My wife and I rode up to New York State yesterday to visit my parents. She asked me on the way up, “So what are your big plans for this long weekend?” I didn’t really know but I knew it would involve (a) seeing my three-week-old niece (who is absolutely adorable by the way); (b) … Read more
In 2008, Netflix’s distribution system went down in a big way for three days. (This was the DVD arm of Netflix, which was closed in 2023.) Getting videos to its customers was the largest chunk of what it does, so not being able to do this was a big problem. They stood to lose a few … Read more
I believe there’s a time and a place for giving, and receiving, harsh financial advice. For the person giving this kind of advice it may be very difficult, and it’s rarely pleasant. For the person receiving this kind of advice, it’s almost never pleasant. No one really enjoys being told that what they’ve been doing … Read more
Mrs. Micah has thrown down a single-step personal finance challenge: Find one step you can take to make your financial system better or more organized. Oh man, I could take probably about a hundred steps to make my financial system better organized. There should be a lot of motivation for doing this, as being disorganized … Read more
One of No Credit Needed’s posts asked people about what exactly constituted six months’ worth of expenses, which led naturally to a discussion about emergency funds. The last of four questions he asked his readers to respond to: What is the smallest emergency fund with which you would be comfortable? I said “75 years” with … Read more
Here are some highlights from the rest of the posts in last month’s MBN Group Writing Project on Finances at Graduation, highlighting some of the best advice that personal finance bloggers have for the newly graduated. From Plonkee Money: ““About spending lots of money, don’t. Whatever income situation you’re in, you probably don’t have as … Read more
We’re having some good articles included in the Money Blog Network’s June 2008 group writing project on finances at graduation. I’ll be sharing some of my favorite words of wisdom from these posts here and in future posts. From Wise Bread: “I wish that I had taken a year off after graduating and just traveled … Read more
I’m fat and I’m trying to deflabbify myself for my health, my longevity, my self-esteem — and my wallet. Here are ten ways that being fat costs money: Eating more costs. Eating too much made me fat, and staying fat means I need more food. More food costs money. 2XL sizes and above are more … Read more