Posts by Frank Addessi:
Not all contracts on your life are the same – there’s the gangster movie variety which usually involves a guy named Vinny or Tony who sends you to sleep with the fishies and then there’s the life insurance type. Only the second one, however, has fine print and exclusions that can cost your beneficiaries big time. Read more
Benjamin Franklin once wrote in a 1789 letter to the French historian Jean-Baptiste Leroy that, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.” The two lovers of history surely understood the certainty of both with the first, death, having always been inevitable, and the latter as old as money and possibly as old as civilization itself. Read more
Checking accounts come in a variety of flavors. Some are plain vanilla and others tutti-frutti, or bare-bones versus fully loaded. Regardless of which metaphor you choose, the plethora of choices can be confusing and costly. There is no point in paying for what you don’t want or need; and few things can be more expensive than not having the features that match your needs. Read more
I come from a long line of retired people, my parents, my grandparents and my great grandparents all retired. In fact in my family retirement is a sort of a tradition. All of my aunts and uncles are… Read more
The 60’s rock band The Byrds had a huge hit that opens with “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” which is lifted straight out of the book of Ecclesiastes… Read more
Children are expensive! On a scale that runs from OMG! up to You Can’t be Serious, just how expensive depends on where you live and a handful of other factors. Of course on the off chance that one of… Read more
There was a time when a trip to the supermarket ended with the question from the cashier – paper or plastic? The cashier was of course asking about what type of bag you wanted your groceries packed… Read more
There are those, myself included, who will tell you that having no credit is worse than having bad credit. While this is largely anecdotal, it seems that creditors don’t like virgins, credit virgins… Read more
In 2012 four burglaries were committed every minute of every day, 24 hours a day 365 days a year. That’s a grand total of 2,103,787 in one year. Residential fires happen at a rate of about 1 every… Read more
There are few words that go together as well as Christmas and overspending. But there are alternatives to ending the year with piles of debt. Of course no one wants to feel like a Scrooge in the… Read more
There are some facts that are immutable: 1. The modern world as we know it runs on credit. 2. Access to credit is governed by credit scores. 3. Crime is driven by greed. The first two facts above… Read more
It’s pretty well known that you should not pay sticker price when buying a car. Most of us head to dealer ready for some haggling (or negotiating). New or used, paying the sticker price is never a… Read more
Keep it clean and you’ll succeed. That was once advice young comedians received as the best path to success. It seems that business may be taking that same advice to heart as more and more companies,… Read more
Most Americans are remarkably polite people and it’s costing us dearly! Sure, we’ll argue over sports or politics and if you’re from New York, a parking spot. But when it comes to money all too often… Read more
We eat for lots of reasons, not the least of which is to stay alive. This makes food the only item on our household budgets that can’t be eliminated entirely. What and how we eat is also a matter of… Read more
I’m reasonably confident that when Benjamin Franklin wrote that time is money back in 1748 he was not talking about the relationship between the term of a loan and the cost of money being borrowed.… Read more
Congratulations you’re engaged! Tell your parents. Text your friends and tweet and post the happy news so that everyone can share in the happy occasion. Pick a date, pick a hall, book a honeymoon,… Read more
For better or worse divorce is the end result of close to half of first marriages and an even higher percentage of subsequent marriages. Adding to the crushing emotional toll is often financial… Read more
With the exception of a first child, buying your first home will be the biggest thrill. It ranks as one of the hardest, most frightening, long-term commitment you will undertake. It especially… Read more
Let’s be honest, who doesn’t like the smell of a new car? It’s so popular that you can even buy it by the bottle to make your old car smell brand new. We’re Americans and we live in a new country… Read more
Having less than perfect credit shouldn’t be an invitation to being taken advantage of but it often is. The fact is that the worse your credit is the worse it can get if you’re not careful. The… Read more
In the wake of tragedies large and small, they pop up like mushrooms after a rain. With tales of woe and heartbreaking images of children or helpless animals, they beg for assistance. They are the… Read more
If credit drives the world of personal finance what happens when your credit report has a flat tire. From credit cards to home mortgages and car loans, even career opportunities are driven by credit… Read more
To make assumptions about the return on your degree based on the past experience of others is, in language not approved by the APA, CRAZY! In the world of graduate degrees and earnings, choosing to… Read more
Preparing to send a child to college for most parents is a sort of a Jekyll and Hyde process. On the one hand you’re thrilled that you child survived adolescence, the trials and travails of high… Read more
