Goodness! I know I have a horrible sense of direction, but seriously, lost in super walmart? No wonder people never ask me for directions. Allow me to give you a list of the many places I’ve gotten lost: Busch Gardens, Walmart, Target, A.M.C. theatres, and last but not least, the mall. I swear, every time I go to the mall my friends laugh at how confused I get. Once they told me to meet them at Sears and somehow I ended up in J.C. Penny! Not cool. BUT! The upside of getting lost easily! I’ve found several cool stores while wandering cluelessly around. There’s a really cool chinese store downstairs by the escalators, and there’s an amazingly awesome cooking store that sells giant spatulas. These spatulas could flip a pancake with ease and yet stay cool to the touch…at least, that’s what the tag said.

Ok. I think I mentioned Regina Spektor a few posts back. Anywho! I got her album Far and it’s UHmazing! I love it! She wrote this one song all about a wallet she found. That in itself is amazing.

Random fact time again! I apologize for last time. Apparently Boxing day has nothing to do with boxing. Perhaps the name is in referance to the boxes you get while shopping..Indeed! I shall stick with that theory!
Without further ado, here is the fact!: They have square watermelons in Japan – they stack better. I’ve actually seen this! Not in Japan but there was a whole article on some website that talked about it. It’s pretty interesting! Check it out.

This holiday season, Sunnyvale-based Lending Club is offering a DebtBuster Challenge to help you get a jump on that debt – you know, the debt you can’t seem to get rid of: the old lingering student loan, the big credit card purchase you now regret, the car loan that’s upside down, or even new debt from your latest Cashmas escapade.

I’ve written about Lending Club before in previous posts (go here for a run-down on the company and here for an interview with two LC members).

The 3-Year Payoff Debt Plan
Peer-to-peer loans at Lending Club are set for a three-year payoff (the usual timeframe for peer-to-peer loans) and for most people, three years is a reasonable horizon for most consumer debt. Here is what they suggest you do:
1. Take your credit cards or outstanding loans and find out their balances and rates.
2. Check your rate at Lending Club (it’s free to do this ) and compare with your current rate.
3. Join Lending Club and commit to the monthly payment and pay off your debt in three years (all LC loans are set for three years).

For full SF Examiner article, go here.

If you are so inclined, I would appreciate it if you nominate my San Francisco Personal Finance Examiner blog for Best New Personal Finance Blog of 2009 at the 2009 Plutus Awards site.

Here’s the URL to nominate: http://www.examiner.com/x-4836-SF-Personal-Finance-Examiner
SF Personal Finance Examiner Barbara Bryn Klare
Thanks!

Va asteptam in Temple unde muzica electronica nu cunoaste limite , un after de mult dorit de pasionatii de muzica electronica buna , o petrecere care merita in care sa te distrezi alaturi de deejay-ii ce vor scoate maximum din incintele acustice.

Temple este un miniclub care se afla vis a vis de Hotelul Victoria , langa Colegiul Zinca Golescu.

Ia-ti prietenii cu tine si hai sa sustinem acest mic event  , unde vor veni pe viitor si deejay-ii favoriti.

P.S. : Aici nu vei auzi muzica de duzina , muzica comerciala , sarbe , manele si altele  . Oamenii care vor sa asculte asa ceva sunt invitati afara.

Contributed by Steve Goldberg

Of the multitude of books written about happiness, Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert (Random House, 2006) is one of my favourites and, in literary circles, one of the most respected. Gilbert combines incredible wit with powerful and compelling research.

Gilbert is a professor of social psychology at Harvard University who himself makes for a great Upside story. According to his bio, at age 19 he was a high school dropout with dreams of writing science fiction. When a creative writing class at his community college was full, he enrolled in the only available course: psychology. He found his passion there, went on to earn a doctorate in social psychology in 1985 at Princeton, and has since won a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Phi Beta Kappa teaching prize for his work at Harvard.

His major premise in the book is that we as humans are very poor predictors of what will bring us future happiness.

The cover description of the book points out that:

“in our ardent, lifelong pursuit of happiness, most of us have the wrong map. In the same way that optical illusions fool our eyes—and fool everyone’s eyes in the same way—Gilbert argues that our brains systematically misjudge what will make us happy. And these quirks in our cognition make humans very poor predictors of our own bliss.”

