Pecuniarities

Original artwork by Madoline Hatter available on a variety of merchandise at Mozartini
As we learn in grade school science, everything on this Earth is composed of many smaller things, which in turn are composed of even smaller things, etc., etc., etc. The same principle applies to finance and fortune. I have often read or heard [...]

While browsing the WiseBread Forums today, I came across an interesting thread in which a member asks: Is “Simple Living” Just Another Term for “Giving Up”?
Several members responded with various opinions:

There is a difference between simple living and forced poverty.
Not everyone enjoys the rat race.
It’s a choice.
It’s a form of retirement.
Some live the frugal [...]

To celebrate our new Money Tree blog theme (if you’re reading this post in a reader, come and check it out!), I thought I would post a facetious poem that Madoline wrote a while back. The quote in our new header comes from the first line of this poem titled ‘Tis Not a Crime to [...]

I received the following comment today from a reader about my earlier post Simple Solutions to Staying Out of Debt:
“All good advice – sadly, it is harder than it sounds. But then again, the more you make the more you can spend, so figuring out how to live within your means is a lesson we [...]

Expansion Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Easy
This Certificate of Deposit was the second expansion we created for the game (invented by Madoline) of Monopoly. After the Lottopoly (coming soon), I find this to be the most fun. The interest rates are rather high compared to real-life CD’s, but they help to illustrate the point that investing pays off, [...]

Expansion difficulty/complexity level: Easy
This is a basic savings account add-on for the Monopoly game to teach the principles of personal savings. The rules are few, with easy to calculate interest rates and a simple form to keep track of each player’s individual savings. While the interest rates are higher (for easy calculation) than they would [...]