The venerable Liz Pulliam Weston talks about 10 Easy Ways to Stash Away Thousands. She makes the point that these ten easy ways are gimmicks: Pad your accounts by writing a check to yourself, but not cashing it. Cull your bills — take out all of the fives, tens, twos, whatever, and put them in … Read more
Financial Freedumb isn’t dumb at all for wanting to quit smoking. Among the obvious health benefits, FF is doing it to save money. At $2.25 a day, this is over $800 a year. Classic Latté Factorâ„¢! In addition, after enough time of being smoke-free, it’s possible to get lower rates on life insurance and personal … Read more
My wife pulled out this article from this month’s Reader’s Digest (eBay) called “Married, With Money.” The article is in the Money Talks column and is authored by Maria Bartiromo. I’ve heard this a gazillion times, but the number one thing that married couples butt heads with is money. We used to fight more about … Read more
401(k)s are employer retirement programs that allow money to be invested pre-tax, and allow interest to accrue tax-free until withdrawal. There are federal, and sometimes company, limits on how much can be contributed in one year. Companies also may match some of the contributed dollars, but usually not all. Which brings me to my question: … Read more
OK, The Automatic Millionaire has been out for close to two years now and there is already a workbook companion for the original book. I like this book. Many others do too. Bach explains the methods in extremely simple terms and includes several calls to action to encourage readers to start using the advice. Condensing … Read more
Liz Pulliam Weston (seems like I’m posting a lot about her articles!) talks about 5 lessons the rich can teach you. The five bullet points, PowerPoint-style: They give away more. As in 50% to 200% more than $25,000-and-under households and the average American household, respectively. They are much more likely to own businesses. But because … Read more
More comments on my post Missed Fortune 101 — Horrible Advice! Please chime in here or there with your comments! I’m the first to admit that I don’t like any debt that isn’t making me a lot more money than it’s costing me. However, I don’t buy into the argument that I’m “running from debt … Read more
Scott Burns wrote for the Star Tribune a few weeks ago, asking: Is insurance the answer to pension-taxes dilemma? This idea, described in detail in Douglas Andrew’s Missed Fortune 101, “doesn’t survive testing in the Reality Lab,” according to Burns. Burns actually runs some numbers. Among other things, he cites: the high commissions charged for … Read more