Now comes the cooler weather, big orange buses, notebooks and… Your chance to score 25% off with our Back to School Sale!

Checkbook, Checkbook Pro, and Audiobook Builder are on SALE now through September 17th 2010.

Checkbook is an excellent gift for a young adult heading off to college or for anyone else as they continue to explore strange new financial worlds and seek out new ways to keep their money in order (sorry, my love of Star Trek is always bubbling beneath the surface). Checkbook Pro is the next generation of money management, with all the features of the original Checkbook and then some!

Audiobook Builder is the easy way to organize your books or lectures. Perfect for students or professors or empty nesters (who now have time to listen to a novel).

Kick off the new school year by owning software that makes your life less hectic! When your head hits the pillow you’ll know where your money is at and you can drift off listening to a good book

The answer is definitely a matter of opinion, but according to this list I have read 6 out of 100 of the best books of all time. Though I have not yet read Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut. I think I will make it my number 7.

Recently, I finished Galapagos by the same author. Without giving away too much, this story is about the de-evolution of humanity. How our brains shrink over the course of a million years, and we become sea creatures. Vonnegut is very direct about his view that “big brains” are the root of all problems within society. He lays it on pretty thick, so much so that I felt like someone punched me in the heart at the end.

Underneath the general theme that we are all so completely messed up is a deeper message about the unique value of humanity.

You wake up late. Get a speeding ticket on the way to work. Find a note on your desk reminding you of an overdue report. But a co-worker brings you a coffee with a sympathetic smile and suddenly it’s all okay.

What goes on in the small circle of each individual life appears to go on in the larger sphere that we all share. With each misfortune (and all to frequently occurring tragedies), what happens when the dust clears is surprisingly enough to make it all worthwhile once more. Vonnegut presents this point as well as other insights into human nature so elegantly…Galapagos is worth a listen while you jog or mow the lawn.

They just wanted to let me know that their security systems had been breached. I, now, had the fabulous opportunity to sign up for free identity protection for a whole year. This wasn’t something I needed to worry about, they assured me, well I should worry a little because some of my personal information was stored in the area that had been accessed and I should keep an eye on my credit report for the next year or more, but really don’t worry because everything is under control.

Around the same time, I’m not making this up, my e-mail account started sending all my friends and family a message about a great way to make money from home with a link to check it out.

So, from a completely average non-expert point-of-view, I’m just really surprised that people don’t worry about mint.com. Obviously, I can’t claim to have an unbiased opinion, because I use Checkbook Pro. Still, as a lover of Psychology, I wonder how the idea of storing all one’s personal and banking information in one place could be viewed as a good idea.

It seems counter intuitive.

My first memories of money include; my Dad giving us a penny for every dandelion we plucked from the lawn, taking turns sitting on a hot metal folding chair (with my siblings and neighbors) at our very own lemonade stand, and picking rocks at my uncles farm. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of walking along side a flat-bed tossing rocks out of a field, with absolutely no shade, well you haven’t yet lived.

As a kid, a few pennies meant candy or a pack of gum. Things I could have gotten (and sometimes did get) by asking my parents. But it was different buying it with my own money. It was special.

Dan Kadlec, in his blog post, “Kids and Money: How Not to Raise a Spoiled Brat” had this to say about teaching kids the value of money. “I want to make sure my kids understand that success at anything takes genuine effort and that there is no satisfaction greater than earning your keep.” Everyone has there own definition of “genuine effort”. For me, its something I can feel. A peaceful calm that occurs after physical and mental work. Kadlec also talks about how parents struggle to decide how much they should give to their children and how much they should step back and let their children earn things for themselves.

Children learn first by observing everything others do. Getting frustrated with your job? Save the complaining for after the kids have hit the sack. Really want that new “——-” but don’t have the money? Skip it. Or better yet, talk to your kids about how your really wanted “——”  and explain how you are saving up for it. Show your children how money works. Then, give them a chance to earn some. Pick jobs that are tough, but on par with your child’s abilities. A good read for parents looking to teach their children about money early is Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey.

Most people, even little ones, want to earn the good things in life.

Yesterday, while running on the treadmill,  I watched an episode of  “The Deadliest Catch”. One of the captains was trying to quit chewing tobacco. His eleven year old daughter called to remind him that he promised to quit. The camera zooms in on his face as he talks with her and then pans around the room showing us a crayon picture reading, “Chew = Eww” and pictures of three smiling children. In addition, he  has just learned that an old friend, another captain, has just had a serious stroke. The captain is obviously committed in his effort to stop using tobacco.  Aware of the fragile nature of life, he has every reason to take better care of his own health. But, in a few hours, we see him dipping and throwing the rest of the container across the room.

