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Blog

Musings on personal finance and more. Not written with AI since 2012.

Jumper cables

How I handled my most recent impulse purchase

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Once every six months or so, I drain my car’s battery. This isn’t an intentional thing, mind you. It’s just that I leave my car’s internal dome light on, and then go about my day, sometimes a few days, before … Read More … Read More

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How to know when to make an impulse purchase

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Ramit Sethi, the I Will Teach You To Be Rich guy, has a rule about books: If you’re “thinking about” buying a book, just buy it. Don’t waste 5 secs debating. Even 1 idea makes it worth it. I may … Read More … Read More

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Space Mountain

Here’s how I’m going to get a Tesla

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I’m not a “car guy”. I understand that there’s an aesthetic about “acceleration” and “handling”, and how a car “feels”, but I’ve always just wanted one to get me from A to B in relative comfort and without breaking down. When … Read More … Read More

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72

Why I love the Rule of 72

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WARNING: This post contains math. (But you knew this with a title like that.) How long will it take an investment to double? It’s a good question. And while doubling itself isn’t the most important aspect of an investment, it’s a … Read More … Read More

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Orange

In defense of rounding

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If you’re used to just “not worrying” about money (which can ironically make one pretty anxious) or just wanting to “let things happen”, my suggestion that you track all of your spending (all of it, every purchase, every month, forever) … Read More … Read More

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Ghosts

8 mistakes people make that can drastically affect their financial health

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At almost 500 posts here on this site over the past five years, you might be forgiven for feeling like you are drinking from the fire hose. Watch this video on YouTube So here is an opportunity to keep it … Read More … Read More

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Buggy flip

Can you do a partial rollover of a retirement plan?

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So I made the decision to rollover my retirement account from TIAA(-CREF) to an IRA. I had done a transfer of a Roth IRA from Scottrade recently, and the process was seamless. I had also, a few years before, converted a … Read More … Read More

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Carnegie Library

How to know when it’s time to rollover your old retirement plan

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A little over a decade ago, I had a job with a university. I participated in their retirement plan, a 403(b) plan with TIAA-CREF (now TIAA). I still have this account. As I moved to a different job, I started … Read More … Read More

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How to calculate just how bad a deal a payday loan is

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I love local newspapers. There’s just something you can learn about a place from a local newspaper that no wandering or even research will tell you. But it’s the advertisements that often are the most interesting. I was recently in … Read More … Read More

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PayDay candy bar

Don’t use payday lenders

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Back when I was working at Kinko’s doing layout, one of my regular customers would often ask me to create or update an application form for his company. It was for some kind of loan, and as I had to … Read More … Read More

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