Here’s the scenario: you owe the bank some money and they tell you how to repay it (eg. You have a mortgage of $200,000 and they want $1200 per month for 30 years).

So you dutifully get started making the regular payments.

But then you hear from a friend that there is a more efficient method; a [...]

I’ve been speaking to people lately who, when I ask “what do you want?” reply “to be debt-free”. It rolls off their tongue well-rehearsed yet their actions show they make frequent (small and large) spending decisions which are keeping them from being debt-free anytime soon.

It’s as though the ‘expected’ answer is about eliminating what they [...]

How much money do you spend on gifts each year?

This is a question I ask each of my clients. Nearly every time they underestimate, by as much as 50%!

Try it out. Take a guess at how much you spend on gifts. Got a figure in mind?

Now grab a calculator. Do you normally spend $20, $50 [...]

I overheard the parents of my best friend talking about money last night. They were complaining about how much interest they are paying on their credit card.

Seems they used their card to buy stuff when they didn’t have the ready cash to do so. But they loaded so much debt onto the card, they didn’t [...]

I’m really enjoying spending a bit of time each day ‘tending the fields’ on Facebook’s Farmville. It’s giving me the chance to try out some different money strategies…

When I started, I could have been described as a ‘hobby farmer’. I just planted whatever crop had the nicest picture, which didn’t earn me much for my [...]

I don’t think I was cut out for making decisions like a farmer does. I mean, whenever I’m faced with having to plant a new Farmville crop, it’s really hard picking the best seeds to sow.

It takes me ages to try and figure out how much each planting is going to cost me and whether [...]

I’ve discovered that even ‘pretend’ money on Farmville is easy for me to spend. There never seems to be much in my virtual bank account because I’m always planting new crops or buying additional equipment.

The frustrating thing is waiting for my crops to mature, so that I can harvest them and earn more coins. I [...]

Spending money does not come easily to me, even when it’s virtual cash on Farmville.

When faced with the choice between watching my farm’s bank balance grow and forking out to plough my plot and plant another crop, I felt torn between the two choices. Would my decision be worth it in the long run?

I need [...]

The online game sensation FarmVille is teaching people valuable financial lessons, and they may not even realise.

In the Facebook game (created by software company Zynga) players plant and harvest virtual crops, tend to farmyard animals and expand their land by selling the goods.

The ‘farmers’ help neighbours with chores and [...]

I really like this time of year. Christmas comes as no surprise, so it’s easy to plan for.

I’ve been setting money aside for the extra spending during November and December. I won’t have to stress over maxed-out credit cards in the new year and I’ll even have some money spare to take advantage of the [...]