I was reminded again this week of the importance of financial planning, especially with regard to getting your affairs in order for when you “check out” of this world. It is not a nice thing to talk about or even to think about but the reality is that death will come to us all and one of our legacies will be how we leave our affairs and our loved ones when we go. Two cases in quick succesion this week made this alarmingly clear…

When you are not here, you wont be able to tell people what you wanted to happen to your things…so it is vital that you put it in writing (that’s the point of the will). Without a will, not only do you leave people emotionally distraught beause of your death but you potentially also leave them financially distraught (stuffed night be a better word here) as your funds will sit in limbo for a very long time (maybe even 5-10 years) while the courts decide who gets what. This issue was highlited by a case of a father of 2 dying without a will…if only he had made the time to draft the will – its an half hour exercise (at most).

The other point I want to make is that you cant (or should not) try to rule from the grave…it’s just messy and it often also reveals a lot about the kind of person you really were while you were alive. Things change and your will needs to allow a degree of flexibility so that those left behind can really benefit from your legacy – too often we have seen cases with trusts that have been set up that have fortunes in them but where trustees are unable (or unwilling) to make funds available to the beneficiaries because of some wording in the will or trust deed. You wont be around to change this so keep it simple.

While I was reading the 2nd will this week I read some very hurtful and unkind things that were in the will and I could not help but think that “this is now in writing, for all to see, for all eternity…ouch it’s got to hurt”…and that will be a lasting memory. So never draft (or alter) your will in a fit of emotion – it is something that needs calm and rational thought.

Finally, when you draft your will, do it as if you are leaving today. What is best if you are leaving this afternoon (not what will be the best in 10 years time)?

*Quote from: For whom the bell tolls by John Donne

Related posts:

1. Where there’s a will…
2. What’s worse?
3. Earliest memory of money

We currently complete and submit about 130 tax returns for clients and started submitting them as soon as the filing season opened. However, 2 weeks into the season (and 10% down) I find myself wondering if I still want to do tax for clients and if so, can clients afford to pay me to do it?

The whole aim behind efiling (as I understand it) is to simplify things and to make it easier for people to submit their returns to SARS and in thus enabling those who dont want to pay someone else to do their return to do it themselves. That’s the theory at least!

In practise it is not like this at all…if the first returns are anything to go by then SARS is in a complete mess and this is going to be a very long filing season indeed.

So far the following has happened:

1. 8 Returns have been submitted
2. 3 have been assessed correctly
3. 2 have been assessed incorrectly with SARS levying incorrect penalties of R56000 & R16000 to the tax payers. They have admitted telephonically that it is an error but the process involved in getting it corrected is unbelievably complex and time consuming.
4. 5 returns are ready to submit but of these there are 2 with outstanding tax issues from 2009 which have still not been finalised despite numerous calls and letters to SARS.
5. 1 return has no IRP5 or any other information for the tax payer on it  (and he is not even a government employee – apparently some departments’ IRP5’s are still not available).

Not a problem, we can always call the call centre (a dedicated line for tax practitioners)…

Give it a try some time – so far it has been out of service at least twice, we have been cut off twice, the “pre-populated” information that needs to be entered is not working and the average waiting time is also too long in my opinion! So if this is anything to go by then this is going to be a very long and very trying filing season.

When efiling works it is brilliant, but when it goes wrong (for whatever reason) it is awful. I just wish that SARS would be honest and admit (publicly) that there are issues with their systems and that they are working on them.

But what is going to happen (again) is that the very people that SARS are trying to help (the individual tax payers) are going to get prejudiced by the complex way of doing things – they will either have to go and stand in a very long queue outside the SARS building (which in some cases has been days long) or they are going to have to pay someone to submit their returns for them.  And based on my conversations with colleagues, thanks to SARS, the price for submitting returns has just gone up!

So start saving or start standing in the queue…

Related posts:

1. SARS – just like Alice
2. RSA Retail Bonds
3. 2010 – what lies ahead?

But one of my favourite lines that we often get to use is from the movie “Mickey Blue Eyes” which stars Hugh Grant as the boyfriend whose prospective father-in-law is a gangster boss. Hugh Grant’s character is very proper and speaks with a real hot potato in his mouth. The father wants to introduce him to his gangster friends but cant have him speak with that accent and so he tries to teach him to speak like a mobster…about the only thing he gets right is the line “forget about it” which sounds more like “fur ged abowd did”…and so it is with investments – clients need to learn to do the Mickey Blue Eyes and “forget about it”.

