Blog

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

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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Free cash sign

Four ill-advised reasons to refinance your mortgage

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So there are definitely some reasons where refinancing a mortgage could be a good move. Rates too high? Terms no good? Not going to be moving for a while? It could make a lot of sense, and save you money. … Read More … Read More

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White elephant statue

Is it time for me to refinance? My mortgage origination company thinks so

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I closed on my home almost two years ago. And while I made the terms a little longer than I needed to, my plan currently is to pay it off as if it were a 15 year mortgage. As I’ve … Read More … Read More

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Labyrinth game

What’s a mortgage refinance?

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You might think that the life cycle of owning a home is that you buy something, get a mortgage, pay off mortgage, and then live happily ever after. But this omits the fun world of mortgage refinance. Because it was … Read More … Read More

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Drumstick tips

Uber now allows tips: What’s 20% of $0?

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The news was electrifying: Uber, the sharecropping system of the transportation industry, was finally allowing passengers to tip their drivers. Amazingly, this wasn’t a thing before now. There was no option to tip a driver, except if you were to … Read More … Read More

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