Mind Over Money

I don’t understand why doctors have special parking spaces near the front door, while their barely ambulatory patients have to park in the back 40. My investment company is a service business. As such, we are constantly trying to improve our customer service. We return calls promptly. We put customer concerns at the top of [...]

I am hopping mad! Jack Welch and others have taken to the air waves suggesting the latest economic data on jobs has been manipulated. They have no evidence, but that hasn’t stopped them from claiming that government information has been “cooked.” Such an accusation reveals an ignorance of the collection and calculation of such data [...]

Recessions are part of the business cycle. They are relative, and they are temporary. They can last up to 18 months. The Great Recession, which began with the Financial Crisis of 2008, has been longer and harder than most. Here in Mississippi, we were late to the party. The effects of the contraction hit us [...]

I was so excited when the State of Mississippi finally started offering a college savings plan. My daughter was 16 and on the edge of qualifying. I plunked down my money for the full four years. By the time “H” headed to college, tuition costs had spiked. It was a great return on my money. [...]

I made my usual phone call. “Mom, Dad, how about coming north and staying with us until the storm passes,” I said, knowing full-well what their answer would be. My parents live in the same house in Gulfport where I grew up. Their street is about a mile off the beach but not in a [...]

I hate flying. Every time I climb on board one of those tin cans, I think, “Surely, God didn’t intend for us to be hanging around at 10,000 feet.” The source of my distaste used to be my irrational fear of flying. Panic would set in days before my scheduled trip. During the trip, turbulence [...]

I usually cringe when I see state ranking lists published. In things like income and education, Mississippi is always on the bottom. In things like teen birth rate, we’re always at the top. Rarely do we have anything to crow about, but a recent list caused me to puff up a bit. Mississippians are the [...]

Years ago, my then-single husband and his friend lamented their desert of a love life. They wanted the love of a good woman but had trouble finding the right one. In the midst of the moaning and groaning, his friend said, “But even Christian girls need sex, too!” Eighty-one school districts in Mississippi have chosen [...]

Gov. Bryant signed the new “quickie” marriage law. As of July 1, you no longer have to wait 72 hours to go running down the aisle. In fact, there’s no waiting period at all. Pay your $21, sign your name and dash off to the justice of the peace. Wham, bam! You’re hitched. I can [...]

I never turn down a free meal. It’s there. It’s free. Why would you? Of course, it starts to show after a while. Those free meals can add extra pounds that extract their own price at some point down the road. The Supreme Court has ruled on the Affordable Care Act, and governors around the [...]