We’ve recently had a few calls from clients about their investment values – this is largely a function of quarterly or half-yearly statements just having gone out combined with the current volatility that is being experienced. Research shows that the more often you look at your investments, the less likely you are to stick to your long term plan/goals as it becomes too easy to focus on the short term volatility.

Unfortunately legislation requires that companies report frequently (how that happened is the subject of another post) and as a result clients are getting statements too often (in my opinion). Combine this with the ability to access the values online and the absolute glut of information by so-called experts it becomes too easy for investors to be distracted from their plans and to make decisions based on the short-term “noise”.

I am not advocating a reckless negligence of your finances but I recommending that if you are an investor (that implies that you are in it for the long haul) and you have an investment plan/strategy in place  then you need to learn to do the “Micky Blue Eyes” with your investments and “fur ged abowd did”. Give them time and they will come right!

Related posts:

1. Financial Planning for Dummies – Part 1
2. Look after the small things…
3. More power to you…

As a fee-based financial planner it has always amazed me then that when we dont take commission on life insurance products we never see a 35% reduction in the cost of the cover. There is a reduction but it is nowhere near 35% and not all companies are equal either. So where is the commission going to?

Consider the following case:

R4million life cover for a male age 35 would cost ±R506 per month and the commission that the advisor would earn would be almost R7000. If the commission is removed from the policy (yes it can be done) the premium would reduce to ±R372 pm – that’s a saving of R134 per month (26%) for the duration of the policy. Over 5 years that means you would save at least R8040 in premiums. The question I have is why is it only 26% – where is the “other” 9%?

So I did a bit of comparing and it turns out that 26% is a really good reduction and that most of the insurance companies are only reducing the cost of the cover by 15-20% (see table below – these figures are based on quotes for life and disability cover on my own life):

From the table above it is pretty clear that none of the companies is giving the full 35% reduction that the LOA spoke about  and many of the companies also appear to be “holding back” some of the commission that would have been paid (I can only guess where it is going).

In my experience, Altrisk, which has a 26% reduction,  is consistently the best company when it comes to reducing the cost of the cover when the commission is removed (they also have a really simple but highly rated product).

So where to from here?

My advice to you is the next time you consider taking out some life insurance, ask your advisor what the premium would be if there was no commission on the policy and then ask him/her what fee they would charge you to do the business – you could end up saving quite a bit of money if you are prepared to pay a fee for the work that is done (typically we would charge between 2 and 3 hours for the implementation of a life policy). So on the above R4million example, you would pay a (maximum) fee of 3*R750 = R2250 to us (we allow our clients to pay this off over a few months if necessary) and you would have the lower premium for the life of the policy – this way you can also be satisfied that if the advisor recommends any additional benefits (such as disability or dread disease cover) they are not doing it to increase the premium and thus increase their commission – they are doing it because it is in your best interest. Under the commission model, the greater the premium, the greater the commission paid – whereas the premium has no bearing on the advisor’s earnings under a fee model.

Related posts:

1. Commission free life cover…
2. Be wary of 1life direct’s advertising campaign…
3. It’s so easy to save money

By doing this you will effectively be buying electricity at a 25% discount to the new price…a tidy return on your money indeed. A couple of caveats first though:

1. You need to make sure that you remember to at least “top-up” your account each month to pay for that daily service fee that is levied. Failure to do that could land you with a nasty surprise in a couple of months when you get no electricity next time you buy because all of the money went to cover arrear service fees…
2. I have no idea what happens if you buy the electricity and something goes wrong with your electricity box – it does not happen very often but I guess it could and if Murphy is around it will happen just after you have charged up – so make sure you keep your receipts so you can at least “prove” that you had the electricity if there is a problem.
3. Make sure you dont forget to make provision for electricity in your future monthly budgets – i.e. if you have bought enough for 3-4 months, dont forget to budget for electricity in the months after that..

That’s all for now – I need to top-up with electricity.

Related posts:

1. Just because it is raining it does not mean the drought is over!
2. SARS – just like Alice
3. Electricity increases…

Most people who battle to keep their income greater than their spending seem to be looking for a magic wand to wave that will find the “big” culprit that is causing the over-spend when the truth is that it is often the little things that are over-looked and that count. Every R50 that you can cut adds up and if you can save 3 or 4 “R50″ you can soon save a couple of hundred rand a month and this can be the difference between breaking even or breaking the budget.

