Get To Know Your Inner Money Manager
At first glance, managing money seems pretty simple. In order to use a budget, you just need to gain some knowledge about how a budget works. In order to invest well, you just need to learn about different types of investments and how to buy them. But it isn’t that simple, is it? Sometimes, even […]
Profitable Ideas: Help Really Wanted, The Give-and-Take Tax Credit, and More
Weekly roundup of interesting and helpful personal finance articles from around the web. $30,000 signing bonuses, childcare help: what companies are doing to attract workers (CNN). It’s a job-hunter’s market. How the stock market works (A Wealth of Common Sense). A few things everyone should know about investing. Designed for significance (Becoming Minimalist). “Our lives […]
The Single Most Powerful Antidote to Our Consumer Culture
Every day of our lives, we are the unwitting recipients of countless messages designed to foster discontentment. And they work really well, convincing us that we need something more in order to be happy. In order to be worthy of love or respect. According to one study, more than 60 percent of us always have […]
Profitable Ideas: Frugality Gone Too Far, Saving For Life’s Unexpected Good Things, and More
Weekly roundup of interesting and helpful personal finance articles from around the web. Signs you’ve become too frugal (Money Ning). If you want to know how I really feel about this topic, read The Case Against Frugality. How does a raise early in your career affect your finances? (Of Dollars and Data). Good reasons to […]
‘Much Obliged’
Writer Fulton Oursler had vivid memories of an old woman named Anna who helped care for him as a child. When she sat down to eat she would say, “Much obliged, dear Lord, for my vittles.” Oursler wondered why she thanked God since she would get the food regardless of whether she gave thanks or […]
Profitable Ideas: Why We Buy, Adding to Your Life Through Subtraction, and More
Weekly roundup of interesting and helpful personal finance articles from around the web. Why do we buy what we buy? (VOX). One of my favorite writers on our competitive, comparative spending. Why we struggle (Humble Dollar). The challenge to manage money well “isn’t complicated—and yet it isn’t so simple.” How to make a debt reduction […]
Best Financial Advice
Over the years, I’ve asked readers to share some of the best financial advice they’ve ever received. Here are some of their answers. Bob said that during a pre-marriage class he and his then fiancé attended, the teacher suggested using pay raises to build an initial savings account. In Bob’s words, “I can remember how […]
Profitable Ideas: Netflix Wants to Sell You a Sweatshirt, Minimalism Crashes the Economy, and More
Weekly roundup of interesting and helpful personal finance articles from around the web. Doing nothing is hard work (A Wealth of Common Sense). When investing, sometimes we have to resist the urge to take action. Plan now for changes coming to college costs (Fidelity). It looks like the aid funnel is getting narrower. 5 lies […]
Determining Your Financial Independence Day
As we prepare to celebrate our country’s Independence Day this weekend, why not take a few minutes to figure out your financial independence day? If you have any debt other than a reasonable mortgage, that’s the day when you will be completely out of that debt. If the only debt you have is a mortgage, […]
Profitable Ideas: Measuring Your Financial Wellbeing, No Regrets, and More
Weekly roundup of interesting and helpful personal finance articles from around the web. Can you measure your financial wellbeing? (The Evidence-Based Investor). Take the test and see how well it assesses your financial situation. Banks slowly offer alternatives to overdraft fees, a bane of struggling spenders (NY Times). Overdraft “protection”has long been one of the […]