Decisions

Over-water bungalows

Why standard hotel stays can be better than aspirational hotel stays

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 MoreRead More

Hotel sign

How I redeemed my points from the Priceless Surprises promotion

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 MoreRead More

Bucket being filled

How to pay for non-emergencies

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 MoreRead More

U Boat

How to know when something is really an emergency

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 MoreRead More

Explosion

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

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 MoreRead More

Homemade Enigma machine

Financial cage match: ETFs versus mutual funds

I want everyone to be an investing expert. Thankfully, I also believe that simplicity in investing is best. Create a Roth IRA, put money into low-cost index funds, and repeat this every month. When I say “low-cost index funds”, I’m … Read MoreRead More

Lightning in the desert

Would I have done college differently if I had wanted to avoid debt?

I’m annoyed when I think about debt. It’s a thing that I want to get away from, like a snoring person in the room, or a screaming baby on the plane. I want it gone. When I was in high school, … Read MoreRead More

Spiral windows

Is it a good idea to get your student loans forgiven?

Like approximately everyone, I graduated college with student loans. If there was a way to get my loans “forgiven”, no one told me. At the time, all I knew was that I had to either pay what I owed, pay interest … Read MoreRead More

Man on bike

How to know if it’s time to move away

On a recent flight home, I fell into conversation with a friendly woman from my birth city of Philadelphia. She was on her way to a small town in the Pacific Northwest for a job interview and was as excited … Read MoreRead More

Atlas statue

How to plan a trip to anywhere via travel hacking

I was at a party recently where the conversation turned to travel. One person in particular was trying to get to a destination (somewhere in South America, I forget the specific city) the following month, and wanted to know how they … Read MoreRead More