For starters here are a few of the “little” savings you can make:

• Bank fees – if you are paying more than R70 per month for your bank account you are wasting money.
• Insurance – this includes short term household insurance (your possesions) as well as short term home owners insurance (your actual house). In both cases make sure that the insured values are correct and that you are not over-insured – you wont get paid more than the replacement cost so dont waste money on this (at the same time make sure that you are also not under-insured).
• Interest payments – make sure you are paying your credit card amounts in full before the due date. Missing this by just 1 day will result in interest being charged from day 1. Check the interest rates on your statements to see just how much you are being charged!
• Overdraft – many banks are now charging a fee for the “privilege” of an overdraft facility. If you are not using it and dont need it, cancel it – why pay fees for something you dont need.
• Bank statements – it is a good idea to go over these often to check the amounts you are bugetting on spending against the actual amounts spent but also to make sure that you know exactly what is coming off your account each month. Make sure that there are no unexplained items or amounts – there is a lot of fraud out there and companies are also notoriously slow at cancelling debit orders on policies or products that you no longer have.
• Life insurance – review this from time to time and make sure that your premiums are still competitive! If not, change the policy (but get advice before you just dive in).
• Keep track of your cash – it is the little things that add up: a cup of coffee here, a car guard there, ice creams for the kids, parking… Before you know it you have spent R100 without even realising it.

While this does not sound like a fun exercise, it is a critical one. Even if you are managing to keep within your budget each month it is important to review your expenses on a regular basis so that you know how and where your money is being spent.

Related posts:

1. Ignorance is not bliss!
2. It’s so easy to save money
3. Minimum investments

There is no real secret – mostly it is just good old common sense with the bottom line being that your income needs to be greater than your expenses…but what was interesting is that it is a book written from a UK perspective which is unusual in that most of the finance books are written out of the US, so it gives some interesting insights into the debt problem in the UK.

We all know what a mess the US consumer is in and how much debt there is in many of the European countries too but it was also interesting to see how bad the situation is in the UK and just how much reckless lending there has been there…the stats are frightening (see below for some of them).

Which got me thinking again about the National Credit Act in SA and about what an excellent piece of legislation it is. It might have frustrated some people who have been trying to finance assets but on the whole it has protected us from ourselves (and the debt industry) and has also shielded us from a lot of misery and pain that is the result of over-indulgence in the rest of the developed world.

So well done to the regulators – take a bow on this one and may this piece of legislation go from strength to strength! Now we just need to start getting access to better information such as that available in many other countries (see below).

Taken from CreditAction.org.uk

Total UK personal debt

Total UK personal debt at the end of April 2010 stood at £1,460bn. The twelve-month growth was 0.8%. Individuals owe more than what the whole country produces in a year.

Average household debt in the UK is ~ £8,761 (excluding mortgages). This figure increases to £18,252 if the average is based on the number of households who actually have some form of unsecured loan.

Average household debt in the UK is ~ £57,915 (including mortgages).

Average owed by every UK adult is ~ £30,228 (including mortgages). This is 126% of average earnings.

Average outstanding mortgage for the 11.1m households who currently have mortgages now stands at ~ £108,809.

Britain’s interest repayments on personal debt were £67.9bn in the last 12months. The average interest paid by each household on their total debt is approximately £2,695 each year. According to PwC the average household will need to spend approximately 15% of net income purely to service the interest payments arising from this debt.

Average consumer borrowing via credit cards, motor and retail finance deals, overdrafts and unsecured personal loans has risen to £4,573 per average UK adult at the end of April 2010.

Today in the UK

Related posts:

1. Ignorance is not bliss!
2. Who regulates the regulators?
3. Unbelievable – is this a disaster in the making?

1. Ignorance,
2. Indulgence, or
3. Poor Planning

Debt is often the symptom of some “other” issues but that is the subject for another post. In this post I want to look at the first category: ignorance. This is where someone has no idea of the real cost of the debt. For example, few people stop to think that the total cost of all the interest payments on a million rand house over 20 years is over R2.3million rand – R1.3million of that is interest!*

The National Credit Act has made it a lot easier for people to know the full cost of a financed purchase as the total cost of the item being purchased has to be displayed. This includes the interest, finance charges and even insurance charges. So if you are buying a car and financing it, you must be shown the full costs of financing it over the period for which you have opted and even advertisments are supposed to show this information (take a closer look next time you see one).

