I’m an SOB.  No, not that kind of SOB.  I just received a Successful and Outstanding Blogger award from Liz Strauss’ successful and outstanding blog.  She goes out there every week and awards blogs for “extending the conversation into the blogosphere–making the community larger, the dialogue bigger, all of us smarter, better and our businesses stronger.”

Hmm, I’m not sure if I’ve done all that, but I’m honored to be selected.  I even got a button!

So thanks to Liz for the compliment.  Her blog has been an inspiration, especially on those days when I struggle to write something meaningful.

If you would like to learn more about the SOB awards, just check out her “What IS an SOB?” page.

Budgeting is boring. And paying off a credit card is a lot less fun than just paying the minimum and using the rest of the money to buy the latest MP3 player.  But as those of you who’ve been reading for a while know, I keep pretty close track of my personal financial progress.

I’ll be honest, personal finance isn’t always easy.  It’s mundane, boring and sometimes frustrating.  But it’s worth it.  When it’s time to budget, or remind myself to buckle down to pay off debt, I keep the following items in my mind to keep me motivated:

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I’ve heard this one several times before: everyone’s becoming a millionaire.  It goes right along with the idea that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.  These days, that certainly seems to be the case.  Some of us are watching the numbers on our quarterly statements getting bigger, while the rest have the bankruptcy attorney on speed dial.

But there is a question I can’t avoid here:  Why are there so many millionaires today?  Here’s a few answers I came up with:

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In 1994 I got my first real taste of the World Wide Web.  My employer had a high speed internet connection, and a pretty loose policy about surfing.  While that wasn’t always the best for productivity, I was able to get answers to the technical problems I was working on in online forums. 

It was great.  I could post a question and the whole world could see what my problem was and respond with helpful answers.  It was all sunshine and happiness until the first time I Googled myself.

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I drive a dented Honda. Rust has taken to the main dent (I put it there) and the paint is starting to wear away from exposure to the sun. I’m pretty sure it resents my SUV, which we baby by keeping it in the garage. It’s a bit of an eyesore, especially compared to the new SUVs and BMWs and the like around the neighborhood. I can only imagine what the neighbors think.

And here’s why it’s going to make me rich.

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I wasn’t known as the best student in high school, but I was reasonably aware of what was going on.  I learned about everything from valance electrons to integrals to The Great Gatsby.  But when it came to money, the one thing I would need to deal with for nearly every day of the rest of my life, the teaching was almost non-existent.  I’m not terribly sure why that is, but I have some ideas about what I’d like to have been taught in High School:

1. How to budget - In four years of high school, the only teacher who bothered to try and show a class what a budget involved was my 9th grade metal shop teacher.  That’s right, it was the guy who poured the molten aluminum who actually spent 20 minutes one day trying to explain to us what a real household budget involved.  No one else said a thing about the one thing I need to do every month - budget.   I will note that the business courses might have had some training on a business budget.  That’s fine, but why not a home budgeting course for everyone?
2. Savings - I don’t recall learning a thing about how much to save or why an emergency fund was so important.
3. Retirement - I went to high school when Social Security and pensions both seemed like sound retirement plans.  Maybe that’s why it was never covered.
4. Compound Interest - This was only covered rapidly in math class one day.  There was no thought given to the idea of actually putting money away for 25 years or more. 
5. Stocks/Bonds/Mutual Funds/Money Market accounts - I had no idea what the difference between any investment vehicle was, nor what any of the terms even meant.
6. The cost of a loan - How much does a 30 year mortgage cost vs. a 15 year on the same property?  How much interest does one pay on a car loan?  What about credit cards, how much will the interest on those add up to over time?  And how about pawn or payday loans?  How much does that interest add up to annually?
7. Ponzi schemes - There’s plenty of get-rich-quick schemes out there, some are legal, some aren’t.  Ponzi schemes are illegal, yet so many people get caught in them.  If we bothered to explain what they are, and why they don’t work to kids, maybe fewer people would end up in trouble with them.

None of those are complicated items, but they are things we face every day as adults.  What did your high school teach about money?  I’d love to find out if my experience was unusual, or if they really did teach all that and I was just sleeping in class (more likely than you might think).  So feel free to comment and let me know what your high school taught and what you would like to see taught.

Unfortunately, I think I’m going to have to do most of the money teaching on my own.  I want to teach them how to make smart moves with their money and avoid the money mistakes I’ve made.

It’s that time of the year.  Taxes are due on April 17th, so I thought I would round up a few items that might prove helpful if you’re scrambling to meet the deadline.

1. Don’t be a Hatch: Richard Hatch’s shrewd dealings got him past the other Survivors and a prize of $1,000,000.  But he couldn’t convince the IRS - Hatch is now in jail for failing to report that money.
2. Tax Avoidance, too good to be true?  The IRS warns about tax scams.
3. Patience is a virtue:  refund anticipation loans.
4. What I do when it’s time to do my taxes.
5. I recieved (and spent) a big refund this year.  I actually want zero refund next year.

As with everything on this site, keep in mind that I’m not an attorney, tax advisor or financial advisor.  Every situation is different, so what I say might not apply to what you’re doing.  But consider this as general information that you can consider and talk over with whoever advises you.

I love carrying a camera phone.  Of course, I was cheap (I mean frugal) and waited until I could get one cheap, but I wish I had gotten one sooner because of all the odd things I can get photos of.  I’m thinking of starting my own “Gallery of the Unintentionally Funny” with some of the shots I’m getting.  Here’s my first one that relates to personal finance…

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Michelle Singletary wrote about the power of compound interest. She says she wishes she hadn’t invested so heavily in bonds when she was younger.  While there is something to learn from her mistake, she apparently did something very right in her youth.

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I recently read  The Number: A Completely Different Way to Think About the Rest of Your Life by Lee Eisenberg, which I found only because I confused it with a different book called The Number in Mark Cuban’s blog.  It was a pleasant mistake, because I completely enjoyed the book.   And I enjoyed it for a reason that - strangely enough - has nothing to do with numbers.

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