I often talk about emergency funds and how useful they are here on The Simple Dollar. Here’s a quick summary of them, for people new to the site.

An emergency fund is a pool of money you can easily access to take care of short-term problems in your life, such as a car repair or paying bills during a short unemployment period. A good emergency fund is one that’s liquid (meaning you can easily withdraw the cash when you need it) and doesn’t put the balance at risk, while returns on that money aren’t as important. Thus, a savings account is a great place for an emergency fund. Everyone should have an emergency fund of $1,000 in place, and that should be the top financial priority if you don’t have one. If you don’t have any outstanding high interest debt (anything above, say, 8%), build your emergency fund so that you have at least a month’s worth of living expenses for your family for each dependent you have. So, if you have five dependents (you, a spouse, and three kids) and no high-interest debt, you should start building up an emergency fund equal to five months of living expenses.

However, I’ve come to realize that cash is just one small part of a successful emergency fund. A true emergency fund is broader than just cash. It’s any resource that helps you survive an unexpected event in your life.

Here are some tools everyone should have in their “emergency fund.”

Life skills Can you change a flat tire? Can you fix a broken toilet? Can you grow your own food? Can you prepare a decent meal at home? The more skills you have along these lines, the easier it is to survive during an economic downturn or a natural disaster.

Professional skills Are you an effective public speaker? Are you a good time manager? Are you good at managing information? Do you have marketable skills, like the ability to rebuild an engine? These will all help you if you’re trying to put a career back on track after a job loss.

Completed work Many times, an emergency has come up – a sick child, for one – and I’ve had to rely on already-completed articles when I can’t write for a few days. At my previous job, I had many scripts and other tools set up so that, if an emergency occurred, some of the key parts of my job could easily be handled remotely. What things do you have in the bank in case of an emergency? Do you have a day or two worth of emergency materials in place at your workplace?

Relationships Do you have good relationships with a lot of people in your field, particularly those that work for other employers? Do you have a wide array of friendships in your community and in other areas? These relationships will provide a safety net for you when you stumble – and eventually, you will stumble.

Insurance Do you have health insurance? Do your family members? Do you and your family members have life insurance? If you’re well off, have you considered long term care and disability insurance? If you’re very well off, what about umbrella insurance? When things go wrong, insurance can take the venom right out of a snakebite.

Reserves We buy in bulk, not just so that we’ll save money on each item, but so that we’ll have items in reserve in case something happens, like a severe financial shortfall or a natural disaster. What do you have on reserve in your basement?

Energy I learned long ago that robbing Peter to pay Paul via not sleeping enough almost always leads to regret. I work with less quality, I’m more cranky, and I don’t handle crises well. Simply sleeping well at night and getting adequate well-balanced nutrition contributes to an emergency fund of your health, alertness, and well-being.

Every day, we’re given many chances to prepare for whatever may come in the future, good or bad. A little bit of preparation now can make the future a lot less painful without sacrificing any of the opportunities of today.

Each week, I highlight ten things each week that inspired me to greater financial, personal, and professional success. Hopefully, they will inspire you as well.

1. Initiative
Our youngest son isn’t quite a year old yet. He recently mastered crawling. On Easter Sunday, when his older siblings were happily hunting eggs, we assumed that our youngest would be content to just watch his older siblings find eggs.

Nope. He wanted to follow them around. He wasn’t content to just do that, either. He wanted to find his own eggs. So he did.

If a baby can take the initiative to do complex things for himself, why can’t I take on the big challenges in my own life?

2. The Dan Plan
Dan McLaughlin quit his job in April of last year to become a professional golfer. The catch? He doesn’t have great physical skills, nor has he played much golf in his life. Instead, he’s trying to do this using the “10,000 hours of practice” model for mastery. Simply put, he’s engaging in six hours of deliberate golf practice a day and hopes to try out for the PGA tour in late 2015.

That’s a mighty impressive story, and he’s sharing it all online at TheDanPlan.com.

3. Gandhi on change
My sister-in-law has a ring with this inscribed on it.

Be the change you want to see in the world. – Mohandas Gandhi

Those are some words to live by, indeed.

4. The soliloquy from Field of Dreams
Here’s the clip from the movie.

Ray, people will come, Ray. They’ll come to Iowa for reasons they can’t even fathom. They’ll turn up your driveway, not knowing for sure why they’re doing it. They’ll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. “Of course, we won’t mind if you have a look around,” you’ll say. “It’s only twenty dollars per person.” They’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it; for it is money they have and peace they lack.