But one of the areas that has fallen through the cracks is the cost of having debt while trying to save at the same time. Consider the following fairly typical example:

• Client A has a current account which is in overdraft of R7000. At the same time he has R11000 in a bank savings account just to see himself through any financial emergencies.

While the principle of an emergency fund is an excellent one, what he has not realised is the cost of keeping money in it while he is in overdraft.

Typically banks now charge a monthly fee for the “privilege” of having an overdraft facility on your account. One bank that I contacted today charges R57 per month for this (that’s R684 per year!). At the same time they levy an interest rate of 16% per annum on overdrawn accounts. On R7000 that amounts to R1120 per year – so the total cost of the overdraft is R1804 per annum.

Now at the same time, the positive interest that they pay on R11000 in a savings account is 0.25%, or R27.50 per year (this is criminal). So the real cost of this financial compartmentalization is R1776 per year! Of course the bank know that the client is wasting money and if you ask them, the would probably advise against doing this kind of thing but then again, if you dont ask, they make more money and that’s what they are there for.

So my advice is to use the money in the savings account to pay off the overdraft and then use the money you were paying into the overdraft to build up the savings account again. And better still, use a money market unit trust account instead of a bank savings product – you will get about 6.5% interest per annum (Capitec bank offer 7% on balances under R10000).

* interest rate of 10% per annum.

Related posts:

1. Look after the small things…
2. The real cost of the bond…
3. Thanks to the regulators!

The end of your life is probably not something you want to dwell on which explains why globally more than 50% of people die intestate (without a valid will). If you die intestate in SA the state steps in (according to the laws of intestate succession) and effectively decides who gets what. Under these laws, your assets will most probably eventually get to the rightful beneficiaries but there is no certainty as to when or if it will actually happen. Obviously this could have disastrous consequences for your dependents. The solution to this problem is to draw up a valid will. This will require you to think about what will happen to your loved ones as well as your assets and possessions on your death.  Drawing up a will is therefore one of the most important things you can do.

The history of the will is long and the earlier laws governing the making of wills were vast and complex. In Roman times the making of a will was not just a means by which a person left property to his beneficiaries – often huge debts and crippling obligations were also left behind. (This became known as the ruinous inheritance.) The main purpose of the will in these times was to appoint an heir to (almost literally) step into the shoes of the deceased and succeed him for all legal purposes.  When the Roman testator was deciding whom he should name as an heir, he was obliged to ensure that the chosen person was also suitable to carry out the family’s religious duties. The heir was expected to carry out the deceased’s wishes, to perform the religious duties, pay off the debts, distribute legacies and generally act as the deceased’s successor in all matters. Today the executor winds up the estate and the ruinous inheritances are a thing of the past, leaving the heirs free to enjoy the proceeds. Fortunately too, the laws have been simplified to the extent that almost anyone can draw up their own will.

So just who can (and should) have a will?

There has long been a perception that wills are the exclusive domain of the wealthy. This is definitely not the case and in fact anyone with assets needs a will (especially if they have dependents or young children). Remember this, at the time that your will is needed, you will no longer be able to have your say. The intention of the will must therefore be to guide those left behind as to your wishes with respect to your beneficiaries and any assets you leave behind.

Current law states that anyone over the age of 16 who is mentally capable of understanding the implications, can draw up a will. In order for the will to be valid each page must be signed in full by the testator in the presence of at least 2 witnesses who are present at the same time. The witnesses must also sign the last page (although many wills will still have place for the witnesses to sign on each page as well). A witness must be over the age of 14 and competent to give evidence in court. They may also not be beneficiaries under the will as witnesses and their spouses are disqualified from inheriting unless it can be shown that they did not unduly influence the testator in the drawing up of the will. It is also advisable that the will be dated on the last page (although this is not a legal requirement it does help in terms of identifying the most current will).

What goes into a will?

As much info as is necessary to allow the executors to clearly identify your beneficiaries and establish your wishes. The obvious information includes your full names, ID number, marital status, where you currently reside as well as all of the same information for your beneficiaries. It should, however, not be a complex and detailed document – specific bequests such as the grandfather clock and goldfish should be made in a separate letter of wishes (which is not a public document like your will) and attached to the will. The letter of wishes is suitable for detail with respect to personal possessions and specific requests. It is also generally not advisable to include funeral arrangements in a will as the content of a will is often only made known after the funeral.

