Blog

Blog

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

How to determine the ethics of a situation

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  I’m no ethicist. Or rather, I’m no different in my qualifications than anyone else to make these kind of judgments. Chuck Klosterman, who at some point while I wasn’t looking became the writer of the New York Times The … Read More … Read More

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Is it possible to be an ethical investor?

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  “Vote with your wallet.” “Put your money where your mouth is.” Where we spend our money matters. I’m assuming that there are certain companies that do not align with your personal ethical code, so you would not want to … Read More … Read More

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The best stock tip you’ll ever receive

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  I’m not usually in the business of talking about stock advice, but every once in a while, I make an exception. Many people charge hundreds, even thousands, of dollars to get access to certain people’s stock tips, but I’m … Read More … Read More

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How (and why) to avoid taxis when traveling

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  I have a few informal rules when traveling. One of them is to never take a taxi. Taxis, to me, equate with a kind of failure. Harsh? Perhaps. But it’s nothing personal, I just see it as a personal … Read More … Read More

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What I (re)learned from flying Business Class internationally

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  I was in the fortunate position of flying international Business Class using frequent flyer miles recently. Yes, it’s hard to complain. And while it was a great experience, a lot of what made it great is that it gave … Read More … Read More

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How to plan for Social Security

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  Here in the US, we actually do have a small safety net for the elderly and disabled. It’s called Social Security (technically called “Old-age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance” or OASDI) The idea is that when you reach a certain … Read More … Read More

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Why self-sufficiency is a myth

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  The guy at the table was describing his situation growing up. “We were totally off the grid, pumping our own well water and everything. We were totally self-sufficient.“ As a suburbs kid, I couldn’t deny that I was impressed. … Read More … Read More

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Travel hacking to challenge your ethics

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  The speaker was talking about a particular product, and was asking the crowd how many of this product the members of the audience had. A show of hands. One person in the crowd asked: “Isn’t that product limited to one … Read More … Read More

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How to live without a smartphone

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I’ve talked before about how I’m a great fan of the dumbphone, that is, a mobile phone without internet/web capabilities. I’ve never owned a smartphone, in fact, and don’t plan to get one, at least as long as I can … Read More … Read More

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Why I like the Roth IRA (though it’s not why people think)

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  So I hope you’ve done your taxes for the year. I used a certain online program to do my taxes, and one of the questions asked was “Did you contribute to an IRA [Individual Retirement Arrangement] this year?” If … Read More … Read More

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