FiLife

Think you maintain a sustainable lifestyle because you put out the recycling and cruise to work in a hybrid? Maybe not, according to a free, online game called Consumer Consequences.

This short game asks you questions about your lifestyle, calculates your “ecological footprint” and tells you how many earths we’d need if every human lived exactly like you do. Consumer Consequences also lets you compare your results to those of other Americans who played the game, as well as to individual NPR radio show hosts. (Check it out fellow NPR nerds!) It was developed by American Public Media, the folks who created Marketplace and Weekend America.

The lifestyle questions are organized into a few different categories: living situation, energy consumption, trash habits, transportation requirements, diet and shopping preferences. As I clicked through them it became obvious that my lifestyle is not as green as it should be. It also occurred to me that a green lifestyle is actually a financially savvy way to live. (more…)

The basics of personal finance – paperwork, organization, policies and bills – can become overwhelming for someone battling a sickness or major injury. So we’ve put together a list of ways to help a friend or family member who has a health issue. Sending a white orchid might lift a spirit, but helping out in these areas can eliminate some serious stress.

1) Become the health insurance guru: Sorting through mounds of paperwork and tracking down answers to seemingly simple questions like, “Will you pay for homecare?” takes a lot of energy. Offer to study the health insurance policy and be the point person for all questions during recovery. That way, your loved one can focus on getting better and you can deal with the health insurance headache. (more…)

“Work is so slow. I think I’ve read the whole internet,” my friend recently said over dinner. Another rolled her eyes and nodded in agreement. Our unhealthy economy seems to be providing many a cubicle dweller with time to kill.

What should you do with this free time? Sure, you could write a book about your life as a monkey, or draft a business plan for your dream company. Or you can amuse yourself with mindless love and sex quizzes. You know, the Cosmo quizzes you usually reserve for lazy days at the beach.

If this last suggestion sounds tempting but you’re nervous that your coworkers might find out what kind of a lover you really are, well then this post is for you.

We’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite online money quizzes. They aim to evaluate your financial health, values, and weaknesses. Taking them is more fun than doing your taxes and slightly more educational than figuring out how foxy you feel. But uh, please come back to FiLife when you’re looking for financial advice. Cosmo has its areas of expertise and we have ours.

1.) Are you financially compatible? Certified financial planner Mary Claire Allvine helps you figure out whether you and your partner are financially compatible.

2.) Millionaire Snob Test. What would happen if you came into a windfall? Would millions of dollars release your inner snob?

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So here’s the deal: I’m not a Rockefeller, but after working for a dozen years (and marrying someone else who also works full-time) I’ve got some money. Not scads of money, not boatloads, but some.

And with an 18-month-old laying waste to my apartment, I’ve got to think about more things than just my and the Mrs’s retirement. There’s the possibility of private school for the bambina at some point, and then college after that. We may want to move into a larger apartment down the road (particularly if we have another baby).

When it comes to retirement, we’ve never really coordinated our savings for that, so there may be some overlap there. Basically, I want to dump a sheaf of account statements, tax returns and paystubs in front of someone, tell them what our goals are and have them tell us what to do to reach them.

Fortunately, such people exist in the form of financial planners. (more…)

My Money Matters Kit reminds me of my college roommate. Every morning she wrote little messages to herself on the bathroom mirror in red lipstick that would say things like Today will be a good day! and You are beautiful. The only problem was that at the end of the day she was still a manic-depressive with an over-eating problem. All of which is to say that her Dior-Rouge- Nectar-scribed affirmations were as beneficial to her self-esteem as My Money Matters Kit is to my finances.

The $24.95 kit consists of four parts: money tips written on index cards, work booklets, a money journal and what else? Affirmations! Including priceless wisdom such as I am not afraid to take charge of my own finances and I am open to receiving prosperity and abundance.

The press release for the kit says that this product is for women who have “been intimidated and overwhelmed by money issues.” Apparently the plan is to appeal to these types of women with bright colors, floral accented affirmation cards, and girly font. The press materials proudly point out that the entire kit can comfortably fit into a pocket book! How exciting!

What this kit is trying to tell me is: We know you’re insecure and afraid of complicated things like money that men typically deal with, but don’t you worry, women can do it too!

All this from a woman who got an MBA in finance, worked for Bear Stearns and launched her own business. The kit is authored by Gina Gichon, founder of Down-to-Earth Finance, a company that offers financial advice to women. We’re guessing she doesn’t find money all that scary.

Besides the fact that the feminine packaging and uplifting affirmation cards are offensive and condescending, the kit isn’t even that useful. Sure, the money tips offer some basic advice like enrolling in a 401K and obtaining a credit report. But who wants to be sitting around filling out work booklets about this stuff?

Most of us just want someone to tell us how to put together a 401K and which mutual fund to choose, not obvious things such as “Pay your bills on time.” (Thanks, My Money Matters!) And the handy “My Money Journal” in the kit is really just a notebook where you write down what you bought and how much it cost. You can get the same thing without the carefully divided columns for $1.69. It’ll even fit into a pocketbook.

–Irina Aleksander

Whoever said that you can’t learn anything from television obviously never attended Bayside High on Saturday mornings. “Saved by the Bell,” the iconic show from the early 90s, not only taught viewers how to snag a date at the Max, outwit dimwitted authority figures and to rock acid-wash threads, but the kids at Bayside also offer some surprising lessons about personal finance.

The choice between love and money is never easy.The class crush Kelly Kapowski is more excited about prom than the latest Paula Abdul album, but before she is supposed to buy her prom dress, her dad breaks the news that he’s lost his job. Kelly forks over her wad of prom-dress savings cash to her father, choosing to help out her family rather than go to the prom with the dreamboat Zack – the ultimate love and money sacrifice. Social awkwardness and economic class issues abound!

Watch Part I of “The Prom” here:

And Part II is here.

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I love automation in my financial life.

I love that my credit card pays my bills automatically, that the card company yanks money from my bank each month automatically and that my company deposits my check automatically so those first two things can happen while I suck down a root-beer float while catching up on Friday Night Lights.

What I don’t love is that I can’t yet automate my purchase of the goods I purchase most often. I still have to go to the gas station. There’s still no man showing up at my office with Indian food each day. And the fridge of the future, which orders milk by magic when it disappears, always seems to be just around the corner (but never in my house).

So imagine my joy at discovering that I could now subscribe to toilet paper. (more…)

Just over four months ago, I put together a personal-finance to-do list. It had about 30 items on it. I’ve gotten through six. Not bad for someone busy helping to build a new company and parenting a toddler simultaneously, but it’s not a performance I’m particularly proud of either.

In fact, some of the most important stuff remains undone. So I’m making a public declaration here that I’ll get these three things knocked off before my beloved Cubs play their home opener: (more…)

New years resolutions have improved my life to varying degrees over the years. I never manage to fulfill my annual promise to send thank-you notes in a more timely fashion. But I’ve also broken some bad habits on January 1.

Now that I work at FiLife, I think it’s fitting for me to resolve to clean up my personal financial life. So here are my resolutions for 2008: (more…)

Here are the three things on my list:

1) Paying for College. I’m graduating from NYU (nearly $200,000 later) this May and might have to take out a loan to cover this semester. For the last few years, I’ve been able to pay my way through with scholarships from NYU and other fabulous organizations in addition to countless hours of nannying, singing while serving ice cream and various journalism gigs.

Apparently, working 40 hours a week while still a full-time student isn’t enough, so I’m going to bust out the Excel chart and do some mad budgeting. All this, plus a thesis! (more…)