Blog

Blog

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

Conference badges

I’m going to FinCon 2017!

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If there’s anything I know a lot about, it’s that there are so many ways that we are enticed to spend money. I know how advertising works. You are shown something that makes you feel like you want/need some thing or … Read More … Read More

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Rebate sign

Fortune favors the diligent

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Recently, I was at one of my favorite pizza places in town (try the vegan ranch, seriously!). I dug out a filled-out punch card and so got one of the slices for free. I then paid for the remaining balance … Read More … Read More

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Avoid any mortgage company whose sales pitch involves misunderstandings of basic physics

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Sometimes, I see something that is too boneheaded to go unchallenged and un-poked-fun-at. (That’s a phrase, right?) It’s related to the post where I talked about the reverse mortgage, and why it’s a terrible idea. It also has to do … Read More … Read More

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How homeowners can go back into debt, lose their home, and pay for the privilege

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I’ve long said that if they are advertising something, you don’t need it. This was one of my very first blog posts from years ago, and I stick by it. Now “need” is different from “want”, of course. You may … Read More … Read More

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Reading the paper

You’ll never believe what we can do to reduce the prevalence of clickbait and fake news

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If you’re anything like me, you’re horrified by the revelation that we’re living in a “post-fact world“,  where being truthful seems to not matter as much as the emotional appeal. I’m not on Facebook (thank heavens, now more than ever), … Read More … Read More

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Half car

More lying with numbers: What it really means to be half-wrong about interest rates

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It is possible to lie with numbers, or at least mislead. We’ve seen this before when talking about how many hours you have available to work in a given week. It’s not the numbers that are doing the lying, of … Read More … Read More

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Empathy noses

The one thing we all need more of now

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(I had another post queued up for today, and right at the almost-literal 11th hour, I decided there was something else I wanted to say. So I pushed that one off for another time.) Today is Thanksgiving in the U.S. For … Read More … Read More

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Library cubicles

How to lie with numbers: How many hours can you work?

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One might argue that numbers are apolitical. I mean, how do you spin the number 4? How do you argue about it? Whether to close the top loop or keep it open? There’s not much there. Unfortunately, numbers can be … Read More … Read More

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"Do Not Paint" sign

Should you get a loan to pay off your debt?

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Paying off debt is hard. It can feel like you’re not even making progress. Sometimes this is actually true. If you make minimum payments on your credit cards, you’re basically never going to pay anything off. And if you’ve got … Read More … Read More

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Energizer Bunny

How to move forward when you feel like the world is going to end

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On a Tuesday morning in September, a little over 15 years ago, I was waking up for work. At the time, my alarm was set to play classic rock radio (I believe it was 94.1 WYSP). While I usually woke … Read More … Read More

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