And they’ll walk out to the bleachers, and sit in shirt-sleeves on a perfect afternoon. They’ll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they’ll watch the game, and it’ll be as if they’d dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick, they’ll have to brush them away from their faces.

People will come, Ray.

The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again. Oh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.

I watched baseball with my grandfather when I was a very young boy. I’ve watched and listened to more baseball games with my father than I can ever count. Last summer, I got the chance to take my oldest son to a baseball game for the first time.

During one moment in that game, I sat there in the stands with my dad and my son and for just a moment, I felt like my grandpa was there, too, along with a few other deceased family members.

My grandpa never got to meet any of my children, but when I saw the excitement of my son jumping up and down as a player hit a ball deep into the outfield, I remembered my own excitement watching the same thing as a boy, and I’m sure my father felt a bit of the same. I’m willing to bet that my grandpa had that same experience. It’s something that two people I care about very much can share, even though they’ll never meet in this world. They share a few genes and a middle name and perhaps a bit more.

Baseball has started again. I think I’ll be going to a game soon.

5. Instructables
Sarah and I are constantly looking for interesting arts and crafts projects for our children on the weekends (and sometimes on weeknights). Lately, we’ve found a ton of them on instructables.com.

This site basically exists to give visual walkthroughs of simple do-it-yourself projects of all kinds. I’ve found great how-tos on all kinds of different things.

A great example: this weekend, when it’s raining, my oldest son and I are going to make some ninja stars.

6. Maria Robinson on today
Today is full of possibilities. Yesterday, not so much.

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” – Maria Robinson

Don’t dwell on the past. It can’t be undone. Dwell instead on the present and what it can lead to in the future.

7. Paul Signac’s Femmes au puits, 1892
My children are really into art as of late. After thoroughly looking at images of van Gogh’s works for the past few months, we’ve started looking at some other post-impressionists.

I showed this one to my daughter. She stared at it, entranced, for a long time. Watching her eyes as she looked at this painting was a marvelous experience.

She’s three years old and wants to travel to New York to visit the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. My five year old son is almost as enthusiastic. How soon can we go?

Thanks to Sharon Mollerus for the image.

8. MapMyRide
Over this past week, I’ve been bicycling all over near where I live, looking for routes to ride on non-windy afternoons. It’s been fun finding them and noting which ones were challenging and which ones were easy.

I wanted to record my rides and get some mileage estimates. MapMyRide does exactly that – and makes it fun.

9. Will Durant on reality
It’s one thing to have a goal. It’s another thing entirely to think that by merely having a goal, you’ve already succeeded.

“The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds.” – Will Durant

Nothing in this world happens without action. Goals and dreams just give your actions some direction.

10. Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key
This is a duet by Billy Bragg and Natalie Merchant (with music by Wilco) of a song written by Woody Guthrie.

Songs can just take you back to a certain point in your life. This song makes me think of the time when my wife and I were just dating and I was still in college. I remember bicycling through a rainstorm to meet her one Friday afternoon after not having seen her for a month. I got to my apartment and she wasn’t there yet, so I sat on the front step, still in the rain, waiting for her. This song just takes me back there for some reason.

Each week, I’ll present a low-cost meal (or a meal that demonstrates a lot of options for cutting costs) that my family eats for dinner and enjoys. Many of the recipes will be vegan or vegetarian, with options to add other ingredients for non-vegetarians.

One of the most popular posts I’ve ever done on The Simple Dollar was my post about bulk breakfast burritos, which is fitting because they’re one of my favorite meals. They were loaded with eggs and other goodness to make a delicious little breakfast.

Of course, over the years, I’ve refined the burritos a bit. I had finally hit upon a combination that I loved, a mix of ingredients that made my mouth start to water just thinking about it, when I gave up eggs.

After a few months, I was convinced by a vegan friend to try replicating the recipe with extra firm tofu replacing the scrambled eggs. I was a bit dubious, but I decided to give it a shot. It turned out to be quite tasty – so good, in fact, that I’ll eat the filling as a meal without the tortilla shell. My family enjoys it for pretty much any meal, not just breakfast.

Obviously, you can make this recipe with either eggs or firm tofu. If you’re using eggs, scramble six or eight eggs first and cook until they’re just a bit shy of being done (take them off when you think they’d be done in a couple of minutes, in other words). With tofu, just buy a pound of extra firm tofu and crumble it with your hands.

