- Book Review: How to Debt-Proof Your Marriage
- This post is from staff writer Sierra Black. Sierra writes about frugality, sustainable living, and getting her kids to eat kale at Childwild.com. This post is part of Book Week at Get Rich Slowly. Since my twin victories of paying off our last credit card and funding a summer of travel, my husband has begun to show interest in personal finance. It’s not that he wasn’t supportive of my efforts before — he just preferred to support them from a safe, ignorant distance. A distance from which I handed him an envelope of cash each week to do the grocery shopping, he didn’t ask too many questions, and somehow we were climbing out of debt. He was more than happy to adopt any frugal-living strategy I suggested, as long as he didn’t have to think about the Big Picture. That system worked, but I longed for more active participation from him. Not only because I wanted us [...]
- Book Review: The Simple Dollar
- My colleague Trent Hamm from The Simple Dollar may have started his blog six months after I did, but he’s ahead of me in books. He published his first, 365 Ways to Live Cheap! [my review], at the end of 2008, and his second, The Simple Dollar, was released this summer. I’m a huge fan of The Simple Dollar (it’s the only personal-finance blog I read regularly besides my own), and I count Hamm as a colleague and a friend. I think there’s a lot of value in his new book, especially for readers who are financially flustered and ready to change. That said, I think The Simple Dollar (the book) has a serious flaw. Bad news first I usually save my complaints about a book until the end of a review. I’m not going to do that here. My chief beef with The Simple Dollar is that it’s disorganized. For most of the book, there’s no central [...]
- Book Review: The Art of Non-Conformity
- In June 2008, a Get Rich Slowly reader dropped me a line to see if I’d like to have lunch. “My name is Chris,” he said. “My wife Jolie and I will be visiting Portland next week. Do you have time to meet?” “Sure,” I replied. I was just beginning to meet colleagues and readers for lunch, a habit that has since become the best part of this job. “Let’s meet at my favorite Thai place, Pok Pok.” I didn’t know anything about Chris and Jolie when we met, but over noodles and rice, I grew to like them both. They told me about their adventures in Africa. Jolie gave me advice on how to recover from a running injury. Chris told me about his world travel and his new blog, The Art of Non-Conformity. “I’ll have to take a look at it,” I told him, not expecting much. But I was hooked from the start and have [...]
- Book Week at Get Rich Slowly
- I’m exhausted, and I’ve barely lifted a finger all weekend. I spent the long holiday reading. First, I consumed the nearly 1000 pages of Lonesome Dove (which is our book group selection this month). I did nothing on Saturday but read about the adventures of Gus and Call, the blue pigs, and the cowboys. In fact, I stayed up past midnight reading that book; it’s been a l-o-n-g time since I found a book that engaging. But I also read several personal-finance books over the past few days. I have a huge backlog of unread books, and they’ve begun to take over my office. There’s no room on the shelves anymore, so I’m making stacks on the floor. If you are an author or publisher, this is why I haven’t reviewed your book. In fact, it’s these piles of personal-finance books that have prompted me to make this week Book Week at Get Rich Slowly. I used to [...]
- Book Review: Mind Over Money
- “Financial success is more about mastering the mental game of money than about understanding the numbers.” That’s the first tenet of the Get Rich Slowly philosophy. That math of personal finance is simple; it’s controlling your habits and emotions that’s difficult. In Mind Over Money, the father-son team of Ted and Brad Klontz provide a thorough discussion of the psychology of personal finance. They argue that our relationships with money are complex and not wholly rational. Our financial behavior is influenced by psychology and emotion and, especially, our personal history. We’ve all developed money blueprints (or “money scripts”, as the authors call them) that shape how we deal with money. These are “the slow accumulation of the lessons we learn from the adults around us.” Money blueprints Some of our money blueprints are accurate; some aren’t. But: Whether or not these interpretations are accurate or rational is not the point; the source of money scripts’ power is the [...]
