I don’t consider myself a complete stranger to high-priced gourmet fare. After all, I did enjoy a lovely $100-per-person meal once. But even that experience in my semi-impressive culinary repertoire did not prepare me to handle gracefully the idea of a 10-course dinner with a price tag of $25,000 per person. And it wasn’t a political fundraiser. Just a fancy meal in an exotic location—Bangkok, Thailand.

Sure, this gastronomic extravaganza included the very best in Cristal champagne, foie gras, truffles, Kobe beef, Beluga caviar, Belon oysters and mousseline of pattes rouges’ crayfish with morel mushroom infusion, but come on! Twenty-five grand per person—a price that does not include tax or gratuity or airfare?

I don’t think I could do that even if I were so rich $25,000 would be mere pennies as compared to my vast net worth. There are some things I simply would not be able to get out of my mind like: Continue reading

Recently, I challenged my readers to dump their negative thoughts, which can so easily lead to negative and destructive behaviors. The assignment was simple: Write down ten things for which you are grateful. I even suggested that they send me their lists. My mail boxes were sizzling for days. Weeks later, lists are still trickling in. The responses were all heartwarming, but perhaps none as poignant as the one from Allie, a high school student.

“I am having a really tough time in high school right now and even though most times I have positive thoughts and attitudes sometimes it gets really hard but I usually catch myself and try to reverse the negative thoughts into positive ones. After reading this I wanted to send you my ten good things in life.  Continue reading

Nok-Out and I met quite by accident. In searching for ways my readers could deal with offensive odors, we found each other online. I’ve used it continuously in my home since then and have recommended it to readers facing serious and potentially expensive odor issues. Not everything in life can be doused in bleach. But Nok-Out? No problem!

So today I thought I would sum it all up by giving you my top eight reasons that I am hooked on Nok-Out. It’s a smelly world out there and I don’t want to live in it without Nok-Out. Continue reading

Over the years I’ve heard from dozens of readers who have lent money to friends and family members, only to have become outraged when the deal goes sour. The problem is they write to me after they’ve made the loan and have been waiting months, even years, for repayment, without success, hoping I can wave a magic wand to get their money back. I always tell these readers that I wish they’d written to me earlier, before they lent the money. Doing things right from the start makes all the difference in the end. Here’s how:

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1. Embrace reality. Lend only the amount of money you can afford to give as a gift. Don’t tell your potential borrower this, but know in your heart that the chances of you ever being repaid in full are fairly slim. That’s a fact of life. There’s a reason this borrower is coming to you and not to a bank or conventional lender to borrow money. Continue reading

If the question, “When can I retire?” ties your stomach in knots, don’t feel like the Lone Ranger. Millions of your peers are in the same boat with little, if any, savings put away to supplement their Social Security benefits during retirement.

Waiting until age 50 or 60 to start saving for retirement is not ideal. It’s late but not too late. Anything you do now can improve your future.

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DIVE IN. You don’t have the luxury to gently ease into the retirement savings waters. Forget about the mistakes you’ve made in the past and dive in. Focus your full attention on the years you have to save for the future.

KEEP WORKING. Every situation is unique but generally as long as you are healthy, you need to keep working. You may be tempted to hang it up on the first day you can draw Social Security benefits, but do you really want to join the 10 million American retires who are currently living on Social Security and Medicare alone? Enough said. Continue reading