What You Need
When I make this meal, I use the following ingredients:

1 lb. extra firm tofu, broken into small pieces by hand -or- eight eggs, cooked and scrambled
8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
1 red or green bell pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1 cup cooked black beans
1 medium tomato, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
up to 8 tortillas

I usually double the recipe for my own purposes, so I’ll make sixteen (or so) burritos with enough scramble to make a meal for the family out of what’s left. This time, I made 16 burritos, everyone in the family had scramble for a meal, and I had enough scramble left over for another meal besides. This adds up to thirteen meals for a total cost of around $16, plus the latter eight meals (two burritos each) were really convenient.

The Night Before (or Early That Day)
The biggest thing you can do in advance is to cut up the mushrooms, tomato, onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Store them all in separate containers in the refrigerator until you’re ready to cook.

Preparing the Meal
Get a soup pot – 5 quarts or greater – and add the oil. Turn up the heat to high until the oil begins to smoke, then add the garlic. Stir vigorously for fifteen seconds, then add the onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms. Stir this regularly for about five minutes.

Lower the heat to medium, then add the beans, tomatoes, and turmeric. Allow this to cook for about two minutes, stirring regularly.

Add the egg or tofu and continue to stir, letting everything cook for about five more minutes. You’re ready to eat!

Unless you’re feeding a lot of people, you’ll have a lot of leftovers. I usually turn this into breakfast burritos by adding three heaping tablespoons of the mix to the center of a tortilla using a slotted spoon (allowing any liquid to drip off first), then rolling it up into a burrito shape.

I can make eight of these per batch, so here are the sixteen I made with my double batch. I bagged them, two to a quart Ziploc freezer bag.

Whenever I’m hungry, I pull out a Ziploc bag, remove the burritos, wrap them individually in a paper towel, then microwave them for two and a half minutes. I remove the paper towels, turn each one around so that the sides that were facing the outside of the plate are now facing the inside, and microwave them for two minutes more. Delicious! You can make them easily transportable by wrapping the bottom in a paper towel or wax paper.

Optional Ingredients
Besides the egg/tofu choice, you can add all kinds of things to this recipe. Cooked sausage, diced ham, asparagus, bacon, salsa, cheese – the list goes on and on. Add whatever ingredients sound good to you and you’ll be happy with what turns out. For me, this is a delicious mix that luckily happens to be pretty healthy, too.

One thing I love to do is to browse through random personal finance blogs. I’ll jump on links from one blog to another, just to see what a new voice will have to say. Doing this helps me get a pretty good idea of the various perspectives and ideas that are out there. It also helps me notice a few “groupings” of ideas out there as well.

For example, I notice that, often, personal finance bloggers are either wholeheartedly about frugality or they’re all about entrepreneurship and earning more money. They’ll write only about their ideas and sometimes even take swipes at other perspectives (I often see entrepreneurship blogs making fun of frugality).

Frankly, I find this completely silly.

There are times when frugality is the best option. There are times when focusing on increasing earnings is the best option. Most of the time, there’s no reason not to try and do both.

For example, the effects of frugality are more immediate than the effects of building your income. When you make a choice to not buy something or to find a less expensive way of doing something, you start reaping the rewards from that choice immediately. That money goes from being spent to residing in your pocket right now. Thus, if you need immediate relief, frugality is the superior tactic.

On the other hand, frugality has a limit. There’s only so much you can cut before you start having to make seriously life-altering choices.

At the same time, the ability to earn more is limitless. There are always potential avenues to earn more money. You can get a second job, start a business, ask for a raise, and so on and so forth. Unlike frugality, there is no cap. You can always earn more. You can’t always cut more.

However, the value of your actions isn’t always clear when you’re trying to earn more money. Yes, it’s clear how much more you’re going to earn if you take a second job, but what about a decision to start a business? What about raising your skill set? It’s essentially impossible to interpret what those actions will earn for you. They might earn nothing. They might earn a lot. With frugality, you can almost always calculate how much you’ll save.

I tend to think that the biggest differences between frugality and increasing earnings come with your perspective and focus on life.

In my eyes, frugality shines best in the short term. If you’re in a financial panic after, say, a major car repair, frugality will help you. If you’re saving for a goal that’s a year or two down the road, frugality will make that goal possible.

Similarly, frugality is superior when you need precise numbers. For example, if you’re trying to figure out how to come up with a car payment, building your skill set for a better job is irrelevant. On the other hand, eating every meal at home can quickly provide the money you need for that car payment.

