like their nagging mother when they’ve been bad. Regardless of what you think is best for you Suze usually thinks it is a lousy idea. To prove her point, she nags, cajoles, occasionally bullies, and otherwise makes people feel like they are letting her, and more importantly themselves, down.
That said, often she’s right. But there is a healthier way to help folks who want to do a better job managing their money – which doesn’t require scolding. Chances are you already know you should learn more about managing your own money. You often already know the right answer to whatever question you have and, equally as often, you either don’t trust yourself or find managing your money a drag, boring or just plain anxiety producing. (For some, the mere thought of money management drives them to straight to the bar.)
Here’s a dirty little secret that Suze doesn’t want you to know about – finance does not have to always invoke your mother! You don’t have to feel like a “bad” girl every time you want to buy something. On the contrary, finance is a valuable tool you don’t have to dread learning about and understanding. And it can actually be fun – after all the better you understand your finances, what you have and what you don’t, the more you know what can an can’t do. Hello, shopping!
If you’ve read my blog before, you know that most people get into trouble with their money because they don’t create a budget or worse, do, but promptly ignore it. Contrary to what Suze might tell you, this is not a personal failing. The reasons most budgets fail is not because of how you budget – it’s how you use your budget. Attitude is everything. Most budgets fail because they seem to stop you from doing what you want: “It’s not in my budget.” But a good budget really tells you what you can spend. “It’s in my budget.” Start thinking of a budget as a way to help you achieve your life’s goals and dreams. A budget doesn’t tell you what you can’t do, it tells you what you can do. There, isn’t that more fun. No putting you down for your shoe habit. No pointing out what you are doing wrong. Just a reminder that making and using a budget helps you manage your money.
So even if you blow it (or are about too) you can get beat up by Suze or remember,on rare occasions, being bad is good!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/magazine/17orman-t.html?hp
May 19th, 2009
Kitty tried to slam down the phone receiver. Damm her lack of opposable thumbs and damm Barbie. They had been vying for sexiest toy title for years. Kitty thought she had Barbie beat when she went for the big time bling. But now the diva was topping her with a runway show on Feb. 14 in Bryant Park, complete with designer inspired Barbie clothes. What was the world coming to? Then Kitty sat back and purred – she still had her line at Neiman Marcus and a higher net worth (see November 17, 2008 post for more on net worth). And, wasn’t Barbie turning 50?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/fashion/05ROW.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper
http://www.neimanmarcus.com/search.jhtml?N=0&Ntt=heloo+kitty&_requestid=15797″
February 5th, 2009
There are two kinds of interest: Simple and compound.
Simple interest means that when you borrow money, you pay back the amount you borrowed, which is called the principal, plus the interest. The interest is only calculated on the amount of the principal. The amount of interest you pay back depends on the interest rate, which is usually expressed as a percent due for a full year, and the length of time over which you borrow the money.
There is a formula for calculating simple interest: Simple interest equals: Principal multiplied by the interest rate multiplied by the length of time. While you don’t need to remember the formula, please note two things: (1) The formula only uses multiplication and, (2) You know what each of the things you need to multiply are.
Here is an example of how to calculate simple interest. If you borrowed 1,000 dollars (your principal) at a 10 percent interest rate per year (the bank’s fee), for three years (the time period), the simple interest rate is: 300 dollars (1,000 dollars multiplied by 10 percent interest, multiplied by three years, equals 300 dollars). The total amount you would owe the bank at the end of the three years would be 1,300 dollars (1,000 dollars, the original amount you borrowed, plus the 300 dollars interest).
Compound interest is like simple interest in that when you borrow money, you pay back the amount you borrowed plus the interest. However, unlike with simple interest, where the interest is calculated only once, for compound interest the interest is calculated at the end of each compounding period. A compounding period is how often interest is charged – which can be yearly, monthly, weekly and even daily. This means you are charged interest on the prior period’s interest as well as interest on the principal.
Here is an example of how compound interest is calculated. In the simple interest example above, we borrowed 1,000 dollars at a 10 percent interest rate per year for three years. If the bank charged compound interest instead of simple interest, and they were compounding the interest annually (once a year), we would use the same formula: Interest equals the Principal multiplied by the Interest Rate multiplied by Length of Time, but we would use it three times.
In year one: 1,000 dollars, multiplied by 10 percent, multiplied by one year, equals 100 dollars. The total amount owed at the end of year one would be 1,100 dollars (1,000 dollars, the original amount you borrowed, plus the interest, 100 dollars).
In year two: Perform the calculation again, but this time use as the starting point 1,100 dollars – the balance at the end of year one. To calculate year two, multiply one 1,100 dollars, by 10 percent, by one year. This equals 110 dollars. The total amount owed at the end of year two is 1,210 dollars (1,000 dollars, the original amount you borrowed, plus 100 dollars, the interest from year one, plus 110 dollars, the interest from year two).
In year three, start with the 1,210 dollars from year two and perform the calculation again: 1,210 dollars multiplied by 10 percent, multiplied by one year. The total amount you would owe at the end of year three is 1,331 dollars (1,000 dollars, the original amount you borrowed, plus 100 dollars, the interest from year one, plus 110 dollars, the interest from year two, plus 121 dollars, the interest from year three).
The higher the interest rate, and the more you borrow, the bigger the difference between simple and compound interest becomes. Unfortunately for borrowers and credit card users, the interest on most long-term debts and all credit cards is calculated using compound interest. Banks know how much the difference adds up.
January 15th, 2009
Today, Obama spoke about the current economic crises. He pointed out that “this crisis did not happen solely by some accident of history or normal turn of the business cycle … we arrived at this point due to an era of profound irresponsibility that stretched from corporate boardrooms to the halls of power in Washington, DC. … Banks made loans without concern for whether borrowers could repay them, and some borrowers took advantage of cheap credit to take on debt they couldn’t afford. The result has been a devastating loss of trust and confidence in our economy, our financial markets, and our government.” He’s right.
The recent economic headlines have been enough to make anyone nauseous. Money-savvy people are scared and financial novices are terrified. One of the most important promises you can make to yourself this year is to learn about money and personal money management. I realize learning about the economy can seem intimidating, math feels boring, and managing your own finances daunting – but if you can shop, you can manage your money.
Shopping actually requires you know more math than money management. For example to spend, you need addition and subtraction. To budget, you need addition, subtraction, and multiplication. To over-spend, you need addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. To shop, you need addition, subtraction and multiplication. Percents and decimals also help – especially if there is a sale! Notice that algebra is not listed; geometry is nowhere is sight (although one way to save money is to angle around the outer perimeters of the shoe department); trigonometry – forget it; calculus – don’t need it.
So make a commitment to yourself and learn about money. You’ll feel even better than you do when your skinny jeans fit.
January 8th, 2009