Have you ever seen a Super Bowl ad touting how much money you could save if you bought something second-hand? Of course not. There’s not a lot of encouragement in our culture to buy used stuff. Even the one exception, a used home, is described as “existing.”

Buying used just isn’t cool—that is, unless you’re a wealth builder. Many of them look upon buying used as more of a badge of honor than an embarrassment.

Certainly, there are many items that are best purchased new. Toothbrushes, toilet paper, and underwear come to mind. Yet there’s one thing that’s almost always better to buy used—a vehicle.

Let’s look at a few common myths around buying a new car.

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Last week we explored how you could use a reverse mortgage to produce an income for life while allowing you to live in your home until your death or you move out. We also considered the possibility of using a reverse mortgage to refinance an existing mortgage, thus eliminating a house payment and possibly creating additional monthly income.

This week we will look at a few more creative ways to use reverse mortgages, as suggested by financial planner Michael Kitces.

While most of us think of a reverse mortgage as a way to unlock equity in a current home without having to sell it, Kitces points out that another use for a reverse mortgage is buying a new home. While the buyer will need a larger than normal down payment due to the lower lump sum limits of a reverse mortgage, this technique can be used to increase cash flow while downsizing a home.

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Like most financial planners, I recommend not thinking of your home as a part of your investment portfolio or a source of retirement income. One possible exception to this rule is a reverse mortgage.

Lenders which are FHA-approved can offer Home Equity Conversion Mortgages, or HECM‘s. These are insured by the U.S. government and allow homeowners age 62 and older to borrow against the equity in their homes. When the homeowner dies or moves out, the property is sold to repay the loan. Any equity left over belongs to the owners or their heirs. Any outstanding loan balance must be forgiven by the lender.

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After a short period of saving more of their disposable income at the depths of the recent recession, Americans are returning to recent historical patterns of spending more and saving less.

Usually this trend indicates “happy days are here again” as the decline in savings means consumers’ confidence is rising. That is not the case today. Consumer confidence is just half of what it was at the peak of the “good old days” of 2007. That year our national savings rate was 2.1%, just above its post-WWII low in 2005 of 1.5%.

As millions of jobs disappeared and consumers hunkered down during the 2008-2009 recession, our savings rate almost tripled. In 2008 it was 6.2%. This thriftiness didn’t last long; by the fall of 2011 our savings rate was back to a paltry 3.6%.

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“Even the checkbook-challenged, filing system-deficient and perpetually messy can take steps to shore up their finances without undergoing a major personality overhaul.”

In a January 18 article at CNBC.com titled “How the Financially Disorganized Can Budget and Save,” financial writer Dinah Wisenberg Brin has some suggestions for keeping track of your spending without a detailed budget. She cites Rick’s suggested strategy to “remove everything of importance — taxes, insurance, car and house payments, vacation and emergency savings, retirement funds — from the paycheck before it hits the bank.”

You can read the entire article here.

Here’s a new twist on an old New Year’s Resolution: If you want to give yourself the security of financial independence, try budgeting the way many wealth accumulators do.

The secret? They don’t budget.

Your first reaction might be, “Of course these people don’t budget! They have so much money, they don’t need to.”

That may be true for some of those who have money today, but I’m referring to people who want to remain wealthy or those who are “wealth accumulators.” These are people who don’t start out with money, but who build up significant wealth over time.

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In a December 16 article in the online magazine Mainstreet, Kristen Colella discusses some innovative ways to give financial gifts. She goes beyond ideas like college funds or cash for grandkids to consider stocks, collectible items, and even remodeling projects. Rick is one of the financial planners she interviewed for the piece. It offers some creative suggestions for last-minute Santas, especially those who have generous budgets for stocking stuffers.

Read the entire article here.

Salvation Army bell ringers. Angel trees. Appeals in the mail from charities, churches, and community organizations. Office and club gift exchanges. The family Christmas list that expands year by year.

This time of year, the spirit of giving gets a serious workout. For some of us, it can quickly turn into a spirit of frustration as we feel overwhelmed by requests and obligations.

Maybe one answer to make the season more manageable is to become more conscious about your giving by creating a “giving portfolio.”

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Retirement is a word I’ve tried to purge from my vocabulary. Few people really know what it means anymore. Instead, I like to think of retirement as being a stage in life where you get to choose what you want to do, when you want to do it, and with whom. It can also be that time when you attain financial independence and no longer intend or need to earn an income to support your lifestyle.

Sometimes, however, “early retirement” can throw us a curve ball before we’re prepared for it or ready to become financially independent. This often comes in the form of a job layoff, termination, or health issues that require we no longer work for an income.

Here are some action steps for an unexpected early retirement:

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Almost everyone expected interest rates to rise when S&P downgraded US long-term debt. In a predictably irrational market response, long-term interest rates fell. While this downward trend may eventually reverse itself, now would be a great time to dig out all your mortgage loan paperwork and consider refinancing.

Start with finding out what your current interest rate is on your mortgage loans. Let’s assume you currently have a mortgage with a balance of $200,000, with principal and interest (P&I) payments of $1264 at an interest rate of 6.5%.

Next, do a little shopping. Call two or three mortgage brokers and find out the interest rate you could obtain on a new loan. You will need to give them your household income, the value of your house, and the current balance on your mortgage. If you don’t know the current value of your home, call your county Director of Equalization and find out its assessed value.

Ask the broker to give you the interest rate and payments on a mortgage that is almost equal to the number of years you have left to pay on your loan. Also find out what the interest rate and payments are on a shorter-term loan than your current mortgage, maybe comparing 15-year and 30-year mortgages. Usually, a shorter term has a lower interest rate.

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