Gilbert recently did a brilliant talk for Ted.com about his ideas:

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/97

At one point he cites research on lottery winners as well as people who became wheel chair bound due to a traumatic accident.  Not surprisingly, the lottery winners expressed a higher level of initial enthusiasm.  However, as little as a year later both groups statistically self-reported equal measures of overall happiness and appreciation for life.

It made me wonder, is it possible that we overestimate the satisfaction and happiness that money, acquisitions, and status will bring to our life and at the same time underestimate the learning and insights that often occur when we take the time — or are forced to take the time — to reflect and learn from challenging circumstances?

I personally agree with psychotherapist and author Thomas Moore’s premise in his 1992 book Care of the Soul: that perhaps our most opportune times to cultivate depth and genuineness in our lives—to grow and develop soul—are those when we are out of balance, shaken out of the comfort of our usual day-to-day patterns and the sleepy reverie they induce. It is at times like these that we are brought back to basics, including a fresh and searching look at what really matters to us and what brings meaning to our lives.

Questions:

1. What currently brings you happiness in your life? Do you have a sense of what will bring you happiness in the future?
2. Daniel Gilbert believes that because we are such poor predictors of our future happiness the best way to predict our future happiness is to speak to others who have accomplished or possess something that we desire. Have you had experience with this method? What did you learn about yourself?

Keep Your Stickies On
I got this simple but great tip for avoiding credit card theft from a friend and colleague, Sarah Browne AKA @GuruofNew on Twitter, who travels frequently on speaking engagements, to clients, and stays in different hotels, eats out a lot, etc. She discovered this tip by accident when the entire contents of her wallet was stolen from a hotel room including all her credit cards, except for one: the new card that still had the activation sticker on it. Little did the thief know that the card had been activated already; she just had not gotten around to taking the sticker off. This same thing happened again later at a conference room dining table. The only credit card not taken had the sticker still on it (and again, it was already activated).

So don’t get your stickies in a twist – and keep the tag on – IF you don’t really need to take it off (and if you just order online and over the phone, you might not need to). That card just might be there when you get back.

hello.

We haven’t had much time to think about anything else but editing the documentary. There will be a lot to talk about and a lot to post once the doc is finished.

Doing Christmas differently, having some fun and self-expression. http://embracechaos.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/18-days-until-christmas/

You know, when you look at the way we do Christmas these days, the commercialism, the chaos and the excess, it’s no wonder why at some point, we have to poke fun at the ridiculousness of it.  Here are some great pics of Christmas weirdness, fun and creativity.

This guy wins the award of creativity.  I wish I had thought of this!  Nope, it’s not a real guy hanging there.  He staged this, but after a couple of days, had to take it down.  People were frantically trying to run over and help him.  A few cars actually drove into his yard in a panic, worked quickly to get the ladder back up, only to find out there was no guy up there.  I call this performance art.  I wonder if he had a video camera set up?

I Googled ‘dead Santa’ yesterday before writing about the Christmas spirit.  I came across a few images that were intriguing.  This dead Santa illustration was created by Brandon Reese.  This was one of many funny Christmas icon illustrations.  It’s odd, but I love the retro look and colors.  I can’t help but wonder why he created this image and how it was used.

This one came up on the dead Santa search too.  Did you notice the peppermint candy border on the rug?  Great artistic details.  Good thing they don’t outline all the dead ones laying around in people’s yards.  Wow, wouldn’t the 3M tape company love that?

One of my favorite sitcoms of all times is The Drew Carey show.  Beer kegs in Christmas lights?  These have to be full of Buzz beer.  Maybe he’s going to have a block party.  If this was my neighbor, I would have to go check to see if any of these actually had beer in them.

Where does one get this many kegs?  Notice the extra keg behind the keg tree?  I’m guessing his patio table base is also a keg, and judging by the looks of this place, he probably has a basement, full of kegs.

Okay, so we started the tree segment with a beer tree.  I found lots of unique Christmas trees out there, ‘out there’ meaning on the internet.  Don’t worry, I plan to have many more of my own crazy photos in future posts.

