Article after article on personal finance exhorts you to create a budget and a financial plan. You’re finally (reluctantly) willing to do it. But if you’re gonna do it, you really want to get it done already.
Elizabeth Warren’s net worth tax proposal has problems, but she’s right that US capitalism must be fixed. Here’s how we should do that (and what we shouldn’t do). In 1924, my dad was born in Berlin. By the time he was 9, the Nazis had won a series of elections and Hitler was appointed Chancellor. […]
Thoughts about the fundamental basis of “Financial Independence, Retire Early” In the early 90s, I was approached by an Ameripise representative who wanted to sell me retirement planning services. I was taken aback, given that I was in my early 30s and broke, but I have to give the guy credit for being forward-looking :). […]
As I shared elsewhere, when I was 30, a financial advisor looking to sign me on asked me when I’d like to retire. Given that I loved what I was doing, my answer was, “Never.” Why would I ever want to stop doing what I loved (as long as I was able to continue)? He […]
Credit card debt in the US topped a trillion dollars, $1.08T as of a few weeks ago, according to debt.org. That’s over 26% of the $4T-plus total US consumer debt. On average, each household with credit card debt owes nearly $8400 on their average of four-plus credit cards. If you’re part of those statistics, do […]
With a nod to Ben Le Fort for mentioning in an article this Wall Street Journal (WSJ) tool for estimating retirement costs, here is why I think you should absolutely use the tool, but also how to fix it so the results it gives you have a chance of working out. The Importance of Making a Retirement Plan […]
The ongoing pandemic and the economic upheaval it’s causing are tragic beyond words. Not being able to see and hug my kids or meet in-person with good friends is really hard. But even if we somehow set all those aside for a moment, there’s an embarrassingly less important thing that still gets me. I’ll confess […]
PSSST! WANT TO KNOW A SECRET? The Dirty Little Secret about Money Research proves money CAN buy happiness… “You may never be rich,” said my dad, “but once you become a tenured professor, you’ll be comfortable.” I was in my early 20s, just graduated with a bachelor of science in physics and math, about to start my graduate studies in physics, and wondering how […]
How to Manage Your Risks and When to Avoid Them Altogether In an excellent primer on the drawbacks of real estate investing, Ben Le Fort makes the case that “real estate is the most overrated asset in history.” Why You Should Consider Real Estate Investing However, there are good reasons why people swear by real […]