You might think that used car finance simple involves a dealer, a bank or other lender, and a down payment on the part of the buyer. That is how it works in some cases, but it gets much more creative than that. Let's look at a real life example, and see w...

If you are like most people, when you think about how to make money, you think about the specific jobs, businesses or schemes that will bring in the cash. But while there are many ways to make it, all these ways have their examples of success and failure....

Home improvements are made for a variety of reasons. Sometimes those reasons are confused in the mind of the homeowner. That explains the first of the common mistakes listed below. 1. Not Being Clear About Your Purpose With any home improvement, you...

Buying a home is often a stressful process, because it is usually the single largest purchase of your life. Even if it isn't your first house, it's easy to make a mistake that costs you hundreds or thousands of dollars. Here are three common mistakes to a...

Want to have more creative concepts for your business, job or home life? Practicing can help, especially if it is with others. The first time you brainstorm with a group of creative people, you might feel like you are mentally slow, but soon you'll find t...

So you want really cheap housing? Whether you are buying or renting, here are five ways to find a home that costs you less. Those are followed by a list of the real expenses you need to compare your options fairly. If you can live where you like, you c...

What is frugality? The dictionary definition of frugal: "Practicing or marked by economy, as in the expenditure of money or the use of material resources." People think of it as simply being "cheap," in the fashion of Ebeneezer Scrooge. I see it as the p...

When you want to save money on something, your first thought might be to look for a better price. That is one way to spend less and still get what you want. Let's take a good look at that before we move on to the second way. Save Money With A Better...

There are two basic ways to buy a used car cheap, and one good reason: To save money. It isn't just that they cost less to buy initially. The research shows a four-year-old car can cost 40% less over its lifetime. That's including the costs of gas, oil, r...

Haven't heard of evolutionary economics? It's not surprising. This is a new area of study that looks into the biological and evolutionary forces that shape our economic decisions. It is related to behavioral economics, another discipline you don't hear mu...

It's funny but no fun to buy a new home and then discover that snakes are regular visitors in the living room. And you don't want to move into a house with a leaky roof or a wet basement. Or discover that you picked the worst neighborhood in town - after...

Why do many poor people live just outside of our towns and cities? Because we won't let them live any closer. You see, low income residents are more likely to live in ugly homes and apartments. Other residents seek to ban such ugliness, and so attack the ...

It is common to look for ways to increase your home's value when getting ready to sell. But there is another approach here as well. It is trying not to do the things that lower home value, or cost more than they return. What are these things? Let's look...

Why look at how sellers scare away home buyers? Because there is a lot to learn from other's mistakes, especially if you want to avoid making them yourself. Here are four such errors to watch out for. Selling What YOU Like One of the reasons ...

What is the fair market value of your home? It is what your house will sell for with reasonable marketing efforts, in a reasonable amount of time. Of course, that definition probably isn't enough. What you really want to know is how to estimate that value...