Our Christmas message series at church this year is called Upside-down Christmas.  I was so excited when that was decided because we were going to finally use the idea Rod and I talked about, upside-down trees.  Sadly to me, nobody liked the idea this year.  I thought about hanging my tree upside-down.  Problem?  It’s a 10′ tree that works like an umbrella.  Four extremely heavy pieces, that if placed upside-down, would fall together and look like a tree that should be strapped to the top of a car to take home.

Let’s start with the upside-down tree.  This is one of the newest fads in Christmas decor, although there is much controversy about the symbolic meaning of it.  For some, this is just to be different, for others, it creates more space for this Christmas icon and makes more room for gifts.  Clearly we need more room for all of the stuff we are expected to, and probably will purchase.

Others have said an upright tree points to heaven, an upside-down tree, well, not so much.  Anytime you mess with tradition, there will always be a group of protestors.

Why do I like the upside-down tree?  I like it for the same reason we are doing a message series about an upside-down Christmas.  When you turn something upside-down, it usually makes a mess at first, but then you think about it, reorganize all of the pieces and maybe put everything back together in a different and better way.  Turning Christmas upside-down is an intentional action, with results you may never have thought of otherwise.  Giving, celebrating and living differently as been an amazing experience for me, so amazing that I cannot go back to my former, selfish ways.

Here are some other cool and creative trees.

Okay, so just one more.  I had an idea of something crazy I wanted to do with my hair when it was long.  My stylist, Steve Hodges, agreed to bleach and color a peace sign into my hair.  Although we have all of the technical details worked out, there’s still the reality of my curly hair.  When I wear my hair straight, the peace sign will look like a peace sign.  When it’s curly, it will look like an abstract color blob, which really isn’t a problem for me, nor would anyone question it.  In the mean time, maybe I can have Steve do this with my hair.

I think Christmas fun might be part of the Christmas spirit.  I don’t think a ‘tinselectomy‘ means that you have to spend less time decorating, however I do believe you should encounter joy in it and create some great life moments with it.  If it feels like work or feels like something you have to do, then don’t do it.  No matter how you choose to express Christmas, make it your own self-expression, depicting what is in your heart, not what society is promoting today.

Contributed By Steve Goldberg  

I received a lovely email message last week complimenting our work at Upside to the Downturn. The message was from Tim McSorley, who coordinates a Canadian National Film Board program called GDP: Measuring the Human Side of the Canadian Economic Crisis   

He thought our subscribers might be particularly interested in a short, four minute film called Sisterhood is Frugal.   I viewed it, thought it was great, and wanted to share it with you.   

Sisterhood is Frugal is part of a web documentary series entitled The Savers Club and follows Dani, a debt-ridden Calgary radio deejay who admits she’s an “emotional spender”.   She realizes she is not alone. Pushed by the economic downturn, she resolves to get smarter about her personal finances and forms a self-help group for women who spend too much.   

Emotional spending is an issue for many people.  In an article entitled  Get Emotional Spending Under Control¹, Amy Fontinelle states that:  

 “Advertisers spend billions of dollars annually convincing us that products can make us feel successful, prevent us from being bored, help us attract the opposite sex, and a myriad of other things. When ads are carefully designed to manipulate our spending habits, it’s no wonder so many people have become emotional spenders.” 

 Click here to watch Dani’s brief video, as well as continue with the rest of this story.  

 Questions for Consideration:  

1. What, if anything, have you learned about yourself and your spending habits over the last 12 months of this recession?
2. Do you consider yourself to be an emotional spender? That is, someone whose wallet tends to be run by their emotions, spending not because they need something or even because they really want it, but because they have stress or problems in other areas of their lives and want to feel better through “retail therapy”.
3. Have you recently tried to change this type of spending? If so, what’s been helpful to you?
4. What advice, from your own experience, do you have for other emotional spenders?

¹Get Emotional Spending Under Control, by Amy Fontinelle, offers a number of useful tips and techniques for reducing unwanted expenditures.  http://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/08/emotional-spending.asp   

A note about the GDP archives: Over the next year, some 250 short films and photo essays will be added to the site. You can join the conversation by visiting http://gdp.nfb.ca and uploading your own videos or images, plus you can provide comments on the many themes and stories on the site. The goal is to develop a broad exchange and dialogue as people live out challenges and triumphs during the current economic crisis.  

