Thinking about saving money for the future these days is a bit like getting your child to eat veggies after they turn two.  Both scenarios can be difficult for parents, despite the fact that both really are in the best interest of all parties involved.  Eventually, though, Junior will eat something of solid nutritional value on his own without your prompting, hair pulling, or begging.  Saving some of your income can also be painless, easy, and certainly beneficial.  In our ongoing series of great accounts for your money, we bring you a bit on College Savings Accounts. 

People love to give financial tips, but taking them can be risky. There are, however a different kind of TIPS that can have a place in many portfolios: Treasury Inflation Protected Securities. So let's take look at some tips about TIPS.

What are TIPS?

This week at Aloysa’s Kitchen Sink, Retirebyforty wrote up a guest post about a “Lesson from Bungy Jumping.”  All I can say is, Joe, you have a lot more courage than I do! 

On Retirebyforty’s own blog, he just posted another lesson we can all learn, “Investment Fundamental #10 – Start Early.” 

Making time for yourself.  It's a lovely thought, right?  On this site, we've established that it's healthy and needed in any mom's life.  We've even thrown out some ideas on how to carve out an inexpensive hour for yourself while the kids are entertained.  Now, it's time to reclaim some at-home, after-the-sun-goes-down, adult-only time (for yourself or even to share with that special someone).  If bedtime at your

We've talked about both treasury bonds as well as Exchange Traded Funds or ETFs. For those who are interested in taking a position in treasuries, but want to do it with the liquidity of a stock, treasury ETFs can be a handy tool.

Why Treasury ETFs?

Does anyone else remember those gold prospector commercials that were all over late-night TV about five years ago?  They gave you a green pan for sifting and a booklet that gave you great places to look all across the country.  Supposedly, with those two items in hand, you were set for getting rich! 

Once again, gold fever has taken hold.  The only difference is that it’s not just the outdoorsy-type getting in on the action.  With prices tripling over the last five years, everyone seems to be seeing gold.

Why Gold?

If you have a child or know any little rugrats, you probably have had some quality, first-hand demos on what it's like to be stubborn.  You know what I'm talking about.  Mom gives a command ("You have to eat one spoonful of peas or it's no dessert for you, little miss!"), and the child who was so angelic all of three minutes ago gets that don't-want-to-can't-make-me glint in her eye and hunkers down for a full-on display that is the very epitome of being hard-headed. 

As I mentioned in previous posts (See “Sweat Equity” and “The Modern Oregon Trail”), my husband and I moved back to Iowa from Seattle in 2005 and set ourselves up in a farmhouse. The house needed a lot of work: The Pepto Bismol pink and neon green walls matched by ugly linoleum were really icing on a crumbling cake. The electrical was knob and tube, and the plumbing was antique. The kitchen was non-existent. Seriously.

From men vs women to USA vs Australia, the blogosphere has been alive with a wide variety of subjects.  All of the articles were great this last week, and although it’s tempting to tie a lot of the posts together in another story-like round-up, I’ve decided to put you all in alphabetical order instead. 

So, Children, everyone get in line, keep your hands to yourself, eyes forward, and let’s walk through this week’s round-up:

So, just to clarify at the start, this is not going to be a hard sell on giving up on a full time job to stay home with your children, nor is it a dissertation on how becoming a stay at home mom (SAHM) is easy (because it's not!) and better for children.  This is just simply some opinions on the subject matter of a former two income household making it in today's world with one income. 

Realizing the Need for Change