Awareness

Rebate sign

Fortune favors the diligent

Recently, I was at one of my favorite pizza places in town (try the vegan ranch, seriously!). I dug out a filled-out punch card and so got one of the slices for free. I then paid for the remaining balance … Read More … Read More

Reading the paper

You’ll never believe what we can do to reduce the prevalence of clickbait and fake news

If you’re anything like me, you’re horrified by the revelation that we’re living in a “post-fact world“,  where being truthful seems to not matter as much as the emotional appeal. I’m not on Facebook (thank heavens, now more than ever), … Read More … Read More

Energizer Bunny

How to move forward when you feel like the world is going to end

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

Old Voting Machine

What David Foster Wallace taught me about voting

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

Pinwheels

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

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

Mountain Climbing

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

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

Sunset on the balcony

How do people do it?

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

Flooded street

I don’t understand European bathrooms

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

Approved/denied stamps

Does your bank know you’re traveling?

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

Tennis Shot

It’s okay, you were never taught

I run a discussion group in Portland called the Portland Integrative Finance Community. It’s been tremendously satisfying for me, but the feedback I’ve gotten from attendees so far has been remarkable. Many people have mentioned how positive it was to … Read More … Read More