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Get A Jumpstart On Your 2009 Tax Return By Getting Organized Early
Another year has ended and that means it will soon be time to file your 2009 taxes. It may not be the most exciting thing that the new year brings, but it is a necessary evil nonetheless. However, tax preparation does not have to be dreadful event that most people...
Ask Questions Before Letting Someone Do Your Taxes
Yes, it’s getting close to that time again. Christmas has passed, New Years is in the rear view mirror, and pretty soon, you will be getting a bigger-than usual envelope from your employer. No, I’m sorry to say that I’m not referring to a cash bonus, although that...
One Man’s Experience With The Making Homes Affordable Program
At the end of May 2008, I was laid off from my job of 4 1/2 years due to the company’s inability to maintain it’s then-current employee base. I wasn’t too worried, as I had plenty of savings to cover almost 6 months worth of expenses in my HSBC...
The Truth Behind Tax Deduction Advice
While it may be a little early in the year for tax talk for some, I personally believe that it is never a bad time to plan or even talk about taxes. Today, I happened to see a tweet linking to an article on Kiplinger’s Website for a section...
An Open Letter To The Credit Industry
Dear credit provider, In light of the housing and credit crises of the past few years, I am left wondering about some of your practices in regard to the way you choose how to extend credit lines and how you deem certain applicants to be worthy of receiving a line of...
My Dollar Plan
This week’s Free Money Friday is a really great one! SunTrust is offering a $150 bonus for becoming an online banking customer with them! How to Get Your $150 Bonus Open a new SunTrust personal checking account between February 1, 2010 and April 30, 2010. You’ll receive $50 when you enroll the...
Would You Walk Away from Your Home?
When Jill wrote about how to fix your credit after a foreclosure, a reader, Marke, left the following comment: I am right now considering whether I should walk right now. Since millions of homeowners are in a situation where their house is worth less than they owe on their mortgage, I’m...
What an incredibly complex tax year for our household. Before 2009, we lived in an apartment, worked two jobs, and could only deduct student loan interest. But in 2009, we purchased a home, earned freelance income, and donated to charity. We were eligible to take the home office tax deduction...
How to Save Money on a Wedding, From a Future Bride
Planning a wedding is one of the most fun, and financially stressful events of my life! I feel that I am constantly balancing traditions, ‘must-haves’, wants, and our budget. I find that if I remember what the day is actually about—love, the union of two people, choosing to spend the rest...
It’s Free Money Friday! And back this week is an old favorite. It was 2008 when we last featured the Discover sign up bonus. Here is the new $50 Cash Back Bonus from Discover More for those of you who missed it a couple years ago. How to Get Your...
Would You Join a Barter Exchange?
I had lunch with a friend this week, and she told me about a barter exchange that her husband joined. The concept is pretty simple: you provide a service and earn barter credits, then you spend barter credits to purchase services from other businesses. And in a down economy, barter...
Get Rich Slowly
Reader Story: How I Ruined My Credit Score, and How It Didn’t Ruin My Life
This guest post from the redoubtable Tyler K is part of the new “reader stories” feature here at Get Rich Slowly. Some reader stories contain general “how I did X” advice, and others will be examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success — or failure. Tyler is an...
The Consumerism Commentary Podcast
It looks like The Personal Finance Hour, my weekly podcast with Jim from Bargaineering, is on permanent hiatus. Both Jim and I have other work that has consumed our attention over the past few months. If you’re craving a similar financial podcast — and aren’t opposed to higher quality — check...
Ask the Readers: How Do You Figure the Calculus of Kids?
I keep intending to retain “ask the readers” as a regular Friday feature — and I keep failing. You folks send me tons of great questions, and I’d love to share more of them. This week, for example, Lisa wrote with the following. “Having kids has made spending choices much...
This post is from GRS staff writer April Dykman. I usually have an idea of what I want to accomplish once I get home from work. It goes something like this: Practice yoga. Get some writing done. Make a fabulous, healthy dinner. Work on my business. Read something thought-provoking. But I never seemed to accomplish all I set out...
How To Check Your Federal IRS Tax Refund Status
For years, I loved to get a tax refund. In fact, it seemed the only way I could save was by having extra withheld from my paycheck so that I’d get a big refund at the end of the year. Using this method, I was able to buy a new...
The Hidden Cost of Spending While In Debt
This article is by staff writer Adam Baker, who recently released an 83-page guide entitled Unautomate Your Finances. Courtney and I are big fans of what we call “mental filters”. These are simple little tips and tricks that we can use to increase our financial awareness. (J.D. likes to call these...
The Wisdom Journal
Roundup and Link Love: New Roundup Submission Form!
Today is the debut of my new Roundup Submission form found on the top navigation bar of each page on this site. If you would like to be included in my next roundup, head on over to the Roundup Requests page and enter your information. I usually compile a roundup...
