This week, we’ll look at a few ways to save money on food & beverage spending.
Track Your Spending
The first important part of this week’s tips is to know where your money goes.  Don’t lump all your food and beverage spending in one area, but map out a realistic spending plan according to your actual habits.  For example, consider tracking work lunches, groceries, eating out, coffee runs, drinking at the bar with buddies, happy hours with coworkers, etc.  Lumping all these expenditures into one category called Food and identifying $800 in …

Take a look at the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish (UUP) ETF. The US dollar has broken higher of the 50 day moving average, potentially signaling a change in direction and maybe a short term bottom.

In the bizarre world that we live in, a strong dollar is a bad thing, hence the sell off in equities today. I believe the long term negative trend in the dollar is in tact but we’re going to see reversals like this along the way.  If we lived in a world …

I believe in cyclical behavior.  Often times, one action tends to spur another action which tends to spur the first action even more, and so forth.  When it comes to getting informed, learning, investigating, becoming educated, I believe there is a cycle of questioning & learning.  It doesn’t matter which comes first, but they will reinforce eachother in a cyclical manner.
The important thing to realize is that this cycle often requires a kickstart or something to begin the cycle.  This kickstart typically is from a decision or effort.  Get the …

Let me make this clear, my day job or regular job or main job is a blessing.  I have a great job and many would kill for it today with so many struggling to find work.  With that said, I don’t love my job.  I don’t get overly passionate about it.  I realize most people probably describe their job in a similar fashion, but hey this is a blog, and I get to ramble about my feelings and perspectives on things.
One of the things that does drive me nuts a …

It’s amazing how easy it is to buy used stuff these days.  Whether you want a used boat, used car, a couch or a baby stroller, you can get it all used very easily and reliably.  For many items, it really doesn’t make much sense to buy new.  I think that our leaning to buy new is mostly driven from our American-consumerism mentality that we like bright, new, shiny things.  If we’re able to put that aside and focus on the numbers, focus on the need, etc. we will come …

I find it rather interesting how so many people emphasize cutting out the small things in life such as a daily grande-skinny-decaf-extra-hot-no-whip-vanilla-latte but at the same time spend thousands each month on their residence and their autos.  Here’s an idea… live in an apartment, drive a clunker and drink 5 lattes a day.
When it comes to budgeting and managing your money, you have to address the larger issues, the larger expenses first.  Our society has encouraged everyone to go beyond their means when it comes to owning a home or …

Ten days ago, I started a new position, EV Energy Partners LP (EVEP). Since then, the position is up 12.5%.  The position is roughly 6.7% of my account so it is a decent sized position.  The question then becomes, what do you do with a new position that shoots up nicely in a short time frame.  Do you scale back some of the position?
This is definitely not the anticipated strategy with this position since I’m mostly invested in the position for the high dividend yield (10-11%).  Because of the dividend, …

President Obama this week had some of the biggest bank execs to the White House to receive a whipping.  He’s frustrated that the banks aren’t lending.  Whenever I hear someone say, “The banks aren’t lending!” I am tempted to ask, really?  Not at all?  Or maybe a little?  If a little, how much should they be lending?  Saying that the banks aren’t lending is such a stupid statement in my opinion.
My biggest beef with this scenario is that the President (and other politicians) are mad that the banks aren’t lending. …