The Personal Finance Hall of Shame

Perhaps you have visited the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York or the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. But I seriously doubt that you have ever made the journey to Flint, Michigan to visit the Personal Finance Hall of Shame.

Established in 1984, the Personal Finance Hall of Shame is dedicated to recognize the worst money decisions that people across the nation make on an everyday basis. Nominees must go through a lengthy screening process and must demonstrate complete and utter disregard for the health of their bank account.

Although the induction class of 2011 will be formally announced on April 15th, The Red Stapler Chronicles has obtained an internal memo with the identities of all the honorees.

John Brimm of Philadelphia, Pennslyvania–John just has to buy the latest electronic toy or new service that everyone is talking about.  He was the first one of his friends to get satellite radio, the Iphone, and subscribe to Netfix and Ancestry.com.  Unfortunately, his impulse spending habits have left him in massive credit card debt.  He also has a bad track record in canceling subscriptions that he no longer uses.

Kenny Bania of New York City–Kenny is a vending machine junkie.  He spends at least $8 a day on diet sodas and snacks at his workplace.  Even though he could bring these items from home and store them in one of the many refrgerators at work, he insists on throwing his money away on these machines.

Angela Chase of Modesto, California–Angela is a very busy woman and just doesn’t have the time to sign up for the loyalty club at her local supermarket.  Despite the fact that she shops there several times a week, she can not seem to take the 2 minutes out of her day to become a member.  Instead, Angela becomes perplexed when the person in front of her in line pays about $25 less for almost the exact same contents in her cart.

Bob Slydell of Akron, Ohio–Bob refuses to pay his bills electronically via his secure online banking website.  Instead, he donates his money to the good people at the post office by purchasing stamps for each and every one of his bills.  With 10 bills to pay each month and the cost of a stamp currently at 46 cents, Bob wastes $55.20 a year for no apparent reason, other than to support his local mail carrier.

Joey Jermiah of Topeka, Kansas–Joey does not like to carry a lot of cash on him, so he constantly has to visit an ATM machine.  Unfortunately, Joey just uses the first available ATM, without regard of the fees he might incur.  Making matters worse, he insists on only taking out $20 at a time, so he sometimes has to make a second trip in the same day to the money guzzling ATM.

Jesse Spano of Las Vegas, Nevada–Jesse considers herself to be very internet savvy and makes most of her purchases online.  When Jesse is done selecting her items and starts to put in her credit card information, she has no curiosity about the “enter promo code here” box.  Instead of completing a 2 second Google search to look for promo codes, Jesse just completes her transaction and is overcharged every time.

David Puddy of Phoenix, Arizona–At the end of every January, David rushes to his local H&R Block with his W2 in hand.  Since he was overpaying his taxes the entire year, allowing the government to make interest on his money instead of earning it for himself, David will get a nice refund.  Making matters worse, instead of using this refund wisely, David will treat himself to a big screen TV or a weekend trip to Vegas instead of paying down his credit card debt.

Andrea Zuckerman of Tampa, Florida–Andrea starts her work day with a trip to her local Dunkin Donuts to get her beloved coffee and a bagel with cream cheese.  Although she has her own coffee machine and home and knows where the bread and cheese aisles are located at her local supermarket, she still spends $6 a day during her morning ritual.  When it is time for lunch, Andrea joins in with her co-workers in trying out all the local Chinese and pizza delivery establishments or frequenting the fast food joints that litter each side of the road.  Adding insult to injury, Andrea can often be hear complaining about the price of her Lipitor and high blood pressure medicine.

Do you have anybody that you would like to nominate for the 2012 Personal Finance Hall of Shame Class?  Leave a comment and let the world know!