The Real Cost of Cars
Okay, so you’ve made all the right moves in planning your next car purchase. You’ve kept your current car at least 10 years—preferably 15. You’ve come up with two or three viable options of cars that don’t just look good, they also get good gas mileage and have good safety ratings. You’ve done some comparison-shopping […]
Profitable Ideas: The Facebook Retirement Plan, Amish Money Management, and More
Weekly roundup of recommended personal finance articles from around the web. Don’t let Facebook ruin your retirement plan (A Teachable Moment). Beware the money-related ads that clutter your feed as you scroll through your friends’ vacation photos. 8 basic skills that can pay you handsomely (Better Humans). None of them require learning how to code. […]
Teaching Kids About Taxes
An article I wrote last year, The Absolute Best Way to Teach Kids About Money, centered on an idea I read about in Mary Hunt’s excellent book, Raising Financially Confident Kids, in which you give kids responsibility for managing financial categories you used to manage for them (like clothing). In this follow up, I want to […]
Profitable Ideas: The Best Strategy for Two-Earner Households, Inside the Modern Marketer’s Playbook, and More
Weekly roundup of recommended personal finance articles from around the web. 5 reasons dual-income families should live off one and bank the second (Money Ning). The best financial advice my wife and I got before getting married was to base our lifestyle on one income. 3 real estate lessons learned from our last investment property […]
What Will Be Said About You?
A few years ago, North Point Community Church Senior Pastor Andy Stanley taught a series of messages called, “How to Get What You Really Want.” (You can watch the series online and download the discussion questions. Or listen to them using your podcasts app.) Stanley said “What do I want?” turns out to be a […]
Profitable Ideas: The First Bear Market is the Toughest, The Gift of Mac & Cheese, and More
Weekly roundup of recommended personal finance articles from around the web. If this is your first bear market, there’s no need to panic (Bloomberg). For newer investors, this year’s market performance may be a bit jarring. Here’s some helpful perspective. The gift of mac & cheese (Compass). I love this story. I think you will, […]
Success Goes to the Steady, Not the Speedy
We’re all drawn to stories of people who achieve “overnight success.” They make for great headlines and sell a lot of magazines and books. Problem is, they’re a myth. In the business classic, “Good to Great,” author Jim Collins explored the reasons why some companies break away from their pack of competitors and achieve remarkable, […]
Profitable Ideas: What’s Missing From Too Many Estate Plans, Mental Toughness Training for Kids, and More
Weekly roundup of recommended personal finance articles from around the web. How to prepare your digital life for your death (PC Magazine). Access to online accounts needs to be part of every estate plan. What happens to travel miles and hotel points when you die? (Clark Howard). Another example of an estate planning issue most […]
Saving Money is All About the ‘Why’
I know a man who started saving for his daughter’s wedding when she was just a little girl. Long before she ever met the man she would marry her father was setting money aside for her special day, even when money was tight. Over the years, he could have spent more on himself, buying a […]
Profitable Ideas: Money Strategies for Tough Times, What Retirees Would Tell Their Younger Selves, and More
Weekly roundup of recommended personal finance articles from around the web. 4 things you can do to make sound financial decisions in financially lean times (Christian Stewardship Network). Things aren’t exactly great in the economy right now. Here are some ways to cope. 10 steps you can take to keep advertisers from dictating your life […]