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When you attempt to talk about money with family members, the situation is usually pretty tense. I had this happen recently with my mother. My mother has no interest in personal finance. The closest she comes to managing her personal finances is writing out a check and hoping it clears.

I've been after her for years about letting me help her get her finances in order. She finally said that if I "wrote some things down", she would take a look at it.

I knew things were bad, but I didn't think they were this bad.

Bank Accounts
I setup online access to her bank account and logged in to take a look. There was craziness all over the place. She is paying a maintenance fee of $8.95 a month for her account. She's had the account for over 3 years so she's given the bank almost $300 just for having a plain vanilla checking account. She has bounced a couple of checks so there were more fees for NSF funds.

It only gets better......... Her savings account has a balance of $1.26.

Retirement
I setup her 401k a few years ago. I thought she was still contributing to the account. Not only is she no longer contributing; she cashed out the account a few months ago. She is 55 years old and has nothing saved for retirement.

Credit
My mother filed bankruptcy when I was in my early teens. At the time, I didn't realize what that was or what effect it had on your finances. I knew my mom's credit was probably not good so a few years ago, I put her as an authorized user one of my cards. Apparently, doing this hurt her more than helping her. At some point, she received a credit card from the bank that she has her checking account with. The credit card has a $5000 limit and a balance of $4977.

Result
When I met with her to go over everything, I tried not to let the anger show on my face. I couldn't believe she has been so irresponsible with her money. I wanted to just fix the problems and be done with it. I could pay off her credit card and have her close the account but she would probably just get another one and do the same thing. I could get her account balanced but she would just lose track again.

I told her she was an adult and it was time for her to fix her problems. If she had legitimate questions, I would answer them but she has to be responsible for her own finances. I'm tired of just fixing everything for her. She has just come to expect me to fix it and I don't think I should do it anymore. I love my mother more than anything but I can't be her crutch.

Does anyone else have this problem with their parents when it comes to money?

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When I was a young child, my uncle would amaze me will different kinds of magic tricks. One of the tricks he would do and the one I enjoyed the most was the old "quarter behind the ear" trick. Looking back on it, the trick was pretty cheesy and if I'd paid attention, I could have seen exactly how the "trick" was being performed.

It's been about 20 years or so since I've seen a magic trick involving money. Yesterday, I saw something that could have been described as a bad money trick.

This guy in front of me at the gas station purchased $90 in gas and $10 in lottery tickets and paid with a hundred dollar bill. In a matter of seconds, the hundred dollar bill was gone. I can't believe how quickly this guy went from having a hundred dollar bill to not having it.

If I want to giving my savings a boost, maybe I should switch to using cash only. I know it would be alot harder to spend cold hard cash versus putting the purchase on my debit card.

Image Credit: bdjsb7

In the October issue of Money Magazine, one of the cover stories was 47 ways to get on track to a rich life in 35 minutes or less. Of the six plans they offered,the best one is "Building Lifetime Wealth" in 35 years.

1. Own stocks. Since 1925, the S&P 500 has gained 10.2% a year. In the short run, stocks are riskier than bonds and cash but you have 35 years.

2. Pay Less. The 1.5% annual fee you are paying on your mutual fund may seem small but over 35 years, this can take a big bite out of your account balance. If you have a $10,000 balance, the difference between a 1.5% fee and a .2% fee is over $50k over 35 years.

3. Start Young. The effect of compounding interest over 35 years is unbelievable.

4. Diversify. Owning a mix of stock, bonds and other assets will help minimize your exposure to losses.

5. Buy a House. You can deduct the interest you pay and it is like writing a check to yourself rather than to the landlord. I'm not sure I necessarily agree with this one as some people do not want to be homeowners. If you have a balanced portfolio, you can still come out okay in the end.

6. Get and Stay Married. D-I-V-O-R-C-E can reduce your assets by half. I definitely do NOT agree with this one as not everyone WANTS or NEEDS to be married. There are alot of single people that can build wealth alone.

