Negative campaign ads getting on your nerves? As election season continues to work us up into a frenzy, its important to think about what each of us can do, in addition to voting, to support our country’s growth and development. We all have different perspectives on which are the best ways to move forward.

Perhaps one of the things we all can do is to find some time to give to our local communities.

Located in Splasm Software’s hometown, P.E.E.R, Inc. is an organization that supports its community.  According to their website, PEER, Inc. “aims to empower a thriving, diverse community in the eastern area of Birmingham through resources for healthy living, learning, and working.”

They go on to explain how they are working to achieve this mission by saying, “We do this by connecting people to existing resources and creating new resources to meet needs in the areas of community health, economic development, and education.  We aim to enrich the lives of those with limited resources and place special emphasis on children and seniors.” PEER has created five programs, including East Lake Farmer’s Market, Senior Market Baskets, Step Up After-School Enrichment Program, East Lake Community Kitchen, and Good HELP.

If you live in or near Birmingham, you can visit PEER Inc’s booth at the East Lake Farmer’s Market rain or shine until October 13th. Buy some delicious produce and learn more about this interesting organization.

In a recent article about the future of personal finance, Vincent Turner reviewed a number of ways he felt that the internet will continue to change the way we manage our money, including historical transactional data, online payments, offline payments, and banking.  What caught my eye was this assessment: “Personal finance is software that the mainstream needs, but doesn’t love. No one loves logging into their bank account but most accept that they need to know how much money they have as a binary indicator of whether they can do whatever it is they want to do next.” This is a message that we have embraced since the early days of CheckBook’s creation. That personal finance should be something that you do in order to clear your mind and make room for all the other things you want to think about and do.

CheckBook came into being when its creators were looking for a personal finance application. Not finding what they wanted, they set out to design something new. Something that would take the guessing out of money management without the feature bloat that can make finances seem so daunting.

Looking at the options that are available now, Turner speculated about the future of  personal finance managers.  Turner pointed out that currently, “…there is no dominant brand that the Internet associates with personal finance in the same way we think of eBay, Amazon, Google and Facebook when we think of classifieds, shopping, search and social.”

Though I am clearly biased toward CheckBook Pro as a personal finance manager, I wonder if there can ever really be one dominant personal finance application for everyone. As other posts have highlighted, personal finance management is personal.

Each individual has to decide what works for them. We are continuing to add and update as we receive feedback from users (though not at the speed of light, the engines in this ship are working at capacity).

What will the future bring?

Though hiding under a rock can be fun, lots of interesting insects and different colored worms, this pixie has to get some sun now and then.

I took a quick poll of my co-workers opinions regarding the Samsung/Apple verdict and the answer that best sums things up is:

“Ah. Complicated.”

Various journalists have covered this story. In a recent article, the New York Times interviewed a creative director at a design firm in Seattle called Tectonic. The designer’s feelings about the Apple/Samsung verdict were mixed. A potentially good outcome could be that companies may become more innovative by focusing on coming up with original design ideas.

However, concern was expressed over Apple’s patent on the pinch-to-zoom function. The designer worried that products without this common function, “would be like cars with square or triangular steering wheels.”

What are your thoughts? Sound off in the comments

CheckBook Pro is ready to hit the books with you, your children, or grandchildren. Ease back-to-school jitters by keeping your finances in order! Track money used buying school supplies, set up schedules for reoccurring payments like tuition, and enjoy the peace of mind that comes when you know what’s going on with your finances.

Checkbook Pro is 20% off now through September 16th. Get CheckBook Pro for yourself, or someone heading out into the world, for under $20 today!

Recently, over some eggs and coffee with my grandparents, I found myself thinking about all the kids (ages 1 to 101) who are heading back-to-school this fall.

My grandfather is the american dream. Or I should say that the life he has lead, up to this point, is my ideal. Raised to be a farmer he started his own business, in a completely different industry, when he was in his thirties. He passed his company on to his children, and it continues to thrive.

One of the things he has taught me is to keep learning. Basically, never stop looking for ways to grow, always keep your mind going, because our ability to learn is what separates us from the trees and spiders (although spiders are clever in a way all their own).

As the summer break comes to a close, many parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles might find themselves wondering what they can do to help the children in their lives succeed in school.

How can we help our children succeed in school? Besides filling up their backpacks with pencils, notebooks, and calculators we need to be examples for them. The U.S. department of education hits the nail on the head with this tip to help children succeed in school,

“What we say and do in our daily lives can help them to develop positive attitudes    toward school and learning and to build confidence in themselves as learners. Showing our children that we both value education and use it in our daily lives provides them with powerful models and contributes greatly to their success in school.”

So, keep on learning! Teach our children to fill up their backpacks and their minds ; )

Ps. Need help tracking all the school expenses? Check out CheckBook Pro! Our back-to-school sale is going on now!