How Nice Guys Finish First With Money

Kevin McKee recently had an excellent guest post at the blog Sweating The Big Stuff that argued in favor of being nice in dealing with businesses that you frequent. And I personally could not agree more. At every sales position that I have ever worked at in my life, I have been much more inclined to help someone out who is kind to me and honestly asks me for assistance. If someone comes in cussing, yelling, and screaming, then there is no incentive to help that person out. Why would I want to make a jerk's life any better? There's no motivation there. I'm amazed by how many people don't seem to realize this. Whenever I visit McDonalds and they screw up my order, I politely ask for a free order of fries to compensate me for my trouble, and every single time, without hesitation, I have received that free order of fries. And this has generally been true for more expensive items as well. If you have an honest gripe with the company, presenting it in a reasonable manner will make the company want to help you out--after all, what company thinks it is in their long-term interest to screw over nice people asking for justice? That would be a disastrous business model. If you want to take a look at Mr. McKee's post, be sure to visit it by clicking here: http://sweatingthebigstuff.com/a-drop-of-honey-makes-you-money-in-negotiations/

Should Parents Give Their Adult Children Money?

One of the recurring topics that financial pundits love to tee off on is when parents endure any form of financial hardship to help their adult children. Pundits and website commenters usually start speaking in high-fallutin' 'we pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps' language about making your own way, learning responsibility, and other platitudes that sound like they come out of a Wild Wild West documentary. The truth is, a lot of parents tend to love their children, and a natural by-product of this is a desire to help their kids out when they need a helping hand. Let's face it, today's economy doesn't have the security of the boomer generation factory job with a pension, and we can't be surprised that children have to rely on their parents to just to get by. It is not 'evil' for a parent to help out a kid in need, but of course, parents should not compromise their own security in order to meet the short-term demands of their children. There is one thing that financial pundits are right about--there's no such thing as loans for retirement! Boomer & Echo recently wrote a solid piece on this topic, and you should visit their website and read about it here: http://www.boomerandecho.com/bailing-out-your-adult-children/ .