Kim writes in: My dad told me that the best way to pay off a credit card is to pay it all off at once so I have been saving up the money to do that. My boyfriend argues with that saying that the best way to do it is to make the biggest possible
Whenever I talk about investing in stocks, I usually suggest that you can earn a 7% annual return on average. That percentage is based on a few assumptions. First, I’m assuming that you’re investing for longer than ten years. That’s because in a given year, the stock market is very volatile. Some years see an
Here’s an interesting article I discovered over at the Vanguard site about the basics of retirement planning. In it, the article quotes a section of Scott Adams’ 2002 book Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel: Everything you need to know about financial planning Make a will. Pay off your credit cards. Get term life
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. Seneca on wanting more “It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.” -Seneca If you can keep your cravings
Have you ever changed the oil in your car? The process is actually pretty easy. You just get an oil pan, climb under your car, unscrew a nut, and let the oil run out in the pan. After a while, you screw the nut back in, then open your hood, unscrew a cover, pour some
I’ve received so many great pieces of advice over the years, from family and friends, from great books, and from wise people. Recently, I sat down to make a list of the key pieces of advice that I wanted to make sure to clearly pass along to my children. Part of my role as a
During the last year or two of my grandmother’s life, I had a very difficult time communicating with her. I would call her every once in a while, but it often felt like she didn’t want to talk to me on the phone. There was a distance there, one that didn’t really exist at any
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. Handling financial incompatibility and stress 2. Inexpensive but unorthodox wedding 3. Eliminating regular expenses 4. Career paralysis 5. Why smartphone for non-business use? 6. Buying a
Every single person reading this article has a bunch of different influences and demands pulling on their lives. Financial plans. Family responsibilities. Friendships. Romantic relationships. Careers. Community responsibilities. Personal interests. Health concerns. Ethical dilemmas. The list goes on and on and on and on. Our days are littered with little distractions. We hear an interesting
I have very lucid dreams that I can remember in incredible detail for several hours or so after I wake up. Sometimes, I’ll even write them down. Do I think they have deep meaning or have some supernatural connection? No. I do think that dreams are one way that our subconscious throws out the mental
Recently, I was using TurboTax to do my taxes for the year. For the last several years, I’ve been paying in a bit each year rather than receiving a return because I’m self-employed, which means I have to handle my own personal taxes and I usually make my quarterly tax payments on the lower end
A friend of mine works at a Home Depot about ten miles from her home, which means she has a daily round trip of about twenty miles for her commute. She makes more than minimum wage – let’s say $8 per hour after taxes – and she seems pretty happy there. As far as I
I am close to quite a few people who live a “paycheck to paycheck” lifestyle. They drive nice cars and trucks, have tons of expensive toys, and are paying down hefty mortgages. A few of them have student loans and other expenses on top of that. One of these friends in particular works for the
Today, we’re continuing the TSD writers series with health insurance insider, Jennifer McCarthy’s costly health insurance disaster. Be sure to read Jennifer’s guide to health insurance and her articles on student health insurance, health savings accounts and health insurance loopholes. Feel free to share your experiences in the comments, or reach out to the writers
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. Parents and loans 2. Moving back in with parents 3. Handling my tax refund 4. Advice for military son 5. Income for an expectant mother 6.
I’ve been a pretty avid journal keeper since Christmas 1991. If you’re wondering how I can be so accurate with the date, it’s because my first entry in my first journal was on that day because my first journal was a gift from my grandmother. Anyway, most of the time, these entries are pretty worthwhile
Several readers have sent me rather concerned emails over the past week over the banking situation in Cyprus, where the government, facing a deep financial emergency, essentially took money from every bank account in the country, anywhere from 6.7% to 9.9% depending on the size of your balance. Here’s a detailed description of what happened
Charlie wrote in with an interesting question. I wanted to see if you could run the numbers on this. My family is considering signing up for a year of Amazon Prime for $80. I can see a lot of situations where it would save us a little bit of money, but I don’t know if
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. James Baldwin on reading “You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the world, but then you read.” – James Baldwin To me, books make the world