Radical Finances

Year in review 2016: My top 10 favorite posts

What a year it’s been. This site has now been humming along for over four years now. As I continue to post twice per week, that means that there are over a hundred posts on this site over the past … Read MoreRead More

Avoid any mortgage company whose sales pitch involves misunderstandings of basic physics

Sometimes, I see something that is too boneheaded to go unchallenged and un-poked-fun-at. (That’s a phrase, right?) It’s related to the post where I talked about the reverse mortgage, and why it’s a terrible idea. It also has to do … Read MoreRead More

How homeowners can go back into debt, lose their home, and pay for the privilege

I’ve long said that if they are advertising something, you don’t need it. This was one of my very first blog posts from years ago, and I stick by it. Now “need” is different from “want”, of course. You may … Read MoreRead More

Half car

More lying with numbers: What it really means to be half-wrong about interest rates

It is possible to lie with numbers, or at least mislead. We’ve seen this before when talking about how many hours you have available to work in a given week. It’s not the numbers that are doing the lying, of … Read MoreRead More

Library cubicles

How to lie with numbers: How many hours can you work?

One might argue that numbers are apolitical. I mean, how do you spin the number 4? How do you argue about it? Whether to close the top loop or keep it open? There’s not much there. Unfortunately, numbers can be … Read MoreRead More

"Do Not Paint" sign

Should you get a loan to pay off your debt?

Paying off debt is hard. It can feel like you’re not even making progress. Sometimes this is actually true. If you make minimum payments on your credit cards, you’re basically never going to pay anything off. And if you’ve got … Read MoreRead More

Boot laces

Why I may have life insurance even if I never purchase it

What’s the purpose of life insurance? It’s to help replace your income to your beneficiaries in case of your death. With regard to the giant payout that a term life policy generates, if invested properly, not only can it be … Read MoreRead More

Ski slope

Why I’m thinking about getting life insurance (before I need it)

Life insurance is the teeth-flossing of financial products. It’s something you know you need to deal with, but you really don’t want to. Luckily, unlike flossing, there are those who don’t really need it. The question about life insurance is … Read MoreRead More

15 ball

Why to use the 15% rule for saving for retirement

WARNING: This post contains math. Last time, when I talked about saving for retirement, I mentioned that I put away at least 15% of my income away in retirement. It occurred to me that some readers may feel like I’ve … Read MoreRead 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 MoreRead More