It’s been a tough year; you don’t need to be hit by extra taxes or poor planning as well. No need to get fancy – use this Keep-It-Simple Checklist to get a snapshot of your tax situation now. According to David Amann, CFP®, a Financial Advisor in Redwood City, CA,”Tax planning is an important, but often overlooked, strategy for anyone’s finances. A little work right now can mean significant savings in April. Remember, it’s the money you keep, not the money you make, that counts.”

Do a Quick Year-End Tax Projection
If you are an employee, gather your paystubs to project this year’s income. If you work for yourself, look at your estimated tax payments for the year against overall income. Guesstimate this year’s deductions by looking at only the big numbers: mortgage, property tax, large health expenses, childcare, capital gains and losses. Use last year’s taxes as a guide if similar to this year, figuring in any large differences between years (significant assets sold or large swings in your income level), and look for any big holes in your tax savings:

• qualified retirement plans
• charitable giving
• deductible expenses
• education funds

For full SF Examiner.com article go here.

Contributed by Vicky White
www.LifeDesignStrategies.com

It was just another one of those brown envelopes from Revenue Canada (the Canadian equivalent of the IRS)…until I read the fine print and realized I was being audited.

Predictably, I did what most people would do; I panicked!

Then I reviewed the facts: the letter wasn’t very friendly, telling me that most likely I owed them a huge amount of money; they listed a whole load of documents they wanted from me, going back over three years of my business, as well as the precise format of how they wanted them presented; and they told me that I had 30 days to get the materials together! The letter was signed by a Mr. Chan.

Of course, the brown envelope arrived one week before I was to fly to New Zealand to visit my family for a month! I bravely contacted Mr. Chan, told him I was off to New Zealand, and received an extension.

Meanwhile, everyone I spoke to told me horror stories about Revenue Canada, along the lines of “they’re out to get you”, “you can’t win”, and “they’re a law unto themselves.”

I did stress out for a couple of weeks before I remembered what I teach the clients I work with: there was a reason this was happening, and most likely I had a lot more control over the outcome than others were predicting. It further occurred to me that this audit was actually a gift – Revenue Canada was going to help me get my accounts in order and create a system that would enable me to grow my business!

The fact that I’d started a relationship with a former accountant a few months earlier just had to be some kind of divine timing! There definitely seemed to be a plan afoot and I felt that, whatever happened, I was being supported.

I made a decision to refer to “my friend Mr. Chan” whenever I mentioned his name or spoke about my tax audit. My financially experienced friend didn’t quite see it the same way, but he did spend countless hours with me over the next few months getting my accounts in order, documenting where I had made mistakes in my addition (huh?), where I had claimed things that were not claimable, and where I had neglected to claim things I could have!

The truth was, it wasn’t that I was trying to get away with anything. I’d been in Canada for just a few years, I’d been doing my own monthly accounts, and I’d been making assumptions about what I could claim. Definitely a case of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing! I did have someone complete my tax return each year, without realizing she was just transferring the figures I gave her onto my tax form without questioning anything. I could have done that myself! I was sending in tax returns that made no sense – no wonder they flicked up a red flag in Revenue Canada.

I learned several things in the process: I learned that renovating my new condo was not actually something I could claim; and that credit card statements are not receipts (after all, those expenses could be for anything). I learned a lot of things that were probably silly enough to show Revenue Canada I wasn’t trying to rip them off.

I convinced myself that Revenue Canada was there to help me. And I was convinced that my friend Mr. Chan was there to see that I was helped. He and I became buddies (in my mind, anyway) and I eventually delivered a box with the information they wanted, including a whole lot of receipts I had managed to get from coaches and service providers from past years. My friend Mr. Chan and I then had a little to and fro process with letters as he asked more questions and I explained what my business was all about and what my intentions for it were.

This whole process took six months and I can’t say it was fun, but in the end I felt I had been well treated. There was one expense I really think they should have allowed but I was more than happy with the $5000 tax refund I received a few weeks later plus the tax credit I was granted for the following year. I came away feeling as if I probably wouldn’t have had the same outcome had I gone through this process with the belief they were out to get me.

I now have a system I still use, I know how Revenue Canada likes things to be organized, and I know that if I was ever in a similar situation, it would take me half a day to get everything together to present to them. Revenue Canada did support me in creating the foundation for a strong business, for which I’m very grateful.

