With roughly half of the government’s TARP (Toxic Asset Relief Program) funds already disbursed, why is it that we’re still having so many problems with the subprime and ‘packaged’ loans that triggered this downslide in the economy? Wasn’t the idea to get rid of these debts on the bank’s balance sheets and allow them to [...]

Welcome to the January 13, 2009 edition of Festival of Frugality hosted here at Credit Withdrawal. It’s still cold here in the mid-west, but there’s a sprinkling of good recipes, good ideas, and great reading to help you take some of the chill off.
Favorite Posts
Chris presents The Joy of Owning Nothing posted at financial reflections, [...]

My Mom was a wonderful woman. She was strong-willed, intelligent, and had a great business mind. Early in her life she owned an antique shop, buying and selling antique dolls and making thousands of dollars from each sale.
Yet, when she died, she was almost completely broke.
This is My Life
A bit of history first. I came [...]

2008 was a BAD year for retirement funds. Aside from the fact that it was a bad year for pretty much anything financial, retirement funds in particular are suffering for some non-financial reasons as well.
It’s estimated that at this point investors have lost between 30% and 45% of the value of their investments. That wipes [...]

There’s a saying;
You can’t get anywhere without deciding where to go.
As it’s a New Year now, it’s time to re-examine the past year’s goals and see where we are. It’s also time to set new goals for the coming year.
Setting goals is a basic task for making your life and situation better. If you sit [...]