In a 2009 TED talk, advertising guy Rory Sutherland make a case for the good in advertising — that the perceived value it creates should be seen as a positive thing.

All value is relative, says Sutherland. All value is perceived value. This is why people think a more expensive bottle of wine tastes better, only to find out they were drinking a $3 bottle, or that the “expensive” wine and the “cheap” wine were actually the very same bottle. Read more »

You have a goal, but you’re not getting anywhere.

Maybe you want to break into a new industry, start a side business, or build your portfolio, but you aren’t making progress. Instead you waste your time designing business cards, updating your Twitter, and doing things that don’t directly help you achieve your goal. If you want to start freelancing, should you spend your afternoon designing a logo or talking to potential clients?

Besides wasting time, we also tell ourselves things like “I don’t have time” and “it’s not possible because of XYZ.” In the end, the side business never reaches lift-off. You didn’t fail exactly because you never really tried.

That might seem like a safe bet, but doing nothing is riskier than trying and failing. Susan Su wrote about the risk of doing nothing at personal finance blog I Will Teach You to Be Rich: Read more »

“This year’s wildfire season has set records for being one of the most catastrophic,” writes Scott Steen, CEO of American Forests. “If it is setting a precedent for what is to come, we’re all in trouble…2011 has seen almost 8.4 million acres burn across the U.S. Over the past 20 years, the area in the West seared by fire has been six times greater than in the two preceding decades.”

Wildfires takes lives, damage crops, kill livestock and wildlife, and destroy ecosystems. They also leave people homeless.

Understanding the urgency

While homeowners are required by lending institutions to have homeowner’s insurance, renters aren’t required to to the same by their landlords. Of course the landlord has insurance on his or her property, but that insurance does not cover your personal belongings. If a fire destroys your apartment or rented home and you aren’t carrying renter’s insurance, you’ll have to start over at square one.

Renters also sometimes think that the odds are good that nothing will ever happen to their dwelling. In fact, the odds are good that something will happen. Renters are 50% more likely to be burglarized than homeowners, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

How to find the right insurance policy

When you’re ready to start shopping around for renter’s insurance, make a list of potential companies. Places to start your search include the following:

• The insurance company that you use for other policies, such as your auto insurance. Ask about multi-line discounts.
• Your bank – some offer renter’s insurance policies.
• Online – almost every insurance company will have a website that offers a free quote.

Once you have your list, call each company and ask the following questions:

• Can you mail me a brochure? Use this to help compare policies.
• What could might cause my rate to increase?
• What discounts do you offer customers?
• Does your liability insurance cover both legal defense and medical expenses?
• Do you pay actual cash value (what your property was worth, minus the deductible) or replacement cost coverage (what it will cost to replace your property, minus the deductible)?

Finally, if you have a roommate, ask if they offer  separate policies for roommates. If not, you can talk to your roomie about splitting the cost of a policy.

Renter’s insurance can be found for $10-12 a month, depending on coverage, location, deductible, and the company. If price is really an issue, consider some of the following ways to lower costs:

• Raise your deductible (be sure you can cover the out-of-pocket expenses, though)
• Maintain fire protection devices such as smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and alarms.
• If you’re a senior citizen, ask if the insurance company offers discounts for seniors.
• Inquire about a multi-line discount, given to customers who buy more than one kind of insurance policy from the same company.

Finally, if you think you can’t afford it, realize that you really won’t be able to afford replacing everything you own. It’s a small price to pay for peace of mind.

If you’ve ever loaned money to a friend or relative, you already know it can be a dicey situation.

Sometimes the person pays you back as agreed, but often that’s not how it works out, and the relationship suffers. Things can take a turn for the worse in situations such as the following:

• The person hasn’t paid you back yet, but just took a vacation or bought a new car.
• He or she continues to fall on hard times, and comes to request more money.
• There was an agreed-upon payment schedule, and the person has yet to make a single payment or acknowledge that payments have been missed.
• He or she makes bad financial decisions, and you feel compelled to offer advice, which your friend sees as criticism.
• You begin to have negative feelings toward your friend or loved one and feel they’ve taken advantage of your generosity.

Generally, the best advice is to not loan the money in the first place. Unfortunately, that’s not easy to do if someone you care about is in a dire situation or if there are other parties involved. Read more »

Often when you have a problem, it seems that the easiest and fastest way to solve it involves buying something.

When a button falls off of your white dress shirt, it’s more convenient to simply buy another shirt. When you need to buy a birthday gift for grandma, you might automatically think it’s time to head to the mall and buy something from a department store.

There’s nothing wrong with buying something new, but before you buy, ask yourself if there’s another solution that’s less expensive. Here are a few questions that you can ask yourself to save money or even avoid a purchase altogether: Read more »