July 2009

Weekly Wisdom in Personal Finance – Clunker Cash Sunk Edition – 7/31/2009

by Matt Jabs
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This weeks photo was inspired by Federal Government’s new, yet sunk, Cash For Clunkers program.  Would the three gentlemen pictured above have envisioned and implemented such a plan?  You be the judge. In my Weekly Wisdom posts I look to accomplish the following: Weekly round up of 5 or more articles that caught my attention [...]

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Cash For Clunkers Suspended – Now Deadline Extended – Why?

by Matt Jabs
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Cash For Clunkers suspended after only 4 days!

Where you able to get your clunker traded in? Some people would call you lucky. Others would say the entire program was a big waste of time and money, claiming dealers raised vehicle prices to cover the difference anyway. Whatever your opinion… the program has been suspended.
Here’s why was it suspended…

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Debt Reduction – Emergency Fund Savings – The Balanced 75/25 Method

by Matt Jabs

Recently I have been receiving a lot of questions regarding my personal approach of debt reduction versus emergency fund savings contributions. This topic has been an orbiter in many of my posts so I figured I would address it directly for everyone to read, analyze, critique, love, hate, smile about, cry over, and provide feedback to.

I created & follow what I call The Balanced 75/25 Method…

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Investment Risk and How To Determine Risk Tolerance

by Guest Author
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Risk tolerance is a difficult thing to define. Let’s face it, people seem to love risk when markets are good and hate risk when there is a downturn. Most people I know would love to find an investment that makes a lot of money without taking on much risk.
Unfortunately, too few people truly know themselves, their comfort levels or their goals when it comes to investing, which leads to many problems – most notably “selling low and buying high”. Here are five questions you can ask to get a more accurate picture of what kind of risk you should be taking with your investments.

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PF Bloggers Weight Loss Challenge Week 8 Results

by Matt Jabs
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We just entered into our FINAL WEEK of the weight loss challenge & so many people have done an INCREDIBLE job!

As a group of 30 people, we have lost a total of 130 pounds over the course of 8 short weeks!

Read more about our strategies & our week 8 results & overall standings.

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Weekly Wisdom in Personal Finance – Save Money Edition – 7/26/2009

by Matt Jabs
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Today is the Saving Money edition of “Weekly Wisdom in Personal Finance”. There are many different ways to save money, so let’s check out a few wise & timely posts that caught my eye this week! This weeks “wisdom” will touch on preserving food, along with several other great ways to save us money. I hope you enjoy…

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Debt Reduction with The Debt Snowflake Method

by Guest Author
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This is a guest post by Jessica Ward — a freelance writer based in Seattle. She writes on family, business and money. She’s also a personal finance blogger at pennywisefamily.blogspot.com What’s bigger than pocket change, but smaller than a debt snowball payment? A “snowflake.” Confused?  Don’t be… “snowflakes” have helped me to pay off more [...]

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A Journey of a Thousand Miles begins with A Single Step

by Matt Jabs

Historically I had always been a man of no specifically set goals. I was never sure exactly why or how I developed & maintained this aversion to process oriented accomplishment. Whatever the problem was — whether I just couldn’t find the time, didn’t place enough value in achievement, or maybe just didn’t want to be bothered — I had the problem.

Setting goals was not something I regularly purposed to avoid, but rather I had always been a “fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants” type of guy who just didn’t find it commonly necessary to assimilate goals into my life.

So what finally woke me up?

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Localvore – Eat Local Foods and Save Money

by Matt Jabs
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A localvore is any individual who prefers to eat healthy, locally grown/produced food.

The following post is just one example of how my wife & I are becoming increasingly focused on eating healthy, organic, fresh, local, in season foods, and how this transformation has benefited both our pocket book and our health!

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Weekly Wisdom in Personal Finance – New Growth Edition – 7/18/2009

by Matt Jabs
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Today is the New Growth edition of “Weekly Wisdom in Personal Finance” inspired by our freshly planted back yard coinciding with the new growth in the traffic here at Debt Free Adventure. I hope you enjoy…

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Pay off Credit Cards VS Build Emergency Fund Savings – Me VS Suze Orman

by Matt Jabs
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Recently I had a bit of a “tweet off” with Suze Orman because of a slight breakdown in communication between Suze, my wife, and myself… It centered on the topic of whether we should focus on paying off our credit card debt or building up our emergency fund savings.

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