I received a call from my cousin today. You know, the one that asked for $1k and refused to tell me what it was for. You can read that story here. Well he decided to call and apologize for the way our conversation went. He apologized for cursing me and hanging up. He stated that he had been under alot of stress lately. Me being the person that I am, told him if he needed to talk, he can still talk to me. Regardless of past issues, we are still family. He declined to talk about his problems but said he just wanted to call and apologize. I accepted his apology and told him whatever problems he has, he needs to just pray about them and keep a positive outlook. This time, we ended on a positive note.

Five minutes later, he calls me back and says oh yeah, can I borrow $200. *sigh* OK, you know I am going to ask you why you need it. If you don't tell me, you know you won't get it. He still declined to tell me what it was for and I still declined the loan request. This time instead of cursing and hanging up, he just hung up.

What is his deal? Does he think he can call and give a halfhearted apology just to get some money? I am sick and tired of it. I hate to do it but I think it is time to write him off for awhile. Not permanently, but long enough for him to know that I will not stand for him acting like a spoiled child when he does not get what he wants.

Oh well, at least this time, SingleGuyMoney is not MAD!

What am I so mad about?? One of my many cousins...both of my parents have big families...called me up today. I hardly ever talk to this cousin because he's screwed me over in the past. Anyway, that's not why I am mad at him now. . I am mad at him because he called me today and the conversation went like this:

Me: Hello. (he called from a number I wasn't familiar with)
Him: Hey Cuz, wassup?
Me: Nothing much, wassup with you?
Him: Nothing much, I need a favor.
Me: What do you need?
Him: A thousand dollars. (he said it like he was asking for $5 bucks)
Me: (I almost fell out of my chair when he said this) What for?
Him: That's none of your damn business. I just need the money.
Me: (blood pressure rising) So you want to borrow ONE THOUSAND dollars from me and not
expect me to ask you why? Are you out of your damn mind?
Him: Are you going to let me borrow it or not?
Me: Dude, you still owe me fifty bucks from a loan 2 years ago.
Him: Fine, I will pay you back One thousand fifty bucks.
Me: LOL. Like I said before, you are out of your mind.
Him: Are you going to loan me the money or not?
Me: What do you think?
Him: F*ck you! Click........

Can you believe that? Not only does he get mad at me for asking what this huge "loan" is for, he also gets mad because I mention he already owes me money. I am steamed. I see red. I am MAD.

Luckily, he lives over 3 hours away or SingleGuyMoney would be blogging from my local jail.
Ok, maybe not blogging; more like making my one phone call.

So what do you guys think? Did I handle this wrong?

I have been a customer of ING Direct for about 5 years. I had actually forgotten about the account until I received a letter from them advising me that if I did not use the account, it would be closed. I used to have most of my money in this account until I found better rates elsewhere. I'd read a few blogs talking about their new checking account and figured I would check it out.

I really liked the account offerings and it was with a bank where I already had an account so opening the account was really easy. Head on over to ING Direct and check it out. The benefits of the account are as follows:

• Mastercard Debit Card


• Free ATM access at more than 32,000 locations


• Send money for free with "Electric Checks"


• Overdraft protection


• Safe, Secure and Smart


• Great Rates


• No Fees

My debit card should be here in about 5-7 business days. I have initiated a link from my current checking account to the ING Direct account and once everything is setup, I will transfer my cash from my current bank to ING Direct. I will keep my local account open with a small balance because my they have my mortgages. That way, I can continue to E-Pay my mortgage payments by just transferring money from ING to SunTrust. I will also use my local account to deposit my monthly rent checks and then transfer to ING.

I've sent a referral email to all my friends. They get $25 for opening the account with a minimum of $250 and I get $10 for the referral. If you would like a referral, click here to email me. I will not sale your email address.

Car sickness is the feeling you get when the monthly payment is due.
~Author Unknown