On the other hand, increasing earnings shines over the long term. Building your skill set doesn’t pay off today or tomorrow. Neither does networking, nor does starting your own business. These types of things need consistent effort and time to grow into earnings in your pocket, but the rewards they reap often greatly exceed those earned by frugality.

Increasing earnings is all about growth. Growth is often unpredictable, but the rewards of growth are tremendous, pushing you upwards to new heights.

What’s better? My take is that tactics from each side are useful in a successful life. Poor spending choices, for example, make it harder for you to make challenging decisions that can increase your earnings. It’s very hard to make an entrepreneurial leap, after all, if you’re not frugal.

The destination of financial independence is the same no matter which path you take.

Kelly wrote in with a very interesting story. Even though she gave me permission to publish the full thing, I edited it quite a bit for some privacy reasons that will be obvious when you read the story.

While I was married, I was really depressed. I had more money, but I spent most of the time hating myself. I thought that I was worthless because [my husband] told me I was all the time. I wasn’t “allowed” to have friends.

The only things I had that would make me feel better for a little bit were expensive things like going to the spa. [My husband] made plenty of money and never really complained about the bills.

[After a long series of rather scary events], [m]y sisters had an intervention. They bought me a plane ticket and flew me to Tampa to live with them for a while.

I’ve rebuilt my life here. I spend time with my sisters who are just wonderful and really supportive. I started working at [one of her sisters]‘ office as an administrative assistant. I’m doing what I want, when I want.

I don’t feel worthless anymore. I don’t feel like I need to spend money to be happy any more.

It was that last paragraph that really hooked me.

I don’t feel worthless anymore. I don’t feel like I need to spend money to be happy any more.

I know exactly what she means.

The worst overspending period in my life occurred in the year between my wife discovering she was pregnant with our first child and our financial bottom.

In a lot of ways, that was a very happy time. On the other hand, I spent pretty much every day of that period realizing how I was failing at becoming the father I wanted to be.

I had always promised myself that I would be a father that would always be around for every important moment for my children. Yet I found myself in a job that involved travel several times a year, causing me to miss big moments with my children, and it also essentially required me to work on weekends (as an emergency fixer), which also caused me to miss a lot of moments. I was failing.

I had always promised myself that I would raise my children in a nice home where they’d have plenty of space to play and engage in their projects. Yet we lived in a tiny apartment and had no real prospects of leaving that situation in the near future.

I had always promised myself that I would turn my writing into something successful. Yet I had only had the faintest bites on anything I had ever written and was finding myself with less and less time to write.

I had a wonderful wife and a beautiful child, but I still viewed myself as being worthless. I was failing in the areas I promised myself I would never fail in.

So I spent money, often with reckless abandon. I didn’t like who I was or where my life was at that time, so I bought stuff. Lots of stuff. Mountains of video games, DVDs, CDs, and countless other items. I ate at expensive restaurants, even for breakfasts and lunches by myself.

When I finally hit my financial bottom, I made several financial decisions out of sheer panic in order to get some grip on my financial situation. Once I was through the initial crisis and I really realized that I had succeeded and how much impact my own choices had on my finances, I felt good. I felt proud that I was able to take control of this part of my life.

From there, spending less became something of a self-fulfilling loop. The less I spent, the more confident I felt in my own self and my ability to turn things around. As my self-worth grew, it became easier to spend less because I didn’t need to purchase things to feel good about my situation any more.

Your stuff doesn’t define you. It won’t fill the holes you feel in your life. It won’t solve the problems you face. It just makes you feel good for a little while, but then you’re back to where you started (and often in a slightly worse spot).

Instead, your actions define you. If you choose to stand up for yourself and for your dreams, you become the type of person that defines their own future. It’s up to you to make that choice. No one else reaps the rewards from making that choice, and there’s no one else to blame when you don’t.

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to five word summaries. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Climbing the car ladder
2. Apolitical
3. Upside down car loan
4. Military debt
5. Basic will question
6. Mortgage or not?
7. Health care costs
8. Buying silver
9. I’m almost 30, what’s next?
10. Career and life crossroads

My children have had their last four soccer games cancelled on account of rain. Our basement water pump has kicked on every few minutes for days. Our front yard is like mud.

Winter is over. Spring is here.

Q1: Climbing the car ladder
One of the oft-touted pieces of personal finance advice I hear is to avoid financing a car if at all possible. The idea is that one should buy a car within their means and set aside a “car payment” in savings every month so that when the car dies, they will have more to replace it.

