Mind Over Money is as much a book about psychology as it is a book about personal finance. This book takes the interesting step of assuming that you already know the most basic of personal finance tenets – spend less than you earn, regularly save towards future goals, and buy and hold solid investments for

As I write this, I’m sitting at the airport waiting on a delayed flight from Denver. I’m supposed to pick up someone on this flight. It’s after midnight, I’m about ready to pass out from exhaustion, and still no arrival. Guess I’ll read some blogs. Frugality Is Not A Dirty Word There is a difference

This is the twenty-fifth part of The Simple Dollar Book Club reading of Your Money or Your Life. Want to know more? When I read this section of Your Money or Your Life, I began to think of two of my high school teachers – incidentally, the two best teachers I ever had. They both

In a recent discussion about why I’m looking at paying off debt in the short term over investing, a reader mentioned Dave Ramsey’s book The Total Money Makeover, which basically encourages everyone to follow these seven steps to financial freedom: 1. $1,000 to start an emergency fund 2. Pay off all debt (except the home)

Consumer Reports has asked me to eliminate the content of my summaries and any other references to the content of Consumer Reports. I have complied

The extended family starts invading today. They don’t all leave until next Wednesday. Seriously. It could be a long week. An Annoying Email A person, who sounds almost exactly like me in a lot of ways (30, married, has two kids, makes a good wage, has two cars in the driveway, pays for daycare), is

This is the twenty-fourth part of The Simple Dollar Book Club reading of Your Money or Your Life. Want to know more? So, what exactly does that crossover point represent? It’s basically the point of total freedom – the point where you no longer have any association between the requirement to make money and how

A reader wrote to me recently asking about the proliferation of spam emails concerning individual stocks: I often get two or three spam emails a day touting a specific stock. I’m smart enough to realize that this is some kind of scam, but how exactly does it work? This type of scam is called a

Over the last few weeks, my wife and I have taken some serious looks at our overall financial state, our happiness with our current lifestyle, and whether or not one of us wants to become a stay-at-home parent. Although we’ve not reached a consensus on all of these issues, we have agreed on one fundamental

A few nights ago, my wife and I watched a 1948 black and white film clled The Mating of Millie. It’s stood out in my mind for a long time because the movie features a lot of professional women and the titular character actually is in charge of a rather sizable business and employs a

This is the twenty-third part of The Simple Dollar Book Club reading of Your Money or Your Life. Want to know more? This concept fascinated me so much that I had to write a post specifically about it when I first read Your Money or Your Life. In a nutshell, the “crossover point” is the

My son is starting to reach the stage where he’s strongly attracted to the toy section when we’re shopping. This has already created a few interesting situations, because he’s getting bright enough that the older distraction techniques no longer work. It’s time to start treating him like a child and not like an infant. We’ve

Shannon writes in with the following lament: Is there any advice you can give for giving up the Starbucks addiction? I’ve slowly been gaining control of my financial life, but Starbucks seems to be the bain of my financial existence–the only thing I cannot give up. Starbucks is a particularly pesky thing to give up

After some experimentation, I’ve decided to go ahead with “night before” cinnamon rolls instead of making them entirely in advance for this weekend. Want a recipe? I’m using something very similar to this one. Inexpensive Ways to Woo Your Wife Most of these actually work quite well. (@ clever dude) Making Long Distance Relationships Work

This is the twenty-second part of The Simple Dollar Book Club reading of Your Money or Your Life. Want to know more? Here, the book takes what I at first thought was a very odd jump based on what came before. Instead of implying that a lower-paying, lower-responsibility job is better (because you can reserve

Since Money Magazine recently celebrated their 35th anniversary, I thought it might be useful to go back and look at the inaugural issue of Money Magazine. Cover-dated October 1972, the first issue is in many ways surprisingly similar to Money in its current incarnation – very direct and specific personal finance advice. Here are seven

After partially implementing Volumetrics and seeing some success with it, I’ve made a realization that for my health to really kick into high gear, I need to look at making some bigger changes. I’m not obese, I’m just somewhat heavier than I was, say, when I first started dating my wife, and I’d like to

Starting on Thursday evening, the house guests begin to arrive, culminating in eleven houseguests on Saturday and Sunday. Things I’m thankful for: lots of people I like and care for, a lot of people who want to play with the kids. Things that stress me out: food, personal interactions with various guests. End result: it’ll

Each Sunday, The Simple Dollar reviews a personal productivity or personal development book. With the exception of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, no single book has been asked about in reader emails more than Think and Grow Rich. It was arguably the most widely circulated book of the 20th century on the topic of personal success.