Awareness

Drumstick tips

Uber now allows tips: What’s 20% of $0?

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The news was electrifying: Uber, the sharecropping system of the transportation industry, was finally allowing passengers to tip their drivers. Amazingly, this wasn’t a thing before now. There was no option to tip a driver, except if you were to … Read More … Read More

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Galaxy NGC 2623

Why is the budget monthly?

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Our system of budgeting is pretty arbitrary. I recommend that everyone make a spending plan based on the calendar month. Twelve months a year: twelve plans a year. Could we do things another way? And are any of them better? … Read More

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Calendar

The arbitrary nature of a month, or does it really matter when you spend?

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Last month was a little challenging for me, money-wise. While every month I separate my allotted spending money into categories ($300 for Groceries, $60 for Transportation, etc.), it’s really just a best guess. The month had a number of expenses … Read More … Read More

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Water drop splash

Your past performance doesn’t guarantee your future results

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Regardless of what decisions you’ve made and what you’ve believed, you are not bound by your past self. Your future can be different. The phrase “past performance doesn’t guarantee future results” is ubiquitous in financial sales literature. It has to … Read More … Read More

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Plant Spiral

Is there someone at the IRS who’s a math lover?

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WARNING: This post contains math. I love math. You know this. I think math is one of our world’s ways of expressing beauty. To me, there are few things more pleasing to the eye than a elegant mathematical statement. (People … Read More … Read More

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Umbrellas

How much is that cheap thing costing you?

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I’m a big fan of purchasing responsibly. I’m not profligate with my spending, but I do feel like it’s important to spend a little extra on certain things that provide a significant return, be it personally or financially. But I … Read More … Read More

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Dollar Store

The moment I learned that dollar stores aren’t a good deal

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In 2003, I was living in New York City, working a retail job where I made around $13 an hour. (That’s a $26,000 salary equivalent.) My rent was $675, which meant that I was spending 50% of my take home … Read More … Read More

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The past and future of home prices, or how no one remembers history

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In many areas of the country, home prices are going crazy. Or at least that’s the narrative. I just discovered an amazingly engrossing interactive chart by The Economist where they show home prices in various U.S. cities as a function … Read More … Read More

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$20 bill closeup

How to potentially double your money’s impact via lump sum debt reduction

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It can be hard to visualize how paying a debt off works. There’s an interplay between principal and interest. You pay money to reduce the principal, but during that time, interest on the debt has piled up, reducing the impact … Read More … Read More

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More about how not to get lost

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In my last post, I started talking about how not to get lost. I believe everyone can both know where they are, as well as figure out where they need to go. All it takes is a little focused energy, patience, … Read More … Read More

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