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Musings on personal finance and more...

Dollar Store

The moment I learned that dollar stores aren’t a good deal

In 2003, I was living in New York City, working a retail job where I made around $13 an hour. (That’s a $26,000 salary equivalent.) My rent was $675, which meant that I was spending 50% of my take home … Read More … Read More

The past and future of home prices, or how no one remembers history

In many areas of the country, home prices are going crazy. Or at least that’s the narrative. I just discovered an amazingly engrossing interactive chart by The Economist where they show home prices in various U.S. cities as a function … Read More … Read More
$20 bill closeup

How to potentially double your money’s impact via lump sum debt reduction

It can be hard to visualize how paying a debt off works. There’s an interplay between principal and interest. You pay money to reduce the principal, but during that time, interest on the debt has piled up, reducing the impact … Read More … Read More
Monkey face rock

If you’re still unsure about what method to use to pay off your debt

If you’re like most people, you’ve got some form of debt. It could be a car loan, it could be credit cards, or it could be “good debt” like student loans. No matter, it’s got to go. You need to get … Read More … Read More
Crosshairs

Do you want to invest in a target date fund?

In 2006, Congress passed the Pension Protection Act. It’s a scintillating read. Among much else, it provided statutory authority for employers to enroll workers in retirement plans automatically, and also established criteria of “safe harbor investments” to protect employers from … Read More …

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Captain Obvious Reports: How not to have more credit card debt

Sometimes I like to get deep into the rabbit role with details. The post I wrote immediately before this detailed the ins and outs of rebalancing your investment portfolio. An important topic to discuss, but it’s hard not to be … Read More … Read More
Balanced rocks

Am I making a mistake by not rebalancing my portfolio?

I believe that investing is a crucial step in your plan to become financially secure. So I recommend putting as much as you can into an investment portfolio like a 401(k) at work, or (especially) a Roth IRA that you … Read More … Read More
Infinity pool

What to do when your account balance is different than expected

Balancing your household budget might be difficult to do, but it’s not complex. You just make sure that the money you have going out is the same amount that is coming in. (In this way, Charles Dickens’ Micawber was only half-right, … Read More … Read More
Parrot

How I saved $600 in a year on my internet service

Ever since broadband to the home became commonplace in the 2000’s, the internet bill is one that most households can’t live without. As more and more people “cut the cord” on their cable bill, home internet service is as important … Read More … Read More
Cherry Blossom

The worrying connection between long-term care insurance and the Roth IRA

I talked last time about long-term care insurance (LTCI), and how it can be a great tool to hedge against the incredible medical costs of things like nursing home care. This is, of course, assuming that the insurers stay in business, … Read More …

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