- Daily Links: Holiday Weekend Edition
- Labor Day weekend begins tomorrow afternoon in the U.S. It’s the traditional end-of-summer holiday, and most folks will get Monday off as a paid holiday. My own vacation is going to be a bit different: I’m going to take tomorrow off instead. This will be the last post until Sunday evening. But as always when I take a short break, I’ll actually be working behind the scenes. Next week is Book Week at GRS, so I’ll be reading and reviewing at least three books. Plus, I’ll be writing the first batch of articles for my animal blog (as part of the GRS blog project) and editing the articles that will run while Kris and I are in Europe next month. So, even though GRS itself is on holiday this weekend, I’m not! Before the break, however, here are a few financial articles from around the web: First up, Erin Burt from Kiplinger has a round-up of her favorite [...]
- Help! My Debt Snowball Is Melting!
- This post is from staff writer Sierra Black. Sierra writes about frugality, sustainable living, and getting her kids to eat kale at Childwild.com. The summer heat has taken a toll on my debt snowball. Two months ago, I paid off the last of my credit card debt, but I still have thousands of dollars in loans. I started the summer with over $10,000 in my savings account, no credit card debt, and a solid plan to pay off my remaining loans within the next few years. Then life happened. I’ve been living out of suitcases for the past two months, traveling to New York, Buenos Aires, and Bangor. (I’ve blogged quite a bit about how travel is one of my budget weak spots.) So I spent some money. Not as much as I was afraid I might, but more than I probably should have. Also, I have kids. Those of you with children may have noticed that they’re [...]
- How Would Panhandlers Use Free Credit Cards?
- Have you ever wondered what the panhandlers you see on the street would do if you actually gave them a bunch of money to spend? Like many people, I generally give my pocket change to anyone who asks. I figure that if they have to ask, they probably need it more than I do. (Yes, I know that there are just as many folks who think this is ridiculous, and who never give anything to folks on the street. What can I say? The empathetic J.D. almost always get his way over the logical J.D. Exception: I never give to aggressive panhandlers.) Last weekend, the Toronto Star featured a fascinating article from Jim Rankin about a little experiment he conducted. He actually decided to give a few handlers more than just pocket change: Over the past two weeks, I wandered Toronto’s downtown core with five prepaid Visa and MasterCard gift cards, in $50 and $75 denominations, waiting [...]
- Yes, You WILL Get Social Security
- This is a guest post from Robert Brokamp of The Motley Fool. Robert is a Certified Financial Planner and the adviser for The Motley Fool’s Rule Your Retirement service. He contributes one new article to Get Rich Slowly every two weeks. We hear a lot about the doubts over the future of Social Security. Here are a few I’ve come across: “Three-fourths of those 18 to 34 don’t expect to get a Social Security check when they retire.” — USA Today “My husband and I are both 28, and we laugh every time we hear [‘yes, you’ll receive Social Security’]. No, we won’t receive Social Security, even though we’ve both been paying into it since we were teenagers…I can’t think of one of my peers who expects Social Security to still be around when we’re retirement age. Call us bitter.” — A comment to my last column (“When Will You Be Able to Retire?”) “Six in 10 Americans who [...]
- Are Discounts Coming for Paying in Cash?
- This post is from GRS staff writer April Dykman. A couple of weeks ago, J.D. highlighted research that showed that rewards cards cost the poor (in higher prices overall) and benefit the rich (who are more likely to use the cards). But what if retailers offered you a discount if you paid in cash? It might not be so far-fetched. In Will Financial Reform Kill the Rewards Card?, Brett Arends writes that a provision in the financial reform act allows for such a discount. If competition works its magic, that discount should end up worth as much, or more, as the points you get from a card. We may end up saying goodbye to the rewards card, and go back to old-fashioned money. The new cash is, er, cash…According to both the Public Interest Research Group and the National Retail Federation, when you pay for a purchase by credit card, it costs the retailer about 2% in transaction fees. [...]