Questions for reflection:

• Do you think Vicky’s early shift in attitude about her predicament – before the full audit process was underway – made a difference in her outcome? How?
• Do you believe it’s possible to apply an “Upside perspective” to just about any situation in life? What exceptions would you make and why?

After interviewing more than 50 CEOs of Financial Services companies, Product Developers, PF bloggers, a political figure and two personal finance celebrities so far this year, I got to turn the tables and BE interviewed for once – by Lydia Siken of MoneyHackers.net. Here is a sneak peek from that interview, to be published in the next few weeks.

What encouraged you to start The Upside of Money?
I started Upside of Money around the same time as I was writing an e-book on saving every day in summer ‘06. The blog was pretty primitive and it still is. I started blogging in earnest as an adjunct to my SF Examiner.com Personal Finance column this year. My blog has gone through only a few changes since then, and want to see it evolve into a more interactive site.

What sets your blog different than other financial blogs?
The Upside of Money does just that: helps you stay on the upside (optimistic, informed, “in the black”). I try to alert people to the downside of money as well.

I don’t advertise. My blog is purely informational. I don’t have ads telling you to apply for a credit card, next to an article on the dangers of credit card debt. I do this in part because of the frustration of not being able to control what displays on my Examiner column. If I ever do monetize, I want to stay in control of the content.

I also try to educate myself all the time; I try to make my writing style approachable but with a journalistic standard – I want the blog to be based on knowledge, not just anecdote. In 2000, a company I was working for had an IPO, and I was able to observe the process from inside. After that, I decided to get graduate training in finance, and took classes in technical analysis. I am currently studying for my CFP designation and earlier this year I got my accreditation as a Credit Counselor. In my career as a finance writer, I have worked for E*TRADE Financial, Mellon Investor Services, a subsidiary of JP Morgan and now Wells Fargo, explaining complex financial products/applications.

Which 3-5 blogs would you consider “must-reads” in order to better understand finances?
My personal favorites are journey-style blogs in which the author puts an actual number to a net worth or debt-free goal and then tracks his or her progress toward that goal. I find those blogs very inspiring, even though I don’t disclose financial info on mine. I have been watching www.mymoneyblog.com working toward his goal for years. I also watch, and occasionally worry about, www.debtsucksblog.com. Another favorite is www.Bostongals.com because I enjoy tracking her great success and I think she has a winning formula and is actually going to make it.

I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Jean recently at a Wells Fargo Advisors event (twitter tag: #WFCretire) in San Francisco targeted to women and retirement. A couple hundred women and guests were treated to a VIP-style, high-tech event where she was the keynote speaker. Women of all ages and circumstances attended to talk about retirement dreams and concerns, and to hear her discuss her latest book, The Difference: How Anyone Can Prosper in Even the Toughest Times, the role gratitude plays in your personal financial life and those of the super-wealthy or “movers” as she calls them, and how being thankful is an important factor in being connected – which movers instinctively know all about.

See full SF Examiner.com article here.

Good news heralds us from the current (11/23/09) issue of Time Magazine.  The word is that some aspects of the current recession appear to have made people feel better!

The article refers to Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index Study¹, which has been following health and well-being data since its launch in January 2008.

The study was designed to function like a Dow Jones average of attitude.  At least 1,000 people are surveyed daily, 350 days a year.

According to the results, when the stock markets dropped dramatically last fall overall happiness did too; and anyone who lost his or her job, house, or health care is probably still in a world of pain.

But here’s the really interesting finding: overall well-being was higher in the summer of 2009 than it was in the previous summer, before the impact of the recession was fully upon us. In fact, the latest report finds America’s happiness at an all-time high!

According to the article everyone – or at least everyone who claims to be happy – seems to have some reason for finding an “upside to the downturn.”

This data reinforces the observations made in our inaugural web column in March 2009. We noted that despite hardship, fear, and worry about the future, a number of people reported that their lives had also improved in some ways.

These included:

• Spending more quality time with family and friends
• Becoming more resilient and re-prioritizing key aspects of their lives
• Reflecting on and shifting their core values, lifestyles, and spending habits
• Reaching out and helping others, even when their personal financial situation was deteriorating

Perhaps you’ve experienced something similar this past year?