But I’ve recently found myself in a situation where I realized that only works in theory. I finished school last year and since then have been working an entry-level job. I live in Indiana, so cost of living isn’t particularly high, but I make just shy of $24,000/year before taxes. I had about $3,000 set aside hoping not to need to buy a car for awhile yet, but life happened and I needed to purchase one pretty urgently.

I started looking for cars in the sub-$3,000 range, and what I started to discover is that none of the cars available in that price range could reasonably be expected to last the 20 months it would take me to save even to replace them if I can really only save $150/month. Almost all of them are mid-to-late ’90s models with 190,000+ miles on them, and not Hondas or Toyotas or other makes that regularly see 250k. Even if they did make it that long, they wouldn’t do so without repairs, which would push the date back even farther.

So how is one to mount the “car ladder” and start using cars till they die while saving for their replacements when the bottom of the ladder is so shaky? Is there a hidden caveat to the guideline? “Until you have $5,000 saved, ride a bicycle. Not only will you eventually be able to afford safe, functional cars, but you’ll keep your medical bills in check so you can save faster!”
- Lindsay

Quite often, this advice is given with the assumption that you already have a car in your possession and that these cars lead into a “trade-in train” where you trade in your old car and pay the difference with cash.

For some people, yes, a bicycle is an option. For others, buying a low-end car with a loan is the best way to start out. Then, set a monthly “car payment” that’s a bit higher than your real payments.

Let’s say you get a car with $150 per month payments to the bank. Decide that your monthly “car payment” is going to be $180. Use the first $150 of that payment to make your real car payment, then put the next $30 into savings. When your car is paid off, keep making the “car payments” and put the full $180 per month into savings. If you stick with that, you’ll be slowly upgrading your car with each trade-in and never having to actually pay interest on a car loan.

Q2: Apolitical
The one thing that I am constantly impressed with is your ability to exercise your capacity for delivering frank advice with an apolitical stance. So much of the media we consume is highly political on one side of the spectrum or the other, and I find myself more receptive to your ideas because they are carefully refined to reach everybody. Kudos, sir! Is this a conscious effort on your part? Do you comb through your posts in an attempt to be more diplomatic? I am always struggling to be more diplomatic in how I speak to those who may not agree with me, and I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts about it.
- Veronica

It’s indeed a conscious effort on my part. On the rare occasions when I’ve not done it, I’ve regretted it.

The truth is that the advice on this site works for everyone, rich or poor, conservative or liberal. Surrounding the advice with political talk might entertain some, but it’s likely to drive a lot of other people away for no real reason.

It also helps that I’m politically a moderate. I don’t trust either major party, though, because everything they claim to stand for and promise to people never actually happens when these people get to Washington.

Q3: Upside down car loan
I have a 2007 Toyota Camry 50,000 miles good condition, runs terrific. Problem being my car loan is $366.00 and it is killing me. Yes i know i am what they call upside down. How do i get rid of it, the loan is with wells fargo I have had it for a yr and a half.
- Sue

If you’re upside down – meaning that the car is worth less than the remaining balance on your loan – your only options are to allow it to be repossessed, to keep paying on the loan, or to sell it and make up the difference out of pocket.

Since I don’t have a full picture of your finances, it’s hard to say which option is the best for you. Given that you bought a used Camry and are paying $366 a month, I’m going to guess that you either have just a three year loan or you have poor credit. If you do already have poor credit, the repossession won’t be as painful to your credit as it might be otherwise.

My best advice is to simply try to stick with it and pay it off unless you can easily find a buyer for it.

Q4: Military debt
I know someone who has quite a bit of student loan debt and who will soon be leaving for boot camp for the U.S. Army one semester short of graduation. I’ve looked for information concerning what types of loans and how much the government will refund those who join the military but have always come across conflicting information. What all can you tell me about student loan repayment for those joining?
- Jamie

The big thing to note is that many types of student loans receive some repayment assistance from the military. This can actually be a very beneficial program.

It’s important to note, though, that this program doesn’t work with all types of student loans. Some loan types, particularly private ones, are excluded from this offer.

On the flip side, some specific loans interact well with military service. You’ll want to inquire about each of the loans your friend has.