The Ohio State University, in their free guide to managing finances, had this to say, ”If ten people were given a $100 bill, they would most likely spend it in entirely different ways. Why? Because different people value different things.” Not only do we have different values, but we are bound by a unique set of circumstances and motivations. When trying to make changes, people often look directly at their actions and say, “Well, I’m not going to do that anymore.” But this approach rarely works as it doesn’t take in account the motivation behind the action.

My (extremely) limited knowledge of crab fishing comes from television, but I’ll take a leap here and say that the captain uses tobacco to deal with an incredibly stressful job/lifestyle.

Keith and Randy created Checkbook in 2002, because they wanted something to manage their finances that fit their needs.  Fortunately, many others found their creation fit their financial management needs as well.

Checkbook, however, is a tool. What you build with it is up to you.

So, Splasm Software money management tip number one is this:  Identify the “Why?” behind your spending.

As a teenager, while waiting tables at a bar & grill, an old cook befriended me. Round and kind with a calm, even temper uncharacteristic of cooks at the establishment (except for “Hollywood” who earned his nickname by wearing shades to conceal his bloodshot eyes). I don’t know how old the cook actually was, very old to me, because when you are 17 everyone with gray hair is incredibly old.

The cook was always on in the mornings when I started my shift. Meals for staff were half off.  Hash browns were the cheapest item on the menu; I ordered them every time I worked. My cook friend, we’ll call him Don, made amazing hash browns by adding cheese, onions, sausage, sometimes even a fried egg. It was the kind of thing that you know you really don’t deserve, but are greatfull nonetheless.

In addition to creative hash brown making, Don was willing to listen to me talk about my dreams for the future. My original plan had been to join the Peace Corps, but they were mostly interested in college graduates or people with agricultural knowledge. I was in my last year of high school and dragging my feet applying to colleges.

Don told me that if he “had it to do over” he would have liked to have been a teacher.

At the time, I found Don’s unrealized dream absolutely astonishing.  It wasn’t like he wanted to be movie star or the president of the United States. Several schools in the area offered teaching degree programs, but Don’s otherwise optimistic outlook was severely clouded in this area. He simply did not see a path to his dream. Puzzling as it was for me as a young person, I now know how making changes gets harder every year. Bills, vehicle and house maintenance, family obligations, and a multitude of other daily tasks to keep us from thinking about, let alone pursuing our dreams. And, as we age, we become more and more cautious about taking risks. We are instinctual in the avoidance of pain. Learning new things means awkwardness, sacrifice, mistakes.

Maybe the cook didn’t have the funds to go back to school. I’m not sure. We lost touch after I went off to college. Anyway. Listening to Steve Jobs commencement speech reminded me of the cook, those delicious hash browns, and what it means to follow (and realize) our dreams.

Jobs has lead quite a full life by following his dreams, by not without experiencing his share of hard times. While discussing his being fired from Apple he stated this realization, “I’d been rejected, but I was still in love.” And he took that love and put it into NeXT and Pixar. By following his heart, he was able to realize more dreams…rather than just mourning the loss of his former occupation.

Sometimes we worry about connecting the dots and as Steve so eloquently put it,”Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.”

Jobs goes on to advise graduates to find what they love. This piece of advice could be framed, “The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe to be great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”  Repeat that advise to yourself whenever you feel Stuck. Think of all that you do, not only in your work life…but in your whole life. Are you doing great work? Are you doing what you love?

If I ever ran into my friend the cook I would tell him that he taught me a few great lessons about generosity, patience, and the importance of listening to teenagers.

And I would tell him, if he hadn’t already realized it, that teachers are people who teach.

iPhone was able to adjust relatively quickly to the new addition. Due to the intense amount of quality time being spent with him, in creating a Checkbook App, iPhone did not even have time to be jealous.

From the light-weight design to the ease of reading news on iPad’s beautiful screen to the fun we have listening to podcasts together as we fall asleep, iPad has not disappointed.Though we hope that, someday, iPad will grow a camera. We’ll have to wait and see…

Haphazardly organized,  some books were alphabetical while others were grouped into categories like “History”, “Fiction”,  and “Reader’s Digest”. Still others were simply stacked in no particular order. My desire to read them all made my heart beat into my throat.  Then, as childhood swept me into my teens…those voices grew softer with the passing of days.

Books extend our life experiences. Beyond the places that we will travel, the people will meet, and even what we are able to imagine.

My grandmother had eight children and many more grandchildren (whom frequently filled her home), but somehow she always had time to read. Whenever I feel like I don’t have enough time, I think of her…and I look around at my appliances (which were designed as “time-savers”) and I know that I do have time.

A fantastic company I know of (cough, Splasm Software) created Audiobook Builder. So, I can even listen to books while I do chores.