by mapgirl on December 15, 2008
Penny Nickel at Money and Values has a great list of eco/socially conscious gift links.
While SFOrdinaryGirl was visiting, I happened to take her by Busboys and Poets in DC (the CityVista location). As we stopped in and looked at all the Fair Trade products available, I was really skeptical about everything. I can talk myself [...]
by mapgirl on March 13, 2008
I’m dating myself by revealing that I remember the days protesting for divestiture from South Africa because of apartheid. It was a big deal to get our school’s endowment fund to divest in line with its religious principles and values. It seems like a very small act to divest in Sudan because I don’t have [...]
by mapgirl on March 11, 2008
Someone asked me recently about investing in renewable energy stocks, but asked if there were any special mutual funds for them. Knowing that there are socially responsible investment vehicles out there, all it took was a simple Google search for “alternative energy mutual fund” to turn up two solid articles from CNN and from Altenergystocks.com. [...]
by mapgirl on December 21, 2007
N.B. I wrote this post ages ago. But the co-worker mentioned in the article still needles me with her attitude. Also, small disclaimer, I have a friend who is a Gates Scholar in the UK right now. I totally forgot that it might color my perception of the Gates Foundation. But she was really cool [...]
by mapgirl on October 21, 2007
UPDATE: Voting closed. In 12 hours, consensus seems to be option #3.
Alrighty, here’s the scenario. I owe my friend $500 for a nice used laptop. I have paid her a good chunk of the agreed price, but now that I have the computer in hand, I need to pay her the rest.
Now, when I agreed [...]
by mapgirl on September 16, 2007
As I reflect more and more on what happened to the guy in Maryland who can barely afford his housing costs as taxes and insurance costs rise, I am wondering how he got into this mess.
I’m a big proponent of radical personal responsibility. As much as I whine on this blog, I know that my [...]
by mapgirl on September 12, 2007
Which would you rather lose?
I am kind of shocked by this article in the Washington Post about homeowners who are current on their credit cards, but not on their mortgages.
They opted to let their mortgage payments go while keeping current on all their cards. “I would rather be late on one thing than on several [...]
by mapgirl on July 25, 2007
Ms. MiniDucky called me out in her post about loaning her parents some money for a new business venture. This took some time and soul searching for me. I don’t usually respond to direct solicitations for advice. I’m not an expert on financial matters. I’m not professionally trained, but I think she’s asking me because [...]
by mapgirl on July 12, 2007
Apparently he’s been notified by the FBI of a criminal investigation.
From my very limited experience, he’ll probably only go to jail for 3 years and then like the defendant on whose case I worked before, he can get out of jail and go right back to fraudulent practices and get indicted again about 5 years [...]
by mapgirl on June 28, 2007
I’m not kidding. Everyone who is tracking their money ought to have a software program to look at their accounts. Unless you are an anal retentive accountant who keeps old school ledgers, I doubt you balance your accounts by hand and keep it up to date all the time.
I have got a serious cautionary tale [...]