Working from home can be a great option if you have the motivation to get started and stick with it.  If you have the will to make yourself sit down and work, even when it’s the last thing in the world you want to be doing, then the first challenge to overcome is where to find a job.  You know where you’ll be working, but what will you be doing? 

What Type of Work Suits You?

I used to love my daily latte.  I was working twelve hour days, and I felt like I deserved a quick coffee pick-me-up.  In fact, at that time, I should have had a caffeine IV – it would have been cheaper.  Instead, I spent five dollars every day on a yummy, sugar-laden, espresso-bean delight of hot, steamy, oh-so-good joe.  Ok, so I miss my lattes, but I now feel better about occasionally treating myself to my nemesis.  I save money, and I compromise with my husband on our daily finances.

You've heard of those recipes that hide veggies in typical kid fare?  The kids (in theory) enjoy their mac and cheese, never knowing they're getting a dose of cauliflower along with the cheese and noodles.  Maybe, just maybe, those creative moms are on to something. 

If you've been watching the financial news lately, you've probably not found it overly comforting. Among the many threats we hear about is inflation. 

With all the holiday spirit going around, it’s easy to forget that most breakups and divorces occur around this time of year.  So, while we’re watching our wallets, I figured I might mention a few tips on how to watch our hearts, as well.  Here are the posts I found to be inspirational in both regards:

When I first started working in finance, I was overwhelmed by simple definitions.  It took a lot of time, patience, and self-education to become comfortable with general finance terms.  Even as I began to understand generalities, though, stock terms still intimidated me.  Stocks took even more of an effort on my part to become comfortable with terms and ideas, so I'm glad to have the chance to share the benefit with you!  Let’s continue our path toward stock term education by looking at “dividends” and “dividend yields”.

Dividends 

A couple of years ago, I found a “free horse.”  She had been emaciated, abused, and then neglected for the first four years of her life.  Eager to provide a better home for her, I took her.

Previously, I had owned horses and I have dealt with many problem horses, but Calypso was different.  Nearly as wild as a mustang and as hungry as a fox in a hen house, I soon became quite aware that there really is no such thing as a “free” horse. She was quickly depleting my horse budget.  More than anything, though, she was eating up my time and energy.

All of us pay taxes to make sure we have emergency services to help us in case of a fire or other problem. Emergency insurance, however, should not stop here. We also need to think about keeping our financial world safe by establishing an emergency fund, which can act like insurance for a job loss, accident, natural disaster or any other emergency.

How Much is Enough?

No doubt, when some of us hear the term "CD," we find ourselves thinking of our favorite music and artists (for me, it's Morrissey's "Vauxhall & I" which I just got from eBay for 99 cents).  But we're focusing on another kind of CD -- the kind that can make you money instead of take it from you: the certificate of deposit. 

What's a CD?

It's funny to think of people in terms of how much they are worth, but in finance, our monetary worth is calculated all the time.  A person's financial worth, or net worth, is a tool used in finance to determine the dangers or benefits a bank, credit card, or lending company may experience in lending a person money.  In personal finance, calculating and keeping track of your own net worth can help you get on track, stay on track or attain financial goals, so net worth becomes as important a tool for individuals as it is for financial institutions.

How is Net Worth Calculated?