We downsized from £60,000 to £16,000

The Stoddart family downsized from a comfortable £60,000-a-year life in Brighton to live in west Wales on £16,000 – and they still have to pay a mortgage. Here they tell how they did it I was sitting in a business meeting a couple of years ago doing what normal people do in meetings at work. There was lots of "blah, blah, blah, financial targets" and "waffle, waffle, waffle, notes from the last meeting" when it dawned on me that, now in my mid-30s, I didn't want to "do business" any more. I didn't want to work in an office, in fact. I started wondering what would happen if we were all thrown into a practically challenging situation, such as the middle of a jungle somewhere; how would we cope and, you know, survive? What good would PowerPoint and Adobe Acrobat skills do then? Look, I was...

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Research in Motion: The End is Near

Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) has too much to prove to the Street and the consensus is for the pain to continue for shareholders. (theStockMasters.com | Frank Lara) We knew Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) had one last run left, that run has occurred and now its time to never look back. Think back to the Blackberry Ban when every other country was threatening to put an end to RIM in 2010. We told our readers to buy at that 52-week low. RIM shares then went on a tear and almost bucked above $70 in Feburary. Friday Research in Motion shares closed within 7.5% of its 12 month low. Could the same game plan be executed once again? Will Research in Motion shares rise from the ashes and prove the Street wrong? Can lightning strike twice for investors? The Masters aren't willing to go to...

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What Attracted Berkshire to Lubrizol

Lubrizol's niche market, the critical function of its products, and focus on service lead to better pricing power and stickiness, says Sanibel Captiva Trust's Pat Dors...

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Birthday Gift Alternative — How About Money?

Our little guy just turned 7 and his birthday party is coming up in a few days. In an effort to keep the proverbial mountain of gifts down to the size of a molehill this year, we are trying out what we call in our neck of the woods a “toonie party”. Each guest has been given the option of bringing three 2-dollar coins (toonies) instead of a gift. From each participant, he will put one coin in his savings account, give one coin to the charity of his choice, and spend one coin on a birthday gift for himself. (Of course this could be modified to use any currency or denomination.) It’s been tempting to try the “no gift” route especiallly because it feels a little tacky to ask for money. But I know that I feel uncomfortable showing up to a party without anything in hand and hope that this is...

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65 Ways Retirees Can Cut Their Day-to-Day Expenses

If you're looking to save a few more dollars, these tips on cutting your grocery, utility, and personal-care bills, among others, are worth a look. No matter your life stage, managing your household budget is all about priorities--and trade-offs. One retiree I know wouldn't dream of skipping his opera outings, even though his season tickets cost an arm and a leg. To make up for his periodic musical splurges, he doesn't mind shopping at Aldi (in fact he seems to rather like it) and handling his own landscaping and lawn-mowing. About the Author Christine Benz is Morningstar's director of personal finance and author of 30-Minute Money Solutions: A Step-by-Step Guide to Managing Your Finances and the Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds: 5-Star Strategies for Success. Follow Christine on Twitter:...

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Google's Spendthrift Ways Spook Investors

Google (GOOG, $530.70, -47.81) announced its Q1 results last night. The company grew its top line by 27% year over year, topping expectations, but a 54% increase in spending and a clear signal from co-founder and new CEO Larry Page that the expenses would keep, sent investors running for the exits. Page made a brief appearance on the earnings call last night, expressing optimism about the company's future and saying that management changes Google announced earlier in the year were "all working very well, exactly as planned." Page, who has a reputation for being media averse, exited and left CFO Patrick Pichette and other executives to answer analyst queries. The costs increases stemmed from the company's announcement at the end of last year that it would increase salaries across the board...

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What Kids Should Know About Money At 9, 13, 18 and 23

Kids Financial Lessons A child occasionally blowing a week's worth of allowance on ringtones or a month's worth on designer jeans may seem like a harmless rite of passage. If the child is really young, you might even think it's cute — and to be fair, such behavior may be both harmless and cute if parents use these kinds of moments as teaching opportunities. But most parents aren't nearly vigilant enough with their financial guidance and most schools don't teach a thing about money at young ages. So bad habits develop early and may stay with kids for a lifetime. No one should be surprised to see these same children later on buying cars or houses they can't afford and amassing credit-card debt they can't pay off. What young people don't know about money is sometimes shocking. In a recent national...

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Dollar mixed after brief rally

NEW YORK -The dollar is retreating again after a brief rally following news of the death of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. The dollar has fallen against a group of six major currencies for the past eight trading days. Investors expect that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates super low and continue other stimulus efforts, while central banks overseas are raising interest rates. Higher rates tend to make currencies more attractive to investors seeking higher yields. In morning trading Monday in New York, the euro is up to $1.4845 from $1.4839 late Friday. The dollar is giving back some of its overnight gains against the British pound and Japanese yen, but is higher against the two currencies than it was on Frid...

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Spring Sellers Try House Swap Instead

Wendy Bauwens is no stranger to swapping. As a horse trainer, she has traded a harness for a new website and a riding lesson for a haircut. Today, however, she's lining up her biggest swap yet: her horse farm, Sunnyside Farms (pictured at left), located near Bozeman, Mont., for something closer to the ocean. A new place to call home in Hawaii or California are at the top of her list. As spring selling season gets under way, some homeowners are opting for an unconventional route: house swapping. Even as the housing market defrosts this spring, sellers are on the lookout for creative ways to minimize their costs. Swapping offers several bottom-line benefits: there are few to no agents' fees, sellers can minimize their tax burden, and it's a way to leverage property that may be otherwise difficult...

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Checking Accounts Often Costly, Contain Hidden Risks, Study Finds

A new study reveals your checking account could be costing you a lot more than you think. The study, from the Pew Health Group, called Hidden Risks: The Case for Safe and Transparent Checking Accounts, found that the average checking account in the U.S. has: an $8.95 monthly fee, an overdraft penalty fee of $35, an overdraft transfer fee of $10, and an extended overdraft penalty fee of $25 every seventh day the account is overdrawn. According to estimates from Moebs Services, Americans will spend a record $38 billion in overdraft fees in 2011. "If overdraft were treated like a short-term loan with a repayment period of seven days, then the annual percentage rate, or APR, on the typical overdraft would be over 5,000 percent," the Pew study noted. Pew based its overall findings on an analysis...

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Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Sees Profit Tank 58%

Berkshire Hathaway's first-quarter profits fell 58 percent because of an estimated $1.7 billion in pretax insurance losses from major disasters in Japan, Australia and the U.S. CEO Warren Buffett estimates that Berkshire will report $1.5 billion in net income, down from $3.6 billion the year before. He did not offer earnings per share figures. Buffett offered a, earnings preview at Saturday's annual shareholders meeting. Berkshire's full earnings report is scheduled to be released Friday. Buffett said the biggest factor in the earnings drop was losses related to the damage from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, Australian floods and the New Zealand earthquake. "We had probably the second-worst quarter for the insurance industry in terms of disasters around the globe," Buffett said. Reinsurance...

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