Pennies matter more than you know. In the world of personal finance, we often focus on ourselves — our saving, our spending, our investing. It makes perfect sense. It’s what puts the personal in personal finance. Still, how we spend our money has far-reaching consequences that are easy to overlook during a time of year … [Read more…]
“If it didn’t make them money, they wouldn’t do it.” That healthy dose of skepticism was the mantra of the first entrepreneur I knew: my dad. To this day, whenever my mom mentions loss leaders, BOGO deals, and doorbusters, my dad smiles, shakes his head, and repeats his favorite pearl of financial wisdom. This notion … [Read more…]
Whether you opted to sit out this Black Friday or have already been shopping for hours, there is no denying that the gift-giving season is upon us. While I’m not sure the perfect gift actually exists, I do finally feel comfortable and confident in my gift-buying strategy. Surprisingly, my planning has little to do with … [Read more…]
Last week, I found myself feeling all sorts of things: sick, tired, sick of being tired. The trimester was coming to a close. It seemed as if I was spending every waking moment planning, grading, putting together the literary magazine, supervising an intervention group. Plus, a former student asked if we could resume our evening … [Read more…]
No one actually lives like that. It’s impossible to retire early. Sure, anyone can say those things, but you’re not actually doing that. The amount of vitriol at the bottom of significant savings or early retirement posts on sites like Yahoo Finance could give the Fashion Police on E! some serious trolling competition. It is easy … [Read more…]
This year, Walmart devised an initiative to recognize the dedication and sacrifice of our servicemen and women with a green light bulb. Lots of green light bulbs, in fact. The idea being that Americans across this great nation would traipse out to the store Walmart, scoop up bulbs, and replace their traditional bulbs on … [Read more…]
Minimalism has been splashed across more magazine covers than reality TV starlets as of late. Top 10 items to toss today. Five things no one needs in their kitchens. Three reasons to live with less. Turn to the full text of any of these articles, and you’ll get a lot more than the benefits of … [Read more…]
This blog post is dedicated to that four-letter word that will make any finance blogger blush, twitch, foam at the mouth even: Debt. We have it. We have lots of it. To be precise, Mr. P and I have six figures worth of debt, and the first digit wasn’t even a 1 until this past … [Read more…]
Once I finished my victory lap around the kitchen table to celebrate lower our car insurance premiums, I dashed over to dutifully input the new numbers into our budget spreadsheet* with a smug smile scrawled across my face. I had spent the better part of two weeks soliciting quotes via phone, email, and carrier pigeon. … [Read more…]
Despite the honors and AP classes that I was enrolled in throughout primary, secondary, and undergraduate schooling, I am a slow learner. Like, embarrassingly slow. But, I can say wholeheartedly that I have finally and officially learned that a certificate of deposit at my bank is no place for my Roth IRA. Is that a … [Read more…]