A few days ago, I came across this interesting post by Kelly McGonigal in which she describes the vital role of mindfulness in losing weight, citing scientific studies. This paragraph stood out to me: Why are we so easily influenced by external factors? According to Wansink, most of our eating decisions are automatic. To demonstrate
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. Roth 401(k) conversion worth it? 2. Convincing myself of better tomorrow 3. Loan considerations 4. Suspected theft 5. Long versus short term investing 6. Partner possibly
I still fondly remember my first semester at college. I was the first person in my family to go to college, and I was attending a reasonably prestigious university far enough away from home that it wasn’t feasible to go back with any regularity. I knew no one at all when I moved into my
My home town just survived what could have been a potentially devastating river flood. I simply want to say that I’m genuinely impressed with the advancements in flood prevention technology over the last twenty years. Towns are now able to hold back flood waters with surprisingly little effort compared to the floods of 1993. Much
A few times a week, I’ll hear from a reader who’s really worried about imminent economic collapse. They’ll usually send me a video or a link of some sort in which some economist is talking about how the stock market is about to lose almost all of its value or something similar. One example of
I’m going to use a long example of a car purchase to start off this post. Bear with me through it. Let’s say, for calculation’s sake, that a car has a life span of 200,000 miles before the maintenance issues catch up with it. For the last 40,000 miles of that drive, the reliability of
And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon Little boy blue and the man in the moon When you comin’ home Dad? I don’t know when, but we’ll get together then, son You know we’ll have a good time then – Harry Chapin, Cats in the Cradle I have a free weekend. I
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. Debt piled up – what’s next? 2. First steps for small business 3. Challenges of working from home 4. Inflation’s impact 5. Wills through LegalZoom 6.
Quite a few people emailed me about my recent post where I encouraged people to live for today by actually achieving enough that you go to sleep happy about the productive day you’ve had. The part that seemed to generate the most interest is the translation of enormous projects into individual tasks that can be
Waking up to a two year old jumping up and down on the bed next to you shouting “Daddy! Daddy! Wake up!” and then leaping onto you the moment you open your eyes. Singing a favorite song to yourself while you enjoy a wonderfully refreshing shower. Standing with pride over your repair of that broken
It’s a pretty common story. Boy (or girl) wants something. Boy discovers that there’s easy credit available. Boy convinces self that they can just pay the debt later. Boy buys that thing on credit. Boy gets more credit and buys more things. Boy starts realizing the bills and interest are drowning him. Boy decides to
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. Tao Te Ching on mastering yourself “Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. If you realize that you
A few days ago, I watched an old recorded episode of Extreme Couponing. I’d caught bits and pieces of the show before and had always intended to watch a full episode of the show. Clearly, the people shown on the program were very organized with their spending – and that organization reaped significant rewards for
I really, really don’t like arguing with my wife. I love her dearly and I respect and value her opinions. Sometimes, though, we just disagree. We see things differently and bring different experiences and thought processes to the table. We might be married, but we are two different people. Those disagreements can easily translate into
Greg writes in: I don’t see how a person making minimum wage can ever become financially independent. It’s basically impossible. It’s far from impossible. It’s just a matter of priorities. Let’s say you’re single and live in Washington state, where minimum wage is $9.19 per hour. You work forty hours a week for fifty weeks
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. Check expiration dates 2. Handling salary bump 3. Cash stash 4. “Umbrella” insurance policies? 5. Why bother? 6. Is this frugal tactic safe? 7. Comparing cell
You might think that with such a goal-oriented perspective and a self-control perspective, I might not focus that much on the value of today. Actually, I believe that today is the only day that really matters. Today is the only day you have to be sure that you’re moving forward on your goals. Right now
My thoughts and condolences go out to the people of Boston this week, who are facing the type of situation that every city dreads. My wife and I had already chosen Boston as our place to visit for our tenth anniversary, and we’re more adamant about those plans than ever. The small amount we can
My wife is an allergy sufferer. The peak of the pollen season can hit her pretty hard, delivering her a dose of watery eyes and sneezes and some congestion. Because of that, I’m pretty intimately familiar with a lot of the usual treatments to help with allergens. A thorough vacuuming can help, as can taking