While my husband, David, and I discuss all our financial decisions these days and have learned to respect each other’s viewpoints on spending, it hasn’t always been that way. I still vividly remember being furious with him years ago when he said no to getting a credit card. My argument was that we needed a washer and dryer so I didn’t have to gather up our dirty clothes, load the kids in the car   [Read More …]

I wish I had known how to help my stepfather be an effective donor, but he was beyond listening to reason by the time he married my mother. So while I couldn’t change his giving patterns, perhaps sharing his most ineffective habit in print will help others who are feeling overwhelmed by donation requests. Lyle could not, not respond to every plea for funds he received in the mail. Bogus or   [Read More …]

By Judy Osgood Before The Bucket List movie was made, I read an article written by a man who thought he was going to die in a plane crash. That wasn’t an irrational fear on his part. He was on a commercial flight that experienced serious mechanical problems. While the flight crew prepared the passengers for a potential crash landing, he found himself thinking about the things he wanted to do   [Read More …]