Q5: Basic will question
I have a question in regard to making a Will that I would like some advice on. My husband is 90 years of age and I am in my early 80′s. At present time we know we should have a will but have kept putting it off. We do not drive any longer and family are not close by so do not know of any lawyers in our area. I have read that you can make out a will online that would be valid in what ever state you live in. We are in Florida. What can you advise us about doing it this way?
- Joyce

There are many online services that will help you prepare a will, such as Legal Zoom. I highly recommend either using a lawyer directly for will preparation or using a service such as Legal Zoom. I have heard of too many questionable experiences from do-it-yourself will kits.

If you have a local lawyer you trust, I recommend using them. The process of creating a will is very simple and you shouldn’t be charged significantly for it.

It sounds like your will should be a fairly straightforward document. Good luck.

Q6: Mortgage or not?
I’m 39, and I purchased my home with cash. I’m thinking of taking out a $200K mortgage and investing that over a 25 year period since I have very little in retirement funds. At my age, my financial adviser thinks its a good idea because I’ll still have equity in my house, and it will basically force me to save money for retirement by buying some money at a relatively cheap rate. Would you agree this is a good idea?
- Glenn

This is not a good idea at all unless you want to introduce a lot of risk into your life. You’re basically giving yourself a mortgage, which constrains your monthly cash flow for a very long time, in exchange for an investment that may or may not retain its value. If you somehow magically got a mortgage that charged a 0% interest rate, it might be worthwhile, but considering you’re going to be paying 4% or more interest constantly on this debt just to invest it in something that’s going to have to either be risky or highly illiquid to beat that rate, I wouldn’t do it.

Assuming that your advisor works on commission, he has a lot to gain by you doing this. If you invest $200,000 and he gets a 1% commission, he’s pocketing $2,000 for your risk.

Instead of taking out a mortgage and handing that interest (and most if not all of your gains) right back to a bank, make a “mortgage payment” every month straight into whatever investment you have in mind.

Q7: Health care costs
I have a question about how best to handle health care costs. Here’s the situation: I’m employed at a high-paying ($90,000/yr) job that I absolutely love and will not consider leaving. My wife is just beginning a career as a novelist, which means she is self-employed and has very little income. We both obtain health insurance through my employer. It is excellent health insurance, but it costs us $500/month in premiums. Believe it or not, that is the cheapest family plan my company offers.

We both have chronic health conditions that require weekly outpatient visits and several expensive medications. Even though we are paying fairly low co-pays on those, it all adds up. I put 10% of my pay into a health FSA, which we use for the co-pays. Then, add to that the things that a flex account won’t cover anymore – transportation to and from appointments, ingredients for special diets, etc. We also spend a lot of money dealing with flare-ups. For example, if we’ve gone out for the evening, we sometimes need to take a taxi home because public transportation isn’t an option during a flare-up. Or we require some housekeeping or cooking assistance, because both of us are sick at the same time and there is no one available to maintain the household. We have very few family or friends in the area, so we generally need to pay for the help that we require.

I realize that we are very blessed to have my income and insurance. I get that there are families with worse health conditions and fewer resources. Still, all of these costs added together reach nearly 40% of my salary. That makes it very difficult for us to save money for other important goals, like buying a house.

We seem to have too much income to qualify for social services programs that are designed to help people with medical costs. Are there any other options you can think of for reducing our health care costs?
- Ron

There are no social services that exist for people in your situation. In the eyes of most social services, your income protects you.

In the past, such situations have been aided by family, but the family as a structure isn’t as strong as it once was and many people are left in your situation.

Your best bet would be to try to build relationships with others in the area who have similar conditions as your own. Are there any groups for people with your condition? Quite often, the support you can give to each other can make an enormous financial difference for all of you.

Q8: Buying silver
I would like to buy some silver boullions since the value of the dollar is going down so is it a good idea? And how do I go about it? I am handicapped and starting to feel insecure about the economy.
- Sylvia

It’s not a bad idea to have a small amount of your assets in precious metals if they make you feel secure. However, the current prices of gold and silver give all the signs of being an investment bubble (oversaturation of buyers, for one), so I would never invest all my money in it.

Your best bet is to shop around, both online and locally. If you’re going to buy online, make sure you’re buying from a reputable business, even if it costs you a bit more. If you reach a point where you feel uncomfortable at all with a particular seller, back out and go elsewhere.

I’ve had success buying from a local shop, to tell the truth. They offer competitive prices and the ability to carefully inspect what you purchase.

Q9: I’m almost 30, what’s next?
I’m about a year out from my 30th birthday and it’s dawned on me that I need to make some changes. I am currently in a job I do not like and living in a town I have outgrown.