Pitfalls to avoid!

Under the current laws minor children cannot receive their inheritance and if they are not provided for under a will (by means of a trust) any funds which should have gone to them will be placed into the guardians fund. This is a fund administered by the state with the purpose of providing for minor children. Although it is governed by strict laws, the guardians fund offers limited growth potential on any assets as the funds are usually invested in interest bearing instruments. It is also pretty inflexible with respect to payouts – although they can often be done monthly, they are usually only made on a quarterly basis. The state will then also appoint guardians to care for and raise your minor children.

In most cases, the simple solution to the issue of minor children and dependents is a testamentary trust. Simply put, this is a trust that is set up in terms of your will and which only comes into effect after your death (without the usual trust set-up fees). It will allow for the appointment of trustees (chosen by you) to administer the funds for the benefit of your children. (Think carefully about your trustees or about acting as one for someone else as the law requires that you look after the assets in the trust with more diligence and skill than you would handle your own affairs.) If you have minor children then it is also necessary to appoint guardians in the will. Discuss it with them first though, as these are the people who will raise your children if you are no longer around to do it.

Another pitfall to watch out for (particularly if you are going to draw up your own will) is to remember to insert a clause exempting the executor, trustees and guardians from having to provide security (usually in the form of assets) for the fulfilment of their duties. Failure to do this can result in serious delays as well as the executors and trustees possibly being unable to fulfil their roles due to financial constraints (when this was never the intention).

If you are paying maintenance as a result of a divorce settlement you need to keep this commitment to your ex spouse and children in mind when compiling your will. You also need to consider whether or not you want your heirs spouse’s beneficiaries to share in the proceeds of the estate i.e. your daughter’s husband’s family.

While there is no prescribed minimum time for winding up an estate, it can be done in less than 6 months (where it is a simple estate). On the other hand it can take years (if there is ambiguity or if there are complex structures involved. Think about this when you plan your insurances and when thinking about what your spouse and beneficiaries will do for cash while the estate is wound up.

When to update/change your will?

It is good practice to review your will every 2-3 years. Marriage, the birth of a child as well as other life changing events such as divorce, are also good times to review your will. Following your divorce the law automatically assumes that you no longer wish your ex-spouse to inherit and allows you a 3 month grace period to change your will. If you still have not changed it after this period then your ex spouse could get it all.

Where can I get a will?

Trust companies, attorneys as well as some financial advisers can give you guidance regarding the drafting of your will. This is often done for “free” on the understanding that they will then act as the executors on the estate. In order to avoid any confusion in this regard discuss the costs upfront, as well as the appointment of the executor and if necessary be prepared to pay for the will. Typically this should not cost you more than R250 to R500. Alternatively you can buy a basic will off the shelf from some stationery shops – just make sure that you complete all the formalities correctly and that all the necessary clauses are in place. The original will be kept in the executor’s (trust company, bank, lawyer) vault – keep a copy at home.

Costs and fees?

The only things certain in life are death and taxes – unfortunately when you die they get you for tax as well in the form of estate duty. The first R3.5 million of your estate is exempt from estate duty, but anything over and above that is taxed at the current rate of 20%. With a little bit of estate planning this can be reduced greatly. On top of estate duty your estate can expect to pay up to 3.99% in executor’s fees – (3.5% +Vat) as well as 6% on any interest income that is earned by the estate. Many people’s response to this is to appoint a family member to act as the executor. In theory anyone can act as the executor, but consider the circumstances in which they will be asked to perform this duty and think again. The reality is also that while this is not a complex or difficult task, it is fraught with bureaucracy and red tape – often the appointed family member will end up outsourcing this task to an expert (many of the Masters are insisting that the executor is someone with the necessary qualifications and experience).

Often a simple cost (and time) saver is to ensure that you appoint beneficiaries on all your insurance policies – this money while still forming part of your dutiable estate, goes directly to your beneficiaries and is not handled by the executors (4% saved!).

What about those offshore assets?

Any one with offshore assets and investments should draw up a separate will for these assets. This should be done by an expert in that jurisdiction taking care not to revoke your current SA will.

