Blog

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

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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Taxes, or the opposite of simplicity

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  Each year for me, tax season goes pretty much the same way: I fire up one of the big online hosted tax programs, enter in my info, take the Standard Deduction, get something approximating zero dollars back (I try … Read More … Read More

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How badly do you want it?

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  Stop for a second and think about what you want most. It could be worldly or ethereal, it doesn’t matter. And to be clear, I mean the first idea that came to mind. Don’t skip over it because you … Read More … Read More

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