I would like to relocate to the San Francisco Bay Area for both personal and career reasons. I need to prepare my finances before making this move. I have the normal twenty-something debts: car, a few credit cards, a small personal loan, cell phone, cable, etc.

I know that most of these will need to be paid off before I make any sort of move. However, San Francisco is much more expensive than where I’m currently living. I’m giving myself a year to get my finances in order. How much do you recommend I save prior to moving?

Also, I’m looking to jump into a different career field. I’m currently working in insurance and burnt out after nearly 10 years. I have 14 years of strong work experience but no degree. I’m currently going to school while working both a full-time and part-time job. Can you suggest some ways to highlight my strengths so the lack of degree isn’t an issue?
- Chelsea

Quite often, a degree is used as a limiter for job applications. They’ll state that having some degree is a minimum to apply in order to reduce the number of applicants.

The truth, though, is that if you can get your resume in the door, they’re going to care more about the skills you offer and the experience you have than anything. Highlight those things when you construct a resume. Spend time wording them so that they’re as strong as possible without being false.

As for how much to save prior to moving, it depends heavily on whether you have a job in hand when you move. If you do, I’d have at least one month of living expenses in hand (plus deposits) before going. If you don’t have a job, I wouldn’t go without three months of living expenses (plus deposits).

Q10: Career and life crossroads
I left my job last November, where I was working at a large corporation as a financial analyst and just flat out hated the work and the company. I have since taken a job at a small family business that is currently being run by my one of my bestfriends. She recently left her own career to take over as the General Manager to help save her family business which is really struggling financially. I took this job originally to just make some extra money and help her out with her workload as I interview for other positions, but there is now an opportunity for me to take over as the Director of Finance. This would be a nice opportunity for me but also a huge challenge and risk considering the financial condition of the company. I would have to take a much lower salary than I am accustomed to, just because of the company’s financial condition. In just a couple of months working there I have found that the small business atmosphere is very appealing to me and being able to turn around this company would be a huge accomplishment!

I also just received an offer for another financial analyst type position at a large company. This is a very strong and stable company and the salary offer was considerably higher. What would you do? What things would you think about when making this decision?

I feel like I am at a huge crossroads in my career/life and any advice would help.
- Mike

If I were you, I’d go for the Director of Finance position at the small company.

For one, you’re happy there, it seems. For two, it offers you much more of an opportunity to make your mark. For three, that type of position is going to look a lot better on a resume later on than being an anonymous analyst in a large company.

It probably does come with more risk, but you’re happy there and with great risk comes great reward. You have an opportunity there that you won’t have at the other company.

Got any questions? Email them to me or leave them in the comments and I’ll attempt to answer them in a future mailbag (which, by way of full disclosure, may also get re-posted on other websites that pick up my blog). However, I do receive hundreds of questions per week, so I may not necessarily be able to answer yours.

When I was in college, I took a semester course in organic chemistry. It was only a three credit course and I needed to take a lot of courses to move toward the two separate college degrees I was working toward, so I loaded my schedule down with twenty credits that semester (where twelve is considered a full time load).

It turned out that organic chemistry was the hardest class I’d ever taken. It hit me like a freight train. I wound up dropping it.

A year later, I gave organic chemistry a try again. I knew it was going to be hard. I also knew that I was going to be similarly loaded with credits. Thus, I knew that I needed to approach it in a very different way.

I got a B+ (that would have been an A with slightly better reading comprehension on the final).

Even more impressive, even now, fifteen years on, I still remember lots of elements of that organic chemistry class. I still remember what a Grignard reagent is and why it’s useful. I can still draw the structures of quite a few organic compounds from the name, and vice versa.

Since then, I’ve used the same set of techniques whenever I’m trying to absorb a large body of knowledge. I’ve done it with personal finance, with economics, with Western philosophy, with genetics and genetic algorithms, with several different programming languages, and that’s just for starters.

What was the difference? Why did I fail so badly the first time and yet learn so well the second time?

Obviously, the difference in these two patterns is a key part of succeeding in an information economy. If you’re able to absorb a lot of things quickly, then you’re more useful at almost every desk job under the sun.

Here are the seven central pieces to my plan.

1. Like what you’re learning.
This is key. You should enjoy the subject for what it is, not for what it gets you. If you have no interest in learning about the topic except that you’re told to learn about it or that you’re supposed to learn about it, it’s very hard to absorb and retain a signficant amount of knowledge. You can always cram, of course, but it’s hard for that information to have lasting power if you’re not interested in truly learning the information.