Remember that it is important that your will must be a practical document that is easy to understand and simple to execute – if you are not sure about anything then seek expert help or opinion.

Who are the key players?

• Testator/testatrix – person making the will
• Executor – person who acts on your behalf and executes your instructions in the will.
• Beneficiaries – those people or institutions that inherit from you
• Guardians – people you should appoint to raise and look after your minor children
• Minor children – children under the age of 18
• Trustees – people who will administer a trust that has been set up under your will
• Inter-vivos trust – a trust set up while you are still alive. Assets can be sold or donated to the trust.
• Testamentary trust – a trust that is created on your death (usually for the benefit of minor children).
• Codicil – any addition to a will (signed and executed as per normal requirements). It is usually better to draw up a new will to avoid confusion.

This article was first published in Men’s Health Magazine in 2004 – it has been updated since then.

Related posts:

1. Financial Planning for Dummies – Part 2
2. Dilbert on Finance
3. What’s worse?

According to quite a few different people our earliest memories of money often play a significant role in how we view money later on in life. “It’s amazing how much the mind can play a role in creating or destroying financial freedom. These money memories have such a hold on our lives—they directly impact how we deal with our money or we don’t deal with our money.” (Suze Orman)

Turns out that the furthest back that I can remember is to a time when I was about 4 or 5 years old and my grandpa paid me to sit still – I think I lasted longer than both of us expected – 13 minutes seems to ring a bell somewhere and I got 13 cents (it was a lot of money back then) and promptly headed off to the cafe to buy some sweets.

Still trying to figure out the lesson that I would have learnt – after all I got paid for doing nothing! Dig a little deeper though and it is not that I was paid for doing nothing but rather that I was paid for “effort”. As I reflect on that I start to understand why I don’t feel good about getting money for doing nothing or very little. When I earn from clients, I need to know that I can justify that fee to the client in terms of the amount of time and effort that was put in to the work done (and that I am “worth” that fee).

For more thoughts on this you can read the posts from a whole host of people about their earliest money memories on the web…

And here are some other questions that I have found on various websites that are often used to get people started on their search for the money memories that can lead to understanding their relationship to money:

1. Did your mother have to work when others didn’t, or not have to work when others did?
2. Did you feel like your friends had nicer clothes than you did? Did your friends’ parents have more expensive cars than yours did?
3. Do you remember the very first wallet you ever had? Was it given to  you empty, or with a penny in it, or a dollar?
4. Did you get less of an allowance than your friends or siblings? Did you have to work for it, or was it given to you as your right? What did you do with it?
5. What did your parents tell you about money that made you feel good? What did they tell you that made you feel bad?
6. What are the feelings attached to your three earliest memories of money: elation, satisfaction, humiliation, shame, guilt?
7. When and how did money first enter your relationship with your mother? How did it change the emotional tone between the two of you? What about your father?
8. When did you first discover that you were richer than some people and poorer than others? How did that discovery feel?
9. As you were growing up, did you ever make a vow about money (“Someday I’ll have piles and piles of money and they’ll have to respect me”)? What incident gave rise to these vows? What feelings flowed through you at the time? How long did you keep repeating
   those vows? Did your feelings change over time in relation to the vows? What feelings come up in you now as you recall these incidents and the vows you made?
10. What were your parents’ actions regarding money? Was it a source of constant worry? Did they avoid talking about it? Did they always argue about it? Did they blame each other or you and your siblings for money problems? Did they act as if they never had enough, or maybe as if they had more than they really had? What did this teach you?
11. What did you know about your family’s financial situation? Was it ever discussed? If it was a secret, why do you think that was so? Was money a source of pride or embarrassment? What did you learn from this?
12. Did you have to work as a teen? What happened to the money you earned?
13. When did you first go into debt to get something that you wanted? How did you feel going into debt? Was this the beginning of a pattern?
14. Did money influence your choice of careers? Was that a good idea?
    Sources:Adapted from George Kinder, The Seven Stages of Money Maturity: Understanding the Spirit and Value of Money in Your Life ; Suze Orman, The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom: Practical and Spiritual Steps So You Can Stop Worrying ; and Steven D. Strauss and Azriela Jaffe, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Beating Debt .

Maybe we shouldn’t just read them, maybe we should take some time to answer some of them too!

Related posts:

1. It’s so easy to save money
2. Think before you swipe!
3. Ignorance is not bliss!