We invite you to take some time over this Thanksgiving break to consider the potential upsides to the downturn in your own life, as well as the ways in which you and your loved ones may have become stronger and healthier individuals as a result of the current constraints.

Best wishes to our American readers for a wonderful, gratitude-filled Thanksgiving!

¹ Healthways Well-Being Index Data, U.S. Composite and Life Evaluation Score

• Based on 31,523 surveys completed in October 2009. Total of 655,061 since January 2, 2008

http://www.well-beingindex.com/files/GallupHealthwaysWBIReport_102009.pdf

Eles ainda são jovens. A faixa de idade não passa dos 25 anos, mas eles já sabem muito bem o que querem. Essa é a banda UPSIDE, formada por jovens católicos que têm como objetivo, divulgar a sua mensagem de fé para quem quiser ouvir.

 A banda formada há apenas 4 meses é composta por Paloma Melzzi, vocalista; Anderson Prizzo, vocal e guritarra; André Fantonelle, no baixo; e Tiago Silva na bateria. A banda, que por enquanto está somente ensaiando suas músicas próprias e escolhendo as demais para o repertório dos shows, acredita na carreira e na aceitação do público. “Nós acreditamos que a nossa banda vai dar certo”, conta o baterista. Os ensaios que duram em média de 2 a 3 horas por semana em um estúdio no Bairro das Nações, em Balneário Camboriú, são sempre muito descontraídos e bem humorados.

 Durante a composição das músicas, o grupo tem um cuidado especial na escolha das palavras, afinal, as apresentações acontecem não só nos encontros de jovens promovidos pela igreja, como também fora dela.

 A UPSIDE tem como inspiração bandas como: P.O.D, Flyleaf, Beatrix, Rodox, entre outras.

O objetivo musical proposto por eles não é só entreter o público que os ouve. “O que nós queremos transmitir são mensagens boas, bonitas e que tragam sempre paz para o coração das pessoas. Queremos que o nosso público tenha um som diferente para ouvir”, conta André. A banda trabalha agora na criação de sua nova música, que ainda não tem nome definido.

Por Paula Casagrande Garcia

By Steve Goldberg and Barbara Taylor

As we ride through the waves of the current recession, there is much speculation about the kind of economic reality that will emerge on the other side of this downturn.  Some forecasts predict that improvement in the economy, employment, income, and spending will be a long, slow process over the next several years.

There is also considerable discussion about consumer behavior and how our spending and saving patterns will change as the economy recovers.  It’s fairly obvious that, as a nation, our general pattern prior to the recession included overspending and the accumulation of unmanageable amounts of debt.  A recent report from Reuters/University of Michigan Consumer Surveys (2009)* reveals a decline of consumer confidence in personal finances, job prospects, and the purchase of housing, vehicles, and “major household durables.”

Still, it’s hard to predict whether the current financial restraints we’re experiencing are sufficient to result in permanent changes in our consumer habits.  Will we go back to our old, shop-till-you-drop ways (if we can get away with it)?  Or, will we adapt to a consensus of “new normal behavior” that reflects a more modest baseline of financial restraint wherein we live within our means?

Which type are you?

A new study by the Decitica Marketing Research Group** examined extensive data on the current attitudes and behaviors of consumers across various categories of gender, income level, and age group. Their analysis suggests that four distinct groups will emerge from the current recession:

Steadfast Frugalists:

• Committed to self-restraint, engaging in prudence with unequivocal enthusiasm.  They make up about 20% of American consumers, with representation from all income and age groups.
• 6 in 10 are women.
• Steadfast frugalists are the most disciplined in their behaviors and are seriously committed to self-restraint.
• 29% of this segment identified themselves as “tightwads” even before the recession.

Involuntary Penny-Pinchers:

• About 29% percent of the population, this segment is the most severely affected – financially and emotionally – by the recession.  This group is over-represented by people in their 30’s and 40’s; 6 in 10 are women.
• This segment has not become thrifty by choice; their new-found frugality has been forced upon them by the recession.  Half of them have not saved any money for emergencies.
• 38% of this group spent more than they earned last year (meaning, they were not that disciplined to begin with).
• Their behavior patterns are similar to Steadfast Frugalists except in their aversion to expending effort in money-saving strategies:  only 17% find buying store or generic labels to be satisfying, compared to 59% percent of Steadfast Frugalists.
• Emotionally they admit to being more scared (77%), stressed (81%), and worried (87%) about the future than other groups.

