Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the United States. Over the next few days, I’ll be sharing a series of guest posts, as well as some updated favorites from the past. I’ll be back on Monday with lots of new articles about smart personal finance (and , I hope, a guest appearance from one of my favorite videobloggers — confirmed!).
As we head into the holiday weekend, here are some assorted links from around the web. Because I’ve found a lot of interesting stuff lately, I’m going to share the first few links as simple bullet points, followed by two stories worthy of special mention.
- Paul Williams at Crackerjack Greenback has some points to ponder when you choose a financial adviser.
- Trent at The Simple Dollar writes that clutter is money. This reminds me of my ongoing series about the tyranny of Stuff.
- Kimberly Palmer at U.S. News & World Report‘s Alpha Consumer blog has been struggling lately with how to give money to family members (or not).
- Emma Johnson at MSN Money recently posted about home-buying the old-fashioned way, a look at traditional mortgages.
Priscilla forwarded a story from ABC News that describes how going-out-of-business sales are not such a bargain. Those great deals you think you’re getting? They’re not great deals.
One example: We saw a Samsung HDTV that was only available as an open box item at the liquidation store and cost $1,799 with all sales final. But at Circuit City’s regular stores it was available for $1,599 brand new — $200 less, plus we could return it.
I didn’t used to believe this stuff until I had a conversation with a friend whose family used to own a large department store in a major U.S. city. He described the liquidation process, and it’s just as jaw-dropping as this report suggests. Yes, you can find good deals at these sales, but don’t assume they’re all good deals.
Finally, one of my mantras is: “Money is more about mind than it is about math.” Ron at The Wisdom Journal believes this doesn’t go far enough. He writes that money is 100% emotional. “Mastering your money means facing your fears, overcoming them, and then taking concrete steps to redefine how you look at and relate with money.” Great stuff.
Happy thanksgiving, everyone!
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Thanks for the link, J.D.! Happy Thanksgiving!!!
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Oh man…don’t get me started on the Going Out Of Business sales. I can’t for the life of me understand why people always run in and buy the whole store up when it’s only 10% off. If consumers would patiently wait, they could score much better bargains.
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That is funny. I alwaysthought they would offer great prices. Apparently not. You better check your sources before you buy from these places. Ebay is usually way cheaper and just as good.
Looking forward to the next week. I have lots to be thankful for….mainly that I have become a full time writer by doing freelance writing online. I am so thankful for it
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Hey J.D.! Thanks for the wonderful links.
@ Kristen – I totally feel the same way. I have no idea why, when a local Linen’s N Things is going out of business in my area, I saw people running around the store purchasing things when there were like 10% – 20% off. I waited patiently until I saw an item that I needed at least 40% off and then bought it.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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It was funny – I helped manage a store that was going under liquidation once. I ran the store, working with the liquidating company who actually ran the sales. The whole process was very fascinating!
One of the most interesting things was how he decided to mark down which items and by how much, and in general how the whole process was run. People would be snatching things up at 10 or 20% off, but if they just went across town to a regular, still open store they could get the same exact thing for 40-50% off. Go figure. The whole “liquidation mentality” was just fascinating – I didn’t believe the liquidator at first when he told me how things would work, at the beginning. I sure wasn’t a skeptic at the end!
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About the lending money to family thing, I find a big problem is getting people to actually take their money BACK when I want to reconcile the loan. My grandmother loaned me $3000 and in the end would only take $2500, and that with a lot of arm-twisting.
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Hey JD, thanks for the link and Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. Enjoy your break and I’ll look forward to your article on Monday!
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happy gobble gobble jd.. and to the rest of the get rich slowly faithful
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My wife investigated the “liquidation sale” at the local Linens N’ Things and was amazed at how high the prices were. This article was a real eye opener, as I have fell victim to the “liquidation lemmings” mindset in the past.
If I recall correctly, this is my one year anniversary for finding GRS. It has become a daily affirmation that has emboldened me to tackle some financial demons. With any luck, I can eliminate just about all of the non mortgage debt by this time next year. That will be a fantastic Thanksgiving. For now, I wish everyone here a happy and safe Thanksgiving.
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the economy is behaving as I suspected all along…and it’s our fault! As the frugal movement gains momentum and begins to conquer the mighty forces of the spend-all-ya-got society there are going to be big changes.
The size and breadth of those changes are yet to be seen…but the changes are coming fast!
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Happy Thanksgiving to all! Thanks, J.D., for your thought-provoking and, more importantly, action-provoking posts and thanks to everyone else for your input. I have been hooked on GRS for quite some time now.
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Well, we already had our Thanksgiving. Canada celebrates Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in down south!
Cheers,
A Dawn Journal
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“Sales” have always been an ingenious way to get people to spend more and, ironically, save less.
There’s a local clothing store that takes this to a surreal level. Every week is a new “20% Off Sale, Act Now” banner. The sad thing is that I know several who continuously shop there for that very reason.
Psychology must be a depressing topic to study.
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I managed a music and video department at the New England department store chain Lechmere when it went out of business. We always had the cheapest prices in town; CDs were $2 to $4 less than every other chain at the time. And every month we ran a sale where they all were $2 cheaper than that!
We ran the last sale for the 2 weeks before the liquidators took over. Nobody bought anything. Then the “GOING OUT OF BUSINESS” banners went up, and suddenly people were buying huge stacks of CDs. At 10% off. The same people who wouldn’t buy a CD at $10.98 were now going crazy over them at $11.69.
People perceive “bargain” in a weird way.
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happy thanksgiving!
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You seem to have a knack for distasteful post titles.
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Wesley wrote: You seem to have a knack for distasteful post titles.
Hm. I was unaware of this knack. Something tells me that there’s some sort of cultural thing going on here… Can somebody help bridge the gap?
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Totally agree with the mantra! Mastering the emotion on money is the hardest thing to do! Maybe if we were all robots we would be millionaires by now
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