I find this unfortunate as there is a great deal of very practical Biblical advice on the subject of personal finances. Money and related topics are actually covered quite a lot in the Bible. I believe that this is because money is one of those topics where the vast majority of people “don’t get it.” Tyler commented about Joel Osteen – Osteen has such a skewed view (commonly referred to as the “prosperity gospel”) that it is rejected by many, many Christians. For a more accurate (IMHO) view of a Biblical perspective on personal finances, I’d recommend Howard Dayton (http://www.crown.org/). Speaking for my wife and myself, I know that as we’ve learned more, we’ve accumulated less, given away more, and are in a much better position financially and spiritually.

And don’t let anyone misquote the Bible to you – money is NOT the root of all evil. It’s “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”

On a regular basis, I use a high quality tinted moisturizer and coverup for any blemishes and that’s it. Sometimes a bronzing powder since I am pale. It was funny, since we are always trying to save money, I asked my husband if it was ok if I bought the $10 instead of the $3 bottle of lotion cause it worked better. When he found out that it lasts me a good 9-10 months, he just laughed and said that we can afford the extra $0.70/mo :)

When I have a presentation or an interview I wear more, but those are also times where I dress a little nicer too. But it also gives me a little confidence boost. I only wear one small swipe of eye shadow, mascara, and lip gloss. The whole routine still takes less than 5 min.

Thanks!

re: moving retirement funds: as long as you’re very upfront with the recipient of those funds, and are clear about making sure you’re moving money from the same type of account as its destination, it’s painless. make sure you’re moving roth to roth, non-roth to non-roth, etc.

I’m very unclear which is preferable for the average saver/investor, the money market fund or an online high yield savings account. I know that the money market funds are not insured by the FDIC but which has had higher interest rats historically and is a money market account a suitable place to park some cash, for say a house downpayment?

I have several friends who don’t know what to do. A few of them are disabled and wouldn’t file anyway, one brings in about $1400 in Soc. security disability. Would he make too much?

Another friend is disabled, getting about $750/mo, he attends college gets grants (pel, etc). Another has no income but is also a student living on grants/loans (the loans aren’t taxable of course).

Some of the grants are only taxable if not used for school (aprox 2-4 thousand/semester; not enough to require them to file).

Is this supposed rebate worth the hassle of filing? Of course students can get an earned income credit when they file but does the taxable income have to be over a certain $ amount? I hope this isn’t confusing but I’m just trying to find out how this would work from the perspective of people who do not work, are disabled, or have student aid as their only source of income (similar to vio’s question). Thanks a lot for your input!

2) Also, is it possible to make bread (or pizza) dough in advance and then refrigerate or freeze to bake later? In the case of pizza, can I prep the whole thing, freeze it, then bake later?

3) Lastly, when’s your cooking blog going to be ready for us?! I’m excited to see what it’ll be like (and what it’ll be named for that matter!)!

What do you think about couples cohabitating before marriage? Morally and Financially? Do you think it is a good idea?

Thanks,
Andy

I’m a woman who prefers to go without. In some cases it has worked well– when working at a motorcycle shop, there was one other woman who worked there. She was notorious for running off any other girls who worked there. I didn’t wear makeup and (probably more importantly) didn’t flirt with the other employees. The guys stayed away, so she liked me and I stayed.

On the other end of the spectrum, I know that my sister and all her group of friends look down on me because of it. My friends see me for who I am, but I can’t help my relations.

In college, the woman who sat next to me in Nutrition class had a horrible day once: her business professor chewed her out for not wearing makeup and told her never to come to class without it again. So I suspect that many of the students who went through his class view makeup as an absolute necessity for a profession in the business workplace. Going without would definitely have bad consequences under those circumstances.

I’m thankful I have been free to choose otherwise, but I know that not all women have that choice.

I’m 20 years old but I have a question about retirement already. I want to open a Roth IRA this year but I’m not sure what is the correct asset allocation for my age group. I am interested in two low cost index funds (one domestic, the other international) but that will mean my whole portfolio will just be stocks. Am I making a big mistake by going with 100% stock holdings? I always seem to read advice that you have to have a certain percentage of bonds in your portfolio no matter what. Does this mean I have to look at a bond index fund too?

I don’t think anyone needs to force themselves to wear it if they don’t want, I’ve never seen/heard of anyone being judged either way in the workplace. Hardly anyone at my work wears makeup except for me. Is this counter culture? I could care less.