Most people hate taxes, but if we’re honest, they’re important. Crucial even. Why Taxes Are a Necessary Evil Without taxes, the government wouldn’t be able to fund the military that keeps us safe and protects our national security interests. It couldn’t provide the bare minimum (less actually, but at least something) to the poor, the […]
Especially if you follow various bloggers in the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement, you know that a dollar spent now isn’t just a dollar. It’s also all the dollars that spent dollar would have brought in had you invested it instead. If you read my article, Pro Tips for Reaching Early Financial Independence, you […]
I’ve been investing through mutual funds for decades now. It’s not the sexiest way to invest, I know. It also can have some serious drawbacks if you’re not careful and unlucky. Here are 3 ways it can hurt your results, and what to do about it. Why Investing in Mutual Funds Is Smart If you’re […]
When I was 25 I was dead broke. When I say dead broke I don’t mean “ I didn’t have very much money”. I mean I had negative money. My net worth was negative $50,000. As someone who had negative $50,000 to their name if I needed to get somewhere I had two options: Walk […]
I am a big believer in the idea that we should all be more comfortable talking about money and finances. It’s difficult to improve your financial situation if you don’t talk through your issues with people that might be able to help you. One of the reasons people don’t talk about financial issues more is […]
One of the fiercest debates in personal finance is over your morning coffee routine. People have extremely strong opinions about whether you should spend money buying an expensive, fancy coffee. I’ll refer to this as the great latte debate. The latte factor The “latte factor” was a term first coined by David Bach in his book […]
Impulse spending can be a very expensive problem, but it’s also become the norm for many consumers. You can either constantly tell yourself you need to think before you spend, or you can put these things in place to force your hand just a little bit. Make Spending Inconvenient Track the way you spend for […]
I bought my first house just before my 24th birthday, almost five years ago. Looking back I remember it being a chaotic time in my life. I was usually working long hours, and quite a bit out of town, so trying to arrange everything was tough. I had my downpayment saved up, money set aside […]