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Freakin’ on Frugality

“If you don’t mind my saying, Ma’am, this is the weirdest cart of groceries I’ve rung up today’. 

Wow.  That seemed a little harsh.  The last thing I expect at the grocery story is judgement from my cashier.  I mean, I wasn’t buying anything that out of the ordinary.  A pastrami sandwich.  A lint roller.  Oh yeah, I also had 24 cans of coconut milk, 17 scour pads, and 22 packages of  mai fun, a thin rice noodle common in Chinese cuisine. 

Okay, maybe it was a bit weird.  But only in quantity.  I mean really, am I going to need 17 scour pads...

Capital High School Students Learn to Save and Invest

Wow. For all those adults out there who think teens couldn’t be bothered to consider their financial futures: You need a wake up call. At least you do if you’re living in Olympia, WA.

73 students in Ms. Fabritius and Ms. Elam’s classes at Capital High school benefited from the Investor Protection Trust sponsored and Dept. of Financial Insitutions Consumer University presentation. Learning all about saving and investing and how to acheive short and long term financial goals, students were blown away by how easy it is to accumulate long term rewards if they begin to consistently save and invest for...

Saving and Investing Means Giving, Too

The majority of us are motivated to save and invest by two factors: The desire to enhance our lives with resources that money allows us to access, or the wish to prevent a diminished existence as we age.

One often overlooked motivation to save and invest is the opportunity to express your values and empathy to the world through charitable giving. When we save and invest for the future and live within our means, that translates into the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others.

The Haitian tragedy brings to mind that we have an opportunity to make a...

Investor Education In Your Community and Olympia’s ICSEW

Yesterday I had the opportunity to present to 60 women making a difference in the state of Washington. Through their organization, the Interagency Committee of State Employed Women (‘ICSEW’), they strive to make the lives of state employed women stronger, wiser, and better. Make no mistake – these ladies don’t mess around. This organization is active, thriving, and making the workplace better for all State employees.

In addition to providing professional development resources to State employed women, they also organize Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, and a myriad of personal and professional growth opportunities via lunchtime seminars.

Through the...

Turn Checks From Grandma Into Gold

By now you’ve probably sorted out all those awesome gifts you received over the holidays.  Gift cards from your sibs in one pile, purple fuzzy bunny glitter slippers from Auntie Eloise in another, and if you were really lucky, a new iAnything from your parents.

One of those small gifts that’s easy to overlook, not often mentioned to our friends when reciting the list of cool things we received, are those checks from extended family.  The $25 from Grandma Jo, the $15 from Uncle Wiley… these are often the gifts from relatives living on a fixed income.  They want you to know they’re thinking...