Finance

How to negotiate salary even in a tough economy

This is a very long post. But I promise you, it is filled with tons of good information. If you are not planning on negotiating your salary any time soon, please send it to others who might be able to use this information or click the tweet or +1 button. Thanks! I was really bad [...]

Read the full article →

So you think you are smart? You might have invisible anchors making you dumb!

Ha! Here is a marketing manipulation that I don’t fall for – that’s what I thought when I read this example of “Anchoring bias” in Dan Ariely’s Predictably Irrational. I thought I already knew about the anchoring bias when it comes to personal finance (the never ending Zales sale anyone? Or the enormous % off [...]

Read the full article →

You don’t quit because you are a quitter

According to a recent Deloitte Survey only 21% if the overall workforce (this includes people who are working for themselves) are passionate about their jobs. Which means the rest of the 79% of us are toiling in a job that we no longer love for one reason or the other.  Why is that?  Why are [...]

Read the full article →

Money can’t buy me love… or can it?

Can money buy love? Does money influence your feelings for someone? Does money influence your dating/marriage decision at all? Before you say “no” and dismiss my question as shallow, think about this - Would you marry someone who has $5000 in debt? How about $100,000? What if the $100,000 was for a law school student loan? [...]

Read the full article →

What to do after a car accident?

Here is a post that I hope no one ever has to use. You know when you realize what is going to happen a second before it actually happens? I had one of those experiences a couple of weeks back. I travel a lot for work. A couple of weeks ago I was driving on [...]

Read the full article →

To ROTH or not : Should you Invest in 401k or ROTH IRA/401k?

When thinking about starting to save for retirement, the first question most of the young investors have is “Should I invest in traditional 401k or a ROTH 401k“?  There are many variation of the question – ” Should I continue investing in traditional 401k even after the company match or start a ROTH IRA”? Or [...]

Read the full article →

Looks of a winner : Beauty, Brains and Success

“How come there are no ugly CEOs?” I asked my husband as I flipped through the latest Forbes magazine. “What do you mean there are no ugly CEOs? Have you seen …”.  I am going to leave out the names he mentioned for obvious reasons. It is the hard work and intelligence that matters, not [...]

Read the full article →

TurboTax 2012 Review and Giveaway

In this TurboTax 2012 review, I will discuss what TurboTax has to offer and the features of different versions : Free, Deluxe, Premier and Home & Business. TurboTax doesn’t need any introduction. It is the best selling tax software program, comes in both offline (CD or download) and online versions. I have used it regularly for [...]

Read the full article →

Tax planning for 2012 : What changed, what stayed the same and what you should be aware of?

This post mostly deals with 2012 tax deductions, changes and exemptions for planning purposes, which means most of the changes described here will be effective for the 2012 tax year, for which you will file the return on April 15, 2013. The 2011 tax guide (a complete 2011 tax guide in pdf) will be released [...]

Read the full article →