This isn’t to say you shouldn’t have goals with your learning, but that if you’re not enjoying the process toward achieving those goals, you might want to find a different aim for your learning.

2. Find a place where you’re comfortable yet undistracted.
It’s hard to learn if you’re constantly distracted by a ringing cell phone or the ding of your email program. Seek out a place with minimum distractions and an environment where you’re comfortable. I do my best learning in the rocking chair in my office, for example. I’m very comfortable, I’m not sitting in front of the computer, and I feel happy and ready to learn.

3. Chunk it.
People tend to remember the start and end of their lessons the best, so I simply chunk my learning into small bits. I’ll study something for fifteen minutes or less at a time, then I’ll put it down and do something else for a while. Almost every day, I’m learning something using this exact method.

You might learn more over a long period of study than a very short one, but you learn less per minute spent studying. If you want to maximize an hour of learning, you’re far better off breaking it into four fifteen minute or five twelve minute chunks spread out over several hours instead of studying nonstop for an hour.

4. Jump into the deep end of the pool.
It seems obvious that if you’re new to a topic, you should start with beginner’s topics. I find the opposite to be more effective. I jump right into the deep end of the pool, reading something very advanced or trying something very difficult. I see what I can absorb from that advanced topic, then I go back and fill in the holes in my learning with simpler material.

I tend to look at learning more as building a scaffold, then building the structure around that scaffold. That’s what happens when you start with advanced topics and then patch it with the areas where you’re confused.

5. Apply what you’re learning as quickly as you can.
If you learn a new idea or new technique, try to use it quickly. For example, if you’ve just started learning about a particular computer programming technique, go try it. If you’ve learned about a new time management technique, go try it. If you’ve learned a new set of rules about naming organic molecules, go try them.

Try the new things you’ve learned several times. Doing this really helps make the information stick in your head.

6. Try different methods of absorbing information.
This is actually just an extension of the above tactic. Try listening to talks about things you want to learn about. Try reading about it. Try talking about the information with someone who already knows about the topic. Watch a documentary or a video about the topic.

Different learning styles work differently for each of us. I tend to learn different things from different educational methods, so mixing them up results in the ideas being strongly reinforced in my head.

7. Focus on patterns.
Almost everything that we learn about is filled with patterns. Languages. Philosophies. Sciences. Skills. They all include many, many patterns. Seek out and identify those patterns and you’ll learn more quickly.

For example, if you’re learning Spanish, knowing that many words in English that end in -tion are the same in Spanish except they end in -cion and you’ve vastly increased your vocabulary. If you’re learning computer programming, the pattern of an if-loop is essentially the same in every computer programming language – and your abilities in all languages have grown. If you’re learning how to play a musical instrument, the chords (and elements of them) repeat themselves over and over throughout songs – and you’ve got the tools for an infinite array of musical pieces.

Learning itself is a valuable enterprise, both in the process and in the results. The more you learn and the more skills and knowledge you acquire, the more valuable you become, not only in the marketplace, but as a person.

Early this week, my daughter caught a case of the flu. She was feverish and spent most of Monday dozing on the couch. Her only requests for most of the day was that I sit near her, keep her water bottle filled, and that we watch Tangled. I watched it with her three times that day.

Every time I watch a new computer animated movie, I can’t help but notice how much smoother it gets and how much more lifelike the details get, even in a film with obviously cartoonish elements like this one.

I can’t help but wonder how long it will be before computer animated films are indistinguishable from normal film. After that, how long before home computers and electronics can produce such things on the fly?

What on earth will my grandchildren look at as normal?

Prospect Theory and Financial Decision Making I was actually planning out a post along these lines (and using Google to research it a bit) when I found this great article on the application of prospect theory to personal finance. To put it simply, human minds use poor comparisons to judge the prospects of an investment or a financial choice. (@ gen y wealth)

Breaking Free from Consumerist Chains Your life is not defined by the products you own. But, if it’s not defined by that, what defines it? (@ zen habits)

The Realization This is the new normal. $4 a gallon gas is the new normal. 10% unemployment is the new normal. How do we move forward from here? (@ seth godin)

How I Learned About Frugality from De-Cluttering I had a similar epiphany a few years ago. (@ get rich slowly)

Money Saving Vacation Websites for After You Purchase Your Tickets We’re using these for Seattle already. (@ frugal dad)