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April 16, 2008

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What a great post! I found it so interesting that I read and then reread the article. I like the comparison of saving to a diet, both tasks must have self-discipline. I plan on getting the book to find more helpful hints.

Excellent read, thank you so much. I plan to review the book ASAP. My personal experiences with debt resolvement have made a believer out of me.I don't really think it can be emphasized enough, that spending is something we can control on a daily basis, but the control of the amount of our income is limited, therefore, optimize what we can control.

I'm VERY interested in reading this book in total. Too bad I'll have to wait until it comes to my library network. ;-)

I just started this book and I agree - it's pretty good. This excerpt is tasty, too.

Excellent post, spot-on information. Of course it's not the spending that inherently causes the problems, it's the uneducated and undisciplined spending choices that advertising drives the consumer to.

Good post, especially about cutting costs compared to making more money. Too many people are trying to figure out how to make more money, when they can easily increase their income relative to expenses by dropping unnecessary costs. Dropping the 900 television channels you never watch, or giving up the expensive gym membership when you never go, or turning down the heat a few extra degrees and putting on an extra shirt are easy, immediate actions that can be taken.

The book sounds like it should be an interesting read if it has much more common sense information. Even with such seemingly apparent information as saving money and cutting costs, there is always something to learn.

Along this topic of controlling spending, a good alternative we've found to going to the movies (or even renting from the local video store, for that matter!) is with Redbox, that vending machine for DVD's... It's $1 per night and it makes sense for us because we only ever watch movies once and return them the next day anyways. Even more, you can find quite a few promotion codes online that give you free rentals if you punch them in at the Redbox machine!

Basically, by using a little bit of patience and waiting for the movies to come out on DVD, we can watch 15+ new-release movies for the price of one visit to the theatre. PLUS, the popcorn and drinks are a fraction of the cost! :-)

A lot of good information and wisdom there. Thanks for sharing it!

Best Wishes,
D4L

"... assuming a modest 8 percent return"

And where would one get this "modest" 8% return in this day and age? We keep our money in a savings account that, as of now, has a 3.05% return. I'd LOVE to see bloggers actually say "... assuming a modest 8% return that one could easily get via Vanguard's such-and-such fund" instead of always hearing about this imaginary (seemingly) 8% return. Hell, why not assume a 30% return while you're making up numbers?

Howie --

I'm sorry, I assumed (and I'm sure the writer did as well) that anyone reading a financial blog would know that an 8% return over the long-haul with stocks (not in the short-term with CDs/savings accounts) is a very reasonalbe estimate. Consider the following:

From http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2007/02/the_stock_marke.html :

"Since 1927, the S&P 500 stock index has gained 10.4% a year on average."

A similar thought was here http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2008/01/keep-investing.html :

"From 1982 to 2001, the S&P 500 gained a 11.8% per year."

For specific funds see this http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2008/02/kiplingers-love.html :

"When it comes to indexing, the expense ratio is the biggest factor in separating winners from losers. The E*Trade S&P 500 Index fund (ETSPX), for example, charges just 0.09% annually for expenses, and its annualized return over five years to December 1, 2007, is 11.4%. The Dreyfus S&P 500 index fund (PEOPX) costs more than five times as much -- 0.50% annually -- and not surprisingly, it has produced a smaller five-year return (11.1%). The difference may seem insignificant, but for a $10,000 portfolio, the cheaper fund puts $1,000 more into your pocket over ten years."

Just finished reading the book (quick read, esp. if you are already familiar with some of the material from blogs/books/life).

I agree with FMF that even die-hard savings experts can learn something practical from the book. I think this book would be great reading for those who have already read books like "Millionaire Next Door," "Rich Dad, Poor Dad," "Automatic Millionaire," and "Total Money Makeover." Because this book assumes that you have already already "caught" the spending smart bug, I recommend this book to those who are already familiar with and committed to the personal finance theories in the books previously mentioned. Those books are the why and partially how, this book is the details.

Havent read the book yet,but this was informative and makes sense.

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