When I started my new job, one of the items on my list was to sign up for an FSA (flexible spending account). Now I’ve talked about the FSA before. An FSA is great, in that you can put money … Read More … Read More
Radical Finances
This is why I don’t pick stocks
I’ve often said that my one big stock tip is don’t invest in stocks. There’s too much volatility, too much risk, and not enough gain. We often say that if we had only invested in Apple in 1995, or Amazon … Read More … Read More
If you don’t understand it, don’t invest in it
The three questions to ask yourself before you gamble (on anything)
(Note from after this post was written: Oy, what terrible timing to write about Las Vegas. My heart breaks for everyone affected by the horrors that transpired there this past week. There may not be any justice or sense in … Read More … Read More
Are you investing or just speculating?
The economics of the household aren’t great. Not only do you need to keep a reasonably good-paying job for at least four decades, but also you need to plan for a period of your life, say the last third of it, … Read More … Read More
Maybe don’t freeze your credit just yet
Since the Equifax dumpster fire breach, I’m still on the fence about freezing my credit. Perhaps this is surprising. After all, now that my information, along with 143 million others, has likely been taken by who-knows-who for who-knows-what purpose, it … Read More … Read More
Get your credit reports all at once or spread them out?
If you’ve been thinking that I’ve been silent about the Equifax breach because I haven’t cared, you’d be wrong. Instead, I’ve been feeling a mix of fear and despair, not unlike what I felt on November 9th this past year, … Read More … Read More
Why a new job might be best treated as an emergency
I just got a new job! (Don’t worry, I’m not shutting down this site.) Getting a new job is an exciting and terrifying time, one of the big life transitions. As it’s not a stretch to say that we spend … Read More … Read More
Emergencies are the worst time for using debt
Not long after I got my drivers license, my mom gave me an Exxon card to carry around with me. “For emergencies, in case you run out of gas and are stranded.” I never used it. It’s not that I … Read More … Read More
What if you can’t contribute to a 401(k)?
In my previous post, I talked about what to do if you’re ineligible for contributing to a Roth IRA. This most commonly is due to having an income over the limit set for those contributions. But just like you could … Read More … Read More