Advice for Britney Spears: Go Frugal; Cover Your Assets & Learn from JLo

I'm not a Britney Spears fan but I actually feel sorry for the Pop Star Diva. Pundits use the word "train wreck," when they write about Spears. And her party-girl rep has become a bottom-line liability. She was "punted" from an opportunity to perform at the Super Bowl, according to this report.

Currently the lucrative celebrity deals are being ironed out in the casting for an all-star NFL Network promo to air during the Feb. 4th football finale.

"She's too much of a train wreck," says the unnamed Daily News source said to be an "insider." "Besides, we already have Paris Hilton." One trainwreck of a blonde is enough for the NFL. Source: Stone Martindale Jan 16, 2007 -- Monstersandcritics.com

A lifestyle makeover would help Spears repair her career and her earning power. I recommend a downsized life and a frugal makeover.

1. Ask Jennifer Lopez for tips. For a while, I was a professional JLo watcher. For a contract, I hung out in Miami where JLo lived, shopped, and even got her hair done. I even went to a movie theater hours after she arrived to get info. This was in the height of the JLo and Ben Affleck uproar & and tips about JLo were worth a lot of money to me.

JLo was hiding. But it was always easy to find her. Just look for the bright lights, the long line of black SUVs with tinted windows. Look for the large posse of people and the catering trucks, the florist, etc.

But then she got smart and my job became harder. By downsizing and cutting down on the perks and privileges of her big-ticket life, JLo saved money and acquired more privacy & sanity. So Britney: Lose the party posse & the nightlife.

And if you come to Florida to watch the super bowl; skip the clubs and go out to eat alone at an early-bird special.

2. Crunch your own numbers: Hey Girl: No matter how many financial gurus watch over your accounts, at the end of the day it's your money and it's your life. You have to brush your own teeth and watch your own money.

3. Check out the Festival of Under 30 Finances, which features financial advice from bloggers that are in your age group. They're pretty savvy with attitude.

4. Take care of the kids. Fine tune the college savings plans and trust fund accounts for your babies: I assume you have those investments in place. But consider saving more. Believe me, time flies and money evaporates. Lock it all up now.

5. Don't worry you'll be 30 soon. My 20-something years don't compare to yours, but I had some stupid days also. Keep the faith: You'll get older and smarter.

6. Find you mouse ears: My 20s were tough, but I really liked the little girl I was. Go back to Disney and have some fun!

7. Go to Victoria's Secret's January Sale: Undergarments (winking) are super cheap. Almost pennies on the dollar. So cover your Assets. Enough said.








The Frugal Duchess Boutique

I Found My Brain at 30: Expensive Things I No Longer Do

If I could write off any decade in my life, I would probably write-off my 20s. At 18, I should have just taken a 12-year-age deficit, re-financed my youth and then fast-forwarded to 31. I re-discovered my brain at 30.

But if I had not been so stupid about money (and other things) at 20, I would not have been wiser now.

Here are 5 things from my 20s that I no longer do:

1. I no longer straighten my hair with expensive chemically-induced salon treatments that cost about $3,000 a year, plus interest beacause I usually used plastic for salon visits.

The worst part: I even paid a fortune for my hair when I had no groceries.
Even Worse: I straightened my hair because I had a bad self-image. (Straightened hair is fine, if you just like the look. But that wasn't my story.) A better self image has saved me a ton of money.


2. I've nixed the weekly manicures. Even at the frugal nail shops in Manhattan ($6-8, excluding tips), I was still paying about $500 a year for a service that would have cost about $3 a year based on a bottle of nail enamel. I should have put that money in a 401k plan.

It's like this: Nails break, paint chips, but money appreciates!

3. Credit Card meals: Hey, I'm 48 and I have still indigestion from all those Manhattan meals from the 1980s. I'm still chewing plastic & I have magnetic strips caught in my gums. Can we say: Painful!

4. Buy One-Get Two (in every color!). This is not a joke. One day, in New York, I went to every Ann Taylor in Manhattan...from the Upper West Side to Wall Street. I was hunting a shirt on sale. Found the shirt; found the sale; found every color.


5. Shopping while: hungry, angry, depressed, rejected, promoted or in Paris with no money.

Now, I Just Don't go shopping (as much).

And I recycle more, including posts. I now realize that I may have written a similar rant in November.
Blame my aging, but smarter brain.





The Frugal Duchess Boutique

Diva without Dollars: 10 Goofs from my 20s

An article about retirement and savings strategies for the 20-something crowd in the Wall Street Journal has made me think about mistakes I made when I was younger.

Here's my list of errors

1. Too many restaurant meals on credit

2. Waited too long to join my company's stock sharing plan. (The public shares had already spiked dramatically before I came on board.)

3. Too careless with credit cards and other debt.

4. Too many weekly hair and nail appointments.

5. Loans against my 401K account.

6. Not putting enough money in the 401k plan

7. Going to Paris & Florence when I was unemployed. (HA!)

8. Spending a book advance that never arrived. (I was a Dim Light in the Big City)

9. Too many hours in the Ann Taylor Loft.

10. Buying holiday presents for big bucks at the last minute.

This snippet of advice from the Wall Street Journal is excellent:

401(K) BASICS

• Max out: Contribute enough to capture your employer's maximum matching contribution.
• Allocate: People in their 20s should generally have at least 70% of their account in stocks. You have a long time to save; don't fret about market volatility.
• Don't default: Avoid your plan's default option if it's a money-market or stable-value fund. The low returns won't serve you well over time. source: WSJ

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The Frugal Duchess Boutique
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