Of all the spending decisions you make, housing is the most important one. It’s probably your biggest expense, so it’s essential to get it right. Doing so is one of the most important keys to being able to live generously, save and invest adequately, and live with financial margin and peace of mind. How Much of a […]
Archive | Spending Smart
Profitable Ideas: A Happy Pay Cut, Money Blind Spots, and More
Weekly list of curated personal finance articles from around the web. They chose to take a pay cut—and say they’re happier (Wall Street Journal). Large numbers of people who took a new job for less pay have seen a boost in life satisfaction. Are Apple Pay and Google Pay more secure than credit cards? (How-To […]
Profitable Ideas: College Decision Time, The Most Important Concept in Finance, and More
Weekly list of curated personal finance articles from around the web. 9 ways to help your teen with the college decision (US News). A good guide for what can be a gut-wrenching decision. Financial flexibility (The Best Interest). Don’t paint yourself into a corner. Facing mortality, more Americans wrote wills during the pandemic. Now, they’re […]
One of the Sweetest Concepts in All of Money Management
Some words and phrases just feel good. Summer vacation. Sleeping in. Cubs win. Financially speaking, one of my all-time favorite words is margin. And it feels even better than it sounds. Think of it as financial breathing space, a wonderful gap between income and expenses. It reduces stress, provides the flexibility to give or save […]
Profitable Ideas: The Tipping Point, Best Password Protections, and More
Weekly list of curated personal finance articles from around the web. How much should you tip? 5 people share their habits (Time). Tipping has gotten complicated—what to do with the dreaded tip screen. Here’s how to cut your cable and cell phone bills (Fast Company). Make sure you’re talking with the right person, and other […]
You’ll Never Know What You Can Get Unless You Ask
I am constantly amazed at what you can get just by asking. I’ve written before about an experience we had with our van. It needed a costly repair that seemed to be due to a manufacturing defect. Just by asking, I got not just the amount of the repair reimbursed; I got more than the […]
Profitable Ideas: Acceptable Lifestyle Creep, The Case for College, and More
Weekly list of curated personal finance articles from around the web. Acceptable types of lifestyle creep (Mr. Stingy). Regular readers know I don’t love the word “frugal.” As long as you’re living generously and saving/investing adequately, there’s nothing inherently wrong with doing some trading up. Choosing simplicity in a world obsessed with more (Becoming Minimalist). […]
Profitable Ideas: Money-Saving Habits, Overcoming Your Fear of Investing, and More
Weekly list of curated personal finance articles from around the web. 10 little shopping habits to help you save money (No Sidebar). I especially like the sixth suggestion. Why you’re scared of investing (and how to overcome it) (Darius Foroux). To be sure, investing can bring fear. Here are some steps to help keep it […]
How Healthy Is Your Financial Environment?
We may have gotten past the global Covid-19 pandemic, but there’s another pandemic that’s been going on a lot longer — a global pandemic of obesity. In the U.S., more than 42% of adults area classified as obese. What’s to blame? In part, it’s our “food environment,” according to Andy Bellatti, cofounder of Dieticians for […]
Profitable Ideas: Money Regrets, The Comparison Game, and More
Weekly list of curated personal finance articles from around the web. 80% of Americans say they have financial regrets—here are the most common ones (Money). Learning from other people’s mistakes can yield priceless lessons. Teen’s financial literacy bus teaches kids about money (Good Morning America). Very cool that he’s not just putting the lessons to […]