Blog

Blog

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

Over-water bungalows

Why standard hotel stays can be better than aspirational hotel stays

Posted by on | Featured

I’ve been very fortunate to stay at some pretty nice hotels. A few years ago, I stayed at the Grand Wailea on Maui for a night. I was (as far as I could tell), the only traveler staying there who … Read More … Read More

Tags: , ,
Hotel sign

How I redeemed my points from the Priceless Surprises promotion

Posted by on | Featured

Earlier this year, I talked about the Priceless Surprises promotion. Put on by Mastercard and IHG, the company behind Holiday Inn and a bunch of other brands, this sweepstakes was ostensibly about staying at lots of hotels, but had a … Read More … Read More

Tags: , , ,
Mountain Climbing

The resolve of the mountain climber, or how to deal with financial overwhelm

Posted by on | Featured

I think of building wealth and becoming financially secure as a process not unlike climbing a mountain. It’s a big one, and it’s hard going, and it involves a lot of successes and setbacks along the way. The top of … Read More … Read More

Tags: , , ,
Sunset on the balcony

How do people do it?

Posted by on | Featured

It’s not hard to look around and be amazed. You hear about your co-worker’s most recent trip to Hawaii. Your friends post on Instagram a gorgeous sunset taken from the middle of the South Pacific. And then you move on … Read More … Read More

Tags: ,
Bucket being filled

How to pay for non-emergencies

Posted by on | Featured

We know what an emergency is. It’s an incident that is both unexpected, urgent, and unavoidable (and unfortunate). When you have an emergency, you use money from your emergency fund. (And if you have debt, here’s how you can still … Read More … Read More

Tags: , ,
U Boat

How to know when something is really an emergency

Posted by on | Featured

I’ve talked a lot about emergencies, those unfortunate aspects of life that you have to deal with sometimes, ones that often require a monetary outlay (dipping into your emergency fund, if you have one). I’ve made comments as to things … Read More … Read More

Tags: ,
Ambulance

What to do when you have an emergency

Posted by on | Featured

Emergencies happen. We can minimize our exposure to incidents as best we can, but there are some things that we can’t control. That’s why they’re emergencies. We can debate what counts as an emergency. For example, I don’t believe wear-and-tear … Read More … Read More

Tags: ,
Explosion

The debt blunderbuss, or can you have an emergency fund and still pay off debt?

Posted by on | Featured

There is a financial cage match article that I can’t write: debt vs. the emergency fund. It’s not hard to see why there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to question of what comes first before the other. How much debt you … Read More … Read More

Tags: ,
Flooded street

I don’t understand European bathrooms

Posted by on | Featured

Having just come back from two weeks in Europe (as part of my one new country per year challenge) I had a myriad of different experiences. Most of them were positive, though a few were unfortunate and of my own making. … Read More … Read More

Tags: , ,
Approved/denied stamps

Does your bank know you’re traveling?

Posted by on | Featured

If you’ve got international travels planned, I bet you’re excited for them. You might want to throw all of your stuff in your bag and just get to the airport as quickly as possible. I know the feeling. I just … Read More … Read More

Tags: , ,