The Three Flavors of Personal Finance Advice

This article was originally published by Technorati on 30 April 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

U.S. News offers some great money management advice in a recent article called 8 Questions for the Constantly Broke. Advice about money fits generally into three categories: practical, philosophical and spiritual. Most articles like this one focus on the practical without addressing the other two.

Practical Practical financial advice focuses on one question: how can I live within my means? Most, including the U.S. News article, recommend things like skipping daily latte's, buying used cars instead of new and reminding us that we're earning now not just for now but also for future rainy days and retirement. They preach that we should not be stupid with our money, in other words.

From Russia Without Love 2: A Textbook Example of Addictive Behavior

I was beginning to feel a bit like one of the Volga Boatmen running back and forth to the Russian Embassy in Rome. Another day there, a little more suffering. A little more suffering, a little more insight. I'm living a Dostoevsky novel, apparently--The Idiot, perhaps.

Check out this video to get the full flavor of my morning:

The Vice Consul was unaware when he sold me the 95-Euro visa that the new computer system at the consulate could not be coaxed into issuing a visa on a passport that had less than six months to live. It was an honest mistake. "So since it was your honest mistake," I asked politely, "hows about a refund?" The response was a resounding "Nyet."

On the brighter side, it looks like I will get most of my money back on my apartment reservation and air fare. The airfare requires some sort of documentation from the Russian Consulate for a full refund. Stay tuned for "From Russia Without Love 3."

Hot on the heels of yesterday's pain-body attack, I managed to remain conscious throughout all of this bad news, laughing off the visa's final death knell.

But on the way home, I'd had enough. I needed to take some personal time, do something just for me. That's where the addictive behavior came in.

Brown's Tirade Days Before Vote a Lot Like Susan Boyle

This article was originally published by Technorati on 28 April 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

Anyone remember Susan Boyle? Of course you do. She's an international recording star now. England's Prime Minister Gordon Brown is showing shades of Boyle in the run-up to general parliamentary elections one week from today--and I'm not talking about his baritone pipes.

The parallels are uncanny: just days before an important vote, Boyle popped off at a couple of reporters in a hotel lobby, and it cost her the crown. But at least she had the decency to tell them what she thought of them to their faces.

Today, Gordon Brown on the campaign trail in northwest England popped off at a potential voter, and a sympathetic one at that. After the woman held forth on taxes, the national debt and immigration--all the usual stuff--Brown got into the back of his limo and rode away . . . with a hot lapel mic still in place.