- Insurance Basics: How to Save on Insurance
- This is the second part in a short series about insurance basics. Last week, I explained how insurance works. Next week (or possibly the week after), I’ll offer some tips on car insurance. Today’s article offers some general insurance tips useful for most situations. All insurance works pretty much the same way: You pay a premium (a set amount of money) to the insurance company, usually on some sort of schedule (monthly or yearly, for instance. In return, the company issues an insurance policy to you, which is a contract that gives you certain coverage, or financial protection. When you suffer an insured loss, you file a claim and the company pays you a benefit. Insurance is meant to protect you against catastrophes, not day-to-day annoyances. You use insurance to guard against things that aren’t likely to happen, but which would cause financial hardship if they did occur. Your goal should be to have just the right amount [...]
- Action Not Words: The Difference Between Talkers and Doers
- It’s Sunday morning and I should be editing articles in advance of my upcoming vacation. Instead, I just got done playing another game of Starcraft II. Since the game was released on July 27th, I’ve played many games of Starcraft II. In fact, I’ve played at least 150 games of Starcraft II. (I know this because the game keeps track of your record. I played 50 training matches, and have since won 47 and lost 42 against human opponents, putting me near the top of my division in the “Silver League”. Plus I’ve played some single-player games.) How much time has playing 150 games of Starcraft II sucked from my life? At about 30 minutes per game, it’s safe to say I’ve spent about 80 hours over the past month — or about 20 hours per week — building virtual armies and blowing stuff up. Now on the surface, there’s nothing wrong with me having a [...]
- Reader Story: Patience and Persistence Pay Off
- This guest post from Alissa is part of the “reader stories” feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success — or failure. These stories feature folks from all levels of financial maturity and with all sorts of incomes. I like all of the reader stories I publish, but for some reason I particularly like this one. Update: Now with photos! Alissa e-mailed two images of her chain of debt. In April 2007, I found myself owing $6,500 to my credit cards and $24,000 on my student loans. While not a lot, I was only earning $31,000 and living in Washington, D.C. Earning $31,000 in the D.C. area is not a comfortable salary, especially when you have to pay a large portion of your health insurance costs out of pocket after taxes. Thankfully my student loans were all Stafford loans, and I had them [...]
- I’m Not THAT J.D. Roth!
- Normally, I wouldn’t post something like this at Get Rich Slowly — this is why I have a personal blog — but I’m getting a lot of tweets and e-mail from folks about a piece of ephemera that has surfaced on the internet. It seems that somebody’s stumbled upon a list of the folks who were in the running for the various parts on Star Trek: The Next Generation. And who was up for the part of Wesley Crusher? Why, J.D. Roth was. Here’s the thing: I’m not that J.D. Roth. That J.D. Roth is the former host of Fun House, the voice of Jonny Quest, and now the producer of The Biggest Loser. If I were that J.D. Roth, I’d be rich! I wouldn’t have to write about building wealth. So, I wanted to put the rumors to rest. I was never up for a part on Star Trek: The Next Generation. My acting skills were [...]
- Ask the Readers: Financial Advice for an 18-Year-Old?
- Last week, Isaac asked Get Rich Slowly readers for advice on how to handle life after grad school. He’s about to enter the workforce and needed tips on what to do until he gets his first paycheck. Isaac was very pleased with your helpful responses. This week, we’ve got a chance to help somebody even younger than Isaac. Nico is 18, a sophomore in college, and financially clueless. He needs help! Here’s his story: I’m pretty young — about to start my sophomore year of college — and I literally have absolutely no knowledge of anything financial. I do have a simple student account with a paltry amount of money in it, and that’s really about it. So yeah, the majority of your site goes over my head and some things are quite intimidating. I’m going to continue browsing the basics section in order to see if I can glean some information, but are there any other resources [...]
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The proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero, an attack on a Muslim cabdriver, plans for a mass burning of the Koran -- faith and values are hot topics domestically and abroad. By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen For almost a decade, the annual commemoration of ...
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court won't order state to defend Prop. 8San Francisco Chronicle
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The US is working to ward off potential violence over Sudan's oil before a 2011 independence referendum likely divides the north African country, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday. ...
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