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“In the hydration test, Crème de La Mer had an increase of 23%,” revealed Musleh, “whereas Nivea Soft had a 95% increase.” She noted, however, that Nivea’s high moisture reading could be due to its high water content — “Aqua” is listed as the cosmetic’s top ingredient. And although the less expensive item reigned as the moisturizing champion, the researcher determined that each salve boasted a nearly identical percentage of transepidermal water loss, or TEWL. It’s a measurement that represents the amount of water that escapes from the outermost layer of the skin. The two applications do, however, consist of...

In 2019, I bought a three-bedroom, 1,400-square-feet house in Atlanta, Georgia for $196,000. I figured I could earn extra income by renting out the spare rooms on Airbnb, especially since I traveled a lot for work and was rarely home. Unfortunately, the bookings dried up in 2020. No one wanted to share a house with a stranger in the early days of the pandemic. My work travels also stopped, so I was living alone in a house that felt too big. But that May, as I stared out the kitchen window into my huge backyard, something clicked: I could use...

My step mom uses quicken to do her finances with, but is getting tired of the continual price increases, I was hoping folks that do their own finances might know of software that works for windows format that isn't outrageous. I use Excel myself, but apparently she want's something a bit more user friendly

In school, you likely learned about logarithmic functions. You likely learned about the American Revolutionary War. You might have even learned about electrochemical bonds. But did you learn anything about the importance of fiscal responsibility or how to manage your basic finances?The unfortunate reality is that personal finance is not a required curriculum in the public education system, and few schools in this country offer financial courses as electives. As a result, we have entire generations of people who don’t know the first thing about personal finance or economics -- and it shows.We’re severely underestimating and underutilizing the power of...

“The Next Millionaire Next Door” is a repeat of the landmark study from the classic book “The Millionaire Next Door”. Written by Thomas J. Stanley and his daughter Dr. Sarah Stanley Fallaw, it provides insight into the original work, addresses criticisms of it and a whole new data set. Yet the “next” millionaire next door book is not just an analysis of the original. It contains new information, and it builds on related works by others that borrow from the original millionaire next door book.

The book Retire Inspired builds on Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps. Dave Ramsey’s advice is to pay off debt except for the house and start saving 15% of your income until retirement. But how much do you need to retire? How much do you need to retire with the lifestyle you want, which may require more based on desires or catch-up savings? Retire Inspired answers those questions. The author’s tagline is “it’s not an age, it’s a financial number.” The financial number you need to retire inspired, the amount of money you need in your retirement nest egg to retire...

'Everyday Millionaires' by Chris Hogan was heralded as an update of the original study on people with a million dollar or greater net worth, 'The Millionaire Next Door'. While this book has many points in its favor, it falls short of some of the promises the authors made.

The spectre of one's mortality that a global pandemic raises can be a needed and sobering opportunity to reconsider and reorder our lives, if we're granted them longer. The spectre of one’s mortality that a global health and economic crisis raises can be a needed and sobering opportunity to reconsider and reorder our lives, if we’re granted them longer.The coronavirus pandemic is a social stress test exposing many Americans’ lack of responsibility for our lives, our willingness to hold other people’s lives hostage to our own, and our national unpreparedness to manage danger. What are some long-term positive steps this...

Congress is taking aim at short-term loans. The Veterans and Consumers Fair Credit Act (H.R. 5050) would set a federal cap on loan interest rates. The intention is to protect consumers, but capping interest rates would have the opposite effect, doing the most harm to those with the least financial means. Proponents cite high annual percentage rates (APR) on small-dollar loans to argue that lenders are taking advantage of desperate borrowers. One problem with this argument is that an annual rate is a poor metric by which to judge a loan with a two-week term. For example, the 36 percent...

Many Americans remain in precarious financial shape even as the economy continues to grow, with 7 of 10 saying they struggling with at least one aspect of financial stability, such as paying bills or saving money. The findings come from a survey of more than 5,400 Americans from the Financial Health Network, a nonprofit financial services consultancy. The project, which started a year ago, is aimed at assessing people's financial health by asking about debt, savings, bills and wages, among other issues. Despite solid U.S. economic growth this year, the share of Americans who are struggling financially remains statistically unchanged...