Pragmatic Spenders:

• Pragmatic spenders have also curbed their spending but they are less troubled by the recession and have the greatest capacity – both psychologically and financially – to willfully resurrect their past spending patterns.
• This group comprises 29% percent in the population; 6 in 10 are men; and the majority are in their 60’s.
• Sufficient income has reduced the effects of the recession on this segment.  Only 28% of Pragmatic Spenders feel the recession has changed what and how they will buy in the future, compared to 55% of Steadfast Frugalists.

Apathetic Materialists:

• Apathetic Materialists, about 22% in the population, seem the least changed by the recession in their spending habits and future intentions.
• They have not embraced the new frugality to the same extent as others as they don’t get much satisfaction from such behaviors.  Only about 6% in this group find price comparison to be satisfying in contrast to 85% in the Steadfast Frugalists group.
• This segment is made up of slightly more men (55%) than women; most are younger consumers (72% are below the age of forty).
• They are the least driven by price: only 8% admit to being focused on value as compared to 30% of Pragmatic Spenders and 52% of Involuntary Penny-Pinchers.

Questions to consider:

• Which of the four segments to you identify with?
• Does your choice of segment change when you think of who you were (your attitudes and behaviors) a year ago?
• Do you predict a further change in yourself/your choice of segment in the future, e.g. a year from now?
• The above study found that all four segments confess to getting less pleasure from buying things now as compared with the time before the recession. Is this true for you, too?
• What else have you learned about yourself and your needs as a result of this current recession?

Sources
*Reuters/University of Michigan. (2009). Surveys of consumers. Ann Arbor, MI
https://customers.reuters.com/community/university/default.aspx

** The four segments are expanded in Decitica’s Marketing to the Post-Recession Consumers study highlights:

http://decitica.com/?p=618&cpage=1

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Submitted by Heidi Kistler

It was close to midnight when we arrived at Kalispell airport in northern Montana, only to discover that my husband’s luggage ended up in Timbuktu (No kidding!).   This grim news arrived after 12-plus hours of traveling, the insides of three airports, crying babies, cramped seats, and limited meals.  Needless to say, it did not sit well with us.

While waiting at the now-deserted airport, completing lost luggage forms and becoming increasingly cranky, I flashed back to my earlier thoughts that day while flying over the mighty Rocky Mountains.  How desolate, awesome, endless, inhospitable and fierce these mountains are, especially to the early pioneers who left the known for the unknown and a new life, traveling in a manner few of us could survive today.  Their grueling journeys lasted months and, if they were lucky, they arrived at their destinations with their family members alive …only to be faced with other survival issues.

They didn’t worry about lost luggage, in-flight meals, or delayed flights!  They were just thankful to arrive in one piece.

I thought about the pioneer women, worried about childbirth; I thought  about their families cramped in covered wagons, praying that they could traverse the mountain passes before the snow fell, terrified of getting sick, scared to death of being attacked by native Americans, hoping that the men folk would be able to bring game to the evening’s campfire.  Suddenly, when viewed through the lens of historical perspective, our little airport drama seemed so inconsequential!

Instead of being vexed, I was grateful for the privileges—technological and otherwise— that we take for granted and I was grateful for remembering how truly blessed we are.  I was grateful for this experience of not sweating the small stuff.

Questions:

1. Can you think of times in your own life when a shift in perspective helped you to overcome difficult times? What made it possible for you to do this?
2. Would you be willing to share with us some of the ways you’ve learned to “not sweat the small stuff”?

Note: If you’re not familiar with the expression “don’t sweat the small stuff”, it refers to a manner of speaking and a way of life coined by Richard Carlson, PhD in a series of books.

Please use the link below share your thoughts with the Upside community.

What do “Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes”, “The Laws of Money”, “Your Money or Your Life”, “The Millionaire Next Door” and “Your Credit Score” all have in common? These books all made it on to the PF: What to Read Now list.

For the full Sf Examiner.com article, go here.