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Blog

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

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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Fleet week airplanes

How to search dozens of airports at once to figure out where to travel

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Most of the time, we know where we want to fly. We want to find the right price, and we also usually have a little bit of play in the date and time. But what about the times when you … Read More … Read More

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Old Voting Machine

What David Foster Wallace taught me about voting

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Tomorrow is Election Day in the U.S. This site was launched a few days after the previous presidential election in 2012, so this is the first presidential election under this site’s watch! I know that elections happen all the time … Read More … Read More

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Boot laces

Why I may have life insurance even if I never purchase it

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What’s the purpose of life insurance? It’s to help replace your income to your beneficiaries in case of your death. With regard to the giant payout that a term life policy generates, if invested properly, not only can it be … Read More … Read More

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Ski slope

Why I’m thinking about getting life insurance (before I need it)

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Life insurance is the teeth-flossing of financial products. It’s something you know you need to deal with, but you really don’t want to. Luckily, unlike flossing, there are those who don’t really need it. The question about life insurance is … Read More … Read More

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15 ball

Why to use the 15% rule for saving for retirement

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WARNING: This post contains math. Last time, when I talked about saving for retirement, I mentioned that I put away at least 15% of my income away in retirement. It occurred to me that some readers may feel like I’ve … Read More … Read More

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Pinwheels

Here’s when we really want to be celebrating National Save For Retirement Week

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I logged in to my Vanguard account earlier this week, and found this admonition: I must confess, I didn’t know about this celebration week. For this I can only apologize, although to be fair there are plenty of celebration days, … Read More … Read More

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Fishing partners

Why can’t we talk about money with our partners?

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I’ve talked about why it’s so hard to share financial struggles with your friends and peer group. But surely you can talk to a partner right? This is a person with which you want to travel through life. And yet, this … Read More … Read More

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