One might think this column is about the various childish people elected in the recent Congress by Democrats who have little life experience and less knowledge or wisdom.  No, it is about how a major columnist at a prominent publication wants you to have more government invading your life because she herself is too irresponsible to review her own financial documents.Let us review some thoughts before we go further.   Regular readers know I draw no quarter on private enterprises acting badly.  When you are a capitalist, you have an obligation to act in a manner that does not give...

Anyone can become rich if they know the right steps to take. But if you possess a certain set of characteristics, you may be more likely to become wealthy, according to Sarah Stanley Fallaw, director of research for the Affluent Market Institute. She co-authored “The Next Millionaire Next Door: Enduring Strategies for Building Wealth,” in which she surveyed more than 600 millionaires in America. To identify characteristics most predictive of net worth, Stanley Fallaw conducted two studies that included a group of individuals with a net worth ranging from $100,000 to $1 million and a group of high- and ultra-high-net-worth...

The average American has an abysmally low personal finance IQ, yet the public school system continues to ignore the importance of educating students in this key area of life. Why is this? And when will things change? The State of Personal Finance in America When you look at salary and income statistics, Americans are killing it. When you look at just about any other statistical category as it relates to personal finance, the average American is miserably failing. How bad are things? Take a look: Just 41 percent of Americans use a budget. In other words, 59 percent of Americans...

On Sunday morning, Thomas Beaumont and Nicholas Riccardi at the Associated Press did all they could to convince readers that the tax bill just passed by Congress and signed by Donald Trump isn't seen as a big deal and has no genuine enthusiastic support (even though they found some) among those who voted for him in 2016. They predictably claimed that the law bestows "its richest benefits on companies and wealthy individuals,' and employed a classic statistical deception to support that false contention.Here are the opening paragraphs of the pair's downbeat report, with the final excerpted paragraph presenting the misleading statistics (bolds...

The way Cait Flanders got her financial house in order should probably come with a “Try this at your own risk” warning. First, the Canadian blogger paid off $30,000 in student and credit card debt. A year later, Flanders threw out 75% of her belongings and put herself on a strict two-year shopping ban. Since then, she’s learned a lot about money, budgeting, and why we spend — she even lost 30 pounds. Now she has some tips to share. After becoming financially free, Flanders still didn’t feel satisfied with the way she was handling her money, so in 2014,...

After seven years of the Obama administration, Americans are fed up with their politicians. Americans think their elected leaders have created winners and losers and that the average American is the loser. They think everyone is taking advantage of the system except for them. The electorate is revolting. One presidential candidate they should not be peeved at is Marco Rubio. This has come to the forefront because Sen. Rubio is not a wealthy man. One candidate, Donald Trump, has disparaged him for his lack of financial success. That is particularly fascinating coming from someone who grew up amid great wealth...

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For years, Senator Marco Rubio struggled under the weight of student debt, mortgages and an extra loan against the value of his home totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. But in 2012, financial salvation seemed to have arrived: A publisher paid him $800,000 to write a book about growing up as the son of Cuban immigrants. In speeches, Mr. Rubio, a Florida Republican, spoke of his prudent plan for using the cash to finally pay off his law school loans, expressing relief that he no longer owed “a lady named Sallie Mae,” as he once called the lender. But at...

Dave Says: God Is Whispering to You Dear Dave, I was recently notified that I am one of the beneficiaries of a class action lawsuit against a previous employer. The amount I can receive is just $200, but I donÂ’t feel like this past employer wronged me in any way. Everyone around me is urging me to take the money, but I feel kind of weird about accepting anything under the circumstances. What do you think I should do? Randy Dear Randy, I donÂ’t know all the details of the episode youÂ’re talking about, or what happened with this particular...

Considering the top headlines were about soft footballs this has to have been an easy no-brainer week for investments.  Maybe; here's what he experts are telling us:                     [excerpt from Investors Business Daily At Davos, Hypocrites Tell Rest Of Us To Lower Expectations]Former Vice President Al Gore listens to singer Pharrell Williams... [snip]...talking, of course, about the annual confab at Davos, Switzerland, ...[snip] "The purpose," said former vice president and climate-change entrepreneur Al Gore, standing with hip-hop star Pharrell Williams, "is to have a billion voices with one message, to demand climate action now." OK, so how about you flying commercial,...