Mentality : The Money Principle

Category: Mentality

Impossible is nothing: about achieving impossible feats

Published May 14, 2013 | By Maria | Posted in Mentality, WTFIFL | 22 Comments

I have always thought of myself as a fairly conventional and ordinary person. OK, probably not entirely 'ordinary' and even not entirely 'conventional' - there has been too much evidence to the contrary over the years - but I have never thought of myself as someone who achieves [...] Continue Reading...

Easy to forget rule of personal finance: have fun and budget for it

Published Mar 19, 2013 | By Maria | Posted in Financial Health, Mentality | 6 Comments

T-Shirt design by Adam Piplica Ha, ha! See this picture? Thanks to Adam from the Magical Penny, the UK personal finance bloggers who 'stayed the distance' last weekend were immortalised. Guess which one is me? (Of course, I am so much better looking in person!) [...] Continue Reading...

Getting a new car makes financial sense: meet our Skoda Citigo

Published Mar 14, 2013 | By John | Posted in Mentality, WTFIFL | 10 Comments

‘Get a second hand car for cash and run it into the ground’ is a well-rehearsed mantra of personal finance; and as most received wisdom it doesn’t withstand scrutiny. We believe that getting a new car makes financial sense – particularly when the previous one was a serious and unexciting [...] Continue Reading...

Four principal income strategies

Published Mar 12, 2013 | By Maria | Posted in Make money, Mentality | 19 Comments

Some time ago now I published an article which was about the big pay outs and bonuses bankers get; and most of the time this is a reward for a job that is really shoddily done – from failing IT systems to money laundering. In this article I stated that [...] Continue Reading...

Received wisdom is problematic: sayings I dislike

Published Jan 20, 2013 | By Maria | Posted in Big picture, Mentality, WTFIFL | 14 Comments

Our lives run on routines - from the moment we wake up, till the time when our eyelashes gently ring with tiredness, we execute sets of routines. We brush our teeth and don't even remember doing it. Heck, sometimes I'll drive to work and won't be able to recall the [...] Continue Reading...

Does it have to be so complex? Three mental shifts to simplify your financial life

Published Jan 14, 2013 | By Maria | Posted in Big picture, Mentality, WTFIFL | 14 Comments

Lately, I have noticed that my life has become a bit harder! Now some may attribute this to the on-going economic crisis - we have already been through a double dip recession and are confidently marching into a triple dip one; which is a way for economists, finance buffs and [...] Continue Reading...

How to travel to Europe on a budget

Published Jan 11, 2013 | By Maria | Posted in Budgeting, Mentality, Spend money | 2 Comments

This is a guest post offering some ideas for travelling around Europe on a budget; these tips are particularly appropriate for younger travellers looking to expand their horizons without breaking their bank balance. Enjoy! Europe is a fantastic continent for the intrepid traveller; and undeniably suited [...] Continue Reading...

Living life, loving life and budgeting for it: the Cinderella rule of personal finance

Published Aug 14, 2012 | By Maria | Posted in Financial Health, Mentality | 7 Comments

This is the article with which I competed in the Personal Finance Olympics. Enjoy! Doing our household accounts has become a ritual of mine – at the end of the month I sit in my study with a nice espresso and pour over spreadsheets, receipts and handwritten [...] Continue Reading...

Three quotes that will help you improve your writing

Published Jun 12, 2012 | By Maria | Posted in Mentality | 9 Comments

I am not a Mason! Obviously not; I am a woman and I am not married to, or the daughter of, a Master Mason. Regardless, I have long believed in the ‘as above, so below’ principle. My interpretation of this is that our actions are determined by out thoughts (well, [...] Continue Reading...

About the importance of spotting opportunities and acting on them

Published May 29, 2012 | By Maria | Posted in Exercises, Mentality | 23 Comments

Today I was sitting here, thinking that my sabbatical is almost coming to an end – I have only about a month left of a twelve month study leave. And, yes, I do realise how lucky I am to work at a university that still grants study leave. Looking at [...] Continue Reading...

Money for all seasons II: income, spending and age profiles and received wisdom

Published May 1, 2012 | By Maria | Posted in Big picture, Mentality | 18 Comments

In ‘Money for all seasons I’ I already described the seasons of our lives according to income and spending. I also set out some expectations and used these to ask you, my readers, to position yourselves within a season. In brief, I see the expectations of pitfalls in different ‘seasons’ [...] Continue Reading...

Money for all seasons I: income, spending and age

Published Apr 17, 2012 | By Maria | Posted in Big picture, Mentality | 41 Comments

This is the first of two posts in which the seasons of life and finance are outlined. In the next one, these are used to ‘profile’ and project financial health. I have been joking that people have different pre-occupations in different decades of their lives. During their [...] Continue Reading...

The Money Principle

... Stuff hedonism, take charge!