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I found it rather interesting lately that the media has portrayed our shrinking population growth as an alarming trend. Many sources have cited that the drop in the average growth rate to 1.9% isn't even enough to replace the numbers of people dying. This makes me wonder, though, if that's really so terrible. Do we honestly need to increase our population? Let me elaborate on my thoughts, if you'd be so kind, and then let's start a debate in the comments below.

Debunking the "Higher Population Equals World Domination" Theory

I got a Kindle for Christmas from my loving hubby, and I love it. I especially love the large selection of freebie ebooks out there (even if some of them could use some a bit more help in the editing and proofreading departments). Anyway, a couple of these free reads had a theme in them that caught my attention: workaholic dads/husbands. While this was not the main crux of the stories (one was the start of a zombie series and the other was a ghost story of sorts), the idea of the dad and/or husband working so much he barely knew his kids or had time to spend with his wife was there.

As we return to our stock term definitions, we come to another integral term: Return on Invested Capital (ROIC). This term can help investors determine if a company is using its money well to churn out returns. However, the ROIC is a little deeper than this; to really grasp ROIC in its entirety, we have to define "capital" and "cost of capital." Let's look at each of these and at ROIC a little more in depth.

From the Top: Capital

Well, it’s official. The search for low-cost baby items has begun. And it’s exhausting. Maybe because I just entered the third trimester? Maybe because I hate to shop? Maybe because I despise spending money? I don’t know. Whatever the case, I’ll be ready to have my baby-stuff stockpile completed…and to never have to shop again! (For a little while anyway…)

Our family, like many others, is always looking for ways to trim back our budget and save money. For me, it was starting to really plan out meals using what we had on hand and bumping up my couponing game. My dear hubby got swept up in the savings frenzy, too. Here's a bit of a personal experience on our foray into a rebate that managed to do absolutely nothing for us. Well, that's not fair – it did manage to give both of us headaches.

It All Started With An Ad

When I was a teller many moons ago, I had a customer who adamantly believed the bank wanted to rip him off. He thought that overdraft fees were simply a part of life and that there wasn't a single thing he could do to avoid them. Many other people believe the same; banks are evil and run by greedy trolls. That is simply not true (okay, maybe the greedy troll part could be accurate...). In any case, banks are not looking to make all of their money on your overdrafts, and there are many legitimate ways to make your own personal overdrafting ancient history. Let's count the ways.

Whenever the subjects of shopping or the household come up when I'm talking to a neighbor, she almost always will offer up a variation of this advice: "The dollar store is the best place to get ." While I'm all for saving money and getting things my household needs and uses at a good price, I'm not totally sold on the idea that the dollar store (the DS) is the be-all, end-all of great deals. Sure, everything costs one buck. But does that mean it's really providing you the best bang for said buck?

The Q's Have It

When it comes to general investment terms that could make a difference to you as a stock market investor, day trading is one term that should be defined. This term very well could affect you, and it might come with a few rules and regulations. So let's take a look at day trading.

What is Day Trading?

I’m anxiously awaiting my final piece to my taxes so that I can file away. Silly person, wanting to file taxes, you say? Well, I’m excited to file because the government owes us money. (I know, I know: make adjustments so I’m not loaning the government money. We will.) But this year, it’s nice to get a windfall from Uncle Sam. To roll in the dough. To find money raining from the sky.

There doesn't seem to be a week that goes by without our local news doing some kind of story or focus on gas prices. Recently, I watched a story about how the prices in our area have shot up a pretty hefty amount fairly quickly. And while we, the consumers, really don't have any immediate control over the price we pay at the pump, there are some tips we can employ to help us save on filling up our cars.

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