Get A $25 Gift Certificate for TWO BUCKS
Restaurant.com has opened up their site once again, offering $25 gift certificates to great restaurants for the unbelievable price of TWO DOLLARS. If you want to get $25 in food for a tiny fraction of the price, head on over to Restaurant.com and use the coupon code: BITE when you...
What If Governments Used YNAB?
Sounds far fetched, I know, almost as crazy as our current administration banning the great American pastime of fishing. With bad news coming out of Washington so fast and furious that it’s hard to keep up, maybe someone from YNAB needs to educate our legislative and executive branches on what...
Now I Know Where Our Government Learned Math
It’s a funny little video, but it seems to represent how everyone involved in federal, state, and even local governments does math – badly. States and municipalities are increasingly running out of cash and on the verge of bankruptcy. Some municipalities have raised sales taxes as high as 12 percent!...
Two Thousand One Hundred Forty Two Reasons You Should Check Out NetQuote
That’s how many of your fellow readers checked out NetQuote last year after reading about it here at The Wisdom Journal. That’s a lot of people! One reader even took the time to email me about how much money he saved on his homeowners insurance using their service. And what exactly...
How To Submit A Roundup Request
My bi-weekly roundups are great fun – no really. I enjoy the reading part, but the coding part sometimes takes up a lot of time. So, taking a cue from my friend Paul at Fiscal Geek, I created a roundup submission form similar (eerily similar, no?) to his. Matt from...
CreditCardZoom.com
If you have a solid credit score you can often take advantage of 0% APR balance transfers offers to reduce your interest payments for 6 to 12 months. Unfortunatley, due to the new credit card legislation and the economic downturn, most issuers have pulled back many of the promotions that...
Changing Your Credit Card Due Date
If you are like most people, you have a lot of bills with a lot of different due dates. Rent and mortgage payments are usually due on the first of the month. Credit card companies each set their own due dates for your credit cards. If you find yourself in...
Are Credit Cards the Next Credit Crunch?
Meredith Whitney, one of the first financial analysts to accurately report on the credit crunch back in Oct 2007, wrote an interesting opinion piece for the WSJ. Ms. Whitney believes that Washington needs to act now to avoid another credit crunch. Six months earlier, she estimated that credit card...
Credit Card Foreign Transaction Fees
If you use your credit card while traveling abroad, your credit card company will often charge you a foreign currency transaction fee. This fee can be as high as 3% of the total amount of the purchase. Here is a quick summary of the fees charged by major credit card...
How Many Credit Cards Should You Own?
How many credit cards should you own? According to Suze Orman, you should own (or at least carry) only two credit cards: one for regular purchases and one for backup. She is particularly critical of department credit cards that lure consumers into getting a discount at the cash register...
Cash back credit cards offer cash-back rewards for the purchases you charge. Credit card companies will typically either send you a check at the end of the year or deduct the cash back you have earned from your credit card balance. Note that some credit cards require you to call...
Hustler Money Blog
Change Your Sprint Plan to $30 SERO YMMV
I know I know, I'm beating this subject to death but this plan is very very good. I've written in-depth about why you should join here. As you know, the $30 plan is dead. However, many people from different forums have reported to have some success after a few...
Astounding Freebie Around the Web
Here are the latest freebies on the web. As always, use a junk email and never give out your real phone number or credit card number. Use your real address for sending you freebies is okay. Make sure to check out MyDealsBlog daily for up to date everyday freebies. ...
Hot Deals WhiteStrips, Magazine, Samsung 55′ HDTV, Inspiron Laptop, Priority Points
Are you using shopping portals such as Fatwallet or Ebates? I highly recommend you to switch to Mr. Rebates ($5 bonus). They give you the highest cash back at most big name stores including Ebay, Best Buy, Priceline, etc. Mr. Rebates is easy, fast and very profitable with most cash...
New Chase $125 Bonus til 5/15/2010
The old $125 link is dead, however here's the new $100 bonus from Chase good until November 30th. I'm pretty sure they will take it down before the expiration date. With this $100 bonus, you can apply online. You must deposit $100 and set up direct deposit with the new...
Gevalia, AY410 Speaker System, OCZ Vertex Series, JetBlue $10, Motoroks S305
If you do shopping online, then you must shop through Mr. Rebates ($5 bonus). They give you the highest cash back at most big name stores including Ebay, Best Buy, Priceline, etc. For most of the items below, you can get 3-15% cash back by using Mr. Rebates. Simply log-in...
Using Sprint BlackBerry without BIS
I just got a Blackberry Tour over the weekend, and currently using the Blackberry on my Sprint family plan. I got the phone for free using www.sprint.com/accenture link. Although I'm not sure if people still can go through the site using bogus email with since Sprint is cracking down...
Christian Personal Finance
How To Pick Out A Computer: Money-Saving Tips
Desktop for Him, desktop for Her, family computer, laptop for each college student; The list goes on. Most Americans have access to a computer, if not their own, and like all things in life, computers die. They fail, they become obsolete and we have to dip into savings for a...
There are many charitable gifting techniques with varying degrees of complications, but you may be able to provide a relatively large sum of money to your Church utilizing life insurance for leverage. I will start with the two easiest examples, and then if there is an interest I can get...
How to Assess Your Investment Risk
Doesn't it seem like folks love to take risks when markets are booming, but absolutely hate it when markets stink? A question I often get is, "What kind of investment will give me good returns without the risk of losing my money!?" Well, when you find something like that let...
How to Handle Overdrawing Your Checking Account
Have you overdrawn your checking account before? You log into your checking account online and see big red numbers with a negative sign. It’s your account balance and you’ve overdrawn! But you’re a good money manager, right? You have your finances in order. How could...
What’s the Best Way to Help the Poor?
If you're a Christian, you can't help but read the Bible and be overwhelmed by God's concern for the poor, weak and marginalized in society. He tells us to be concerned for the widow and the orphan. Jesus himself said in Matthew 25 that, "As you did to one of...
Life’s Meaning and Stockholm Syndrome
I talk with hundreds of people each week. Yet few are living their ideal life. Few people inspire me. I see a lot of people going through the motions - living for the moment yet no passion, no purpose, and no plan. I hear a lot of negativity, a ton...
Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck
Last weekend for early bird filing discount
We continue to receive accolades (and new clients) for our tax preparation service which features a 30 minute consultation with me about anything on your financial mind. We’ve saved our clients thousands of dollars and seemingly routinely amend their prior year returns (those prepared by themselves or by another tax...
The best kind of tax deduction – a deduction for saving
Over at the Retirement Planning site at About.com, I just posted an article about the best kind of tax deductions: those that come from saving. Think about it. Most tax deductions require you to spend money in order to obtain the deduction. In my practice, the most common and largest deductions...
One of my relatives recently was charged a substantial fee for rolling his 401(k) plan out to an IRA. In my opinion, that’s total nonsense, even if it’s disclosed. It’s the equivalent of an “account closing fee.” Can you imagine? You: I’d like to close my account. Bank: I see you have...
Keeping it reasonably fun and affordable without power
Twice in the last two winters, we’ve lost power for about 36 hours. You: You should just pay the damn electric bill. I know you like to negotiate everything, but you’ve got two little kids – Massive ice storm last year. Massive windstorm last weekend. My write-up of the December 2008 event: Visiting...
Friday Q & A: Saving for a home – How to Save for a home
Saving for a home or, more precisely, how to save for a home is today’s Q & A. You: Q & A? Although Friday comes every week, Friday Q &A comes around only when someone submits a good question AND I have time to answer it. Both happened this week, so here...
Schedules L & M Will Help Millions of Taxpayers This Year – Will They Help You?
Schedules L & M are now available at the IRS web site, and post offices and libraries near you. You’ve never filed these forms before. You: How do you know? Schedules L and M didn’t exist before this filing season. You: Correct. Thanks. You: What are these schedules? You don’t know? You: Of course I don’t know!...
Darwin's Finance
Weekend Reading – iPad Cometh Edition
With Apple’s stock at an all-time high on anticipation of blockbuster iPad sales with an estimated 20,000 units sold per hour on opening day today, it makes you wonder whether such a hot item is completely recession-proof. People need that iPad! It’s quite amazing, and I’m holding plenty of Apple...
Darwin’s Portfolio – The Full Monty
The Full Monty. My trading portfolio in all its glory. I used to update readers on my portfolio holdings and performance at Everyday Finance, but that blog was recently locked up in unceremonious fashion by the Blogger team at Google, so until that is resolved, there may be some cross-content over...
43% of Americans have less than $10k for Retirement, Seriously
I was shocked by the results of a recent survey outlining how almost half of Americans have virtually no savings, no retirement, nothing (Employee Benefit Research Institute’s annual Retirement Confidence Survey via CNN) . Now, this excludes the value of real estate and pension promises, which is a major culprit...
6 Reasons You Won’t Go to Finance Hell if You’re Getting a Tax Refund This Year
There are a select few articles that get republished year in and year out that start to become “gospel” in the personal finance world. With tax time approaching, you’re going to see several writers and talking heads on television chastise you for the “free loan” you gave the US government...
Welcome to Darwin’s Finance. If your new to this evolutionary approach to money, feel free to peruse articles on either Personal Finance or Alternative Investments and please consider signing up for FREE Updates via RSS. This week, I had the opportunity to host the Best of Money Carnival. What is this...
How Does Society Value Additional Time for Your Dying Loved One?
There is an excellent article in this week’s BusinessWeek written by the widow of a man who fought a long and courageous battle with cancer. What differentiated this article from other similar accounts is that the article stepped through a very detailed financial account of just how costly it is