What do ‘ketchup’ and Control Your Cash have in common?
No, they are not both red; one thing that Control Your Cash by Betty Kincaid and Greg McFarlane isn’t is ‘red’. You can’t figure this one out? At least you know Betty and Greg, right? They are the folks behind one of the blogs I regard very highly – Control Your Cash. (As a side note, because I suspect that by the time you have finished reading this you will really feel a strong urge to buy this book, you can do so through their site – just follow the link. And no, I am not on commission!)
Let’s get back to the question in the title! First I probably need to explain about ‘ketchup’. Have you noticed that Heinz ketchup has absolute monopoly on the market? In fact all other ketchup makers copy Heinz’s taste as closely as they can and any attempt to deviate from this fails. Malcolm Gladwell, well known for asking and answering interesting questions, set out to figure out why there are so many kinds of mustard and de facto only one type of ketchup. What he came up with was extremely interesting: the reason Heinz taste, objectionable as it is, is unbeaten is that it tickles all five senses of taste, namely salty, sweet, sour, bitter and umami.
If ketchup tickles all five senses of taste, Control Your Cash excites all expectations of a good read. Continue reading
Match made in heaven: the beauty of Zopa finance is, it cuts out the bank ‘middleman’!
This article is written by Rebecca Boden; professor in management accounting and Money Principle Master Extraordinaire.
Have you ever wondered what happens to the money that you have in the bank? Disappointingly, they don’t keep it in a giant sock under the bank’s bed.
Banks make some of their profits by borrowing at a lower rate of interest than they lend at and keeping the difference. Most, if not all, current accounts pay no interest to the person who owns the money. And at the moment, bank deposit accounts (savings accounts) pay a very low rate of interest. This means that banks get to use our money for free or very cheaply. Unfortunately, our generosity to banks is not reciprocated: they lend the money that is in our bank accounts onto other people at quite high rates of interest. Continue reading
Morals vs Money: round two
This round of the morals vs money series is inspired by a question posed on the Money Saving Expert. In brief, this is a case of someone who has personal debt of about £40,000. This is on different credit cards and loans, all offered or granted by one particular bank. This person was allowed to borrow £40,000 when he/she earns £15,000 per year. He/she posed the following question:
“Is it possible to get the bank for irresponsible landing?” Continue reading
A Nice Girl changing her money profile
Last week I told you about my scores according to the test in Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich. I also told you what the verdict of the test was and that I did ‘get moving’ as instructed in no uncertain terms. What I didn’t tell you is what my reaction to the score was, what I discovered and where I am today. This is what I’ll do in this post.
I am an avid reader and until recently I, like most people around, read paper book. I hardly ever write on the book – for me this is disrespectful to the author of the book and to the book. I like my books in good condition, read but not shabby and used. Having this attitude, you may imagine what strength of emotion and speed of thinking can make me write in the margins of a book? Very strong! I have written in two books in my entire life – and this, as it happens is one of them. When I opened it last week to write the post I saw the following:
‘Tragedy!’ – written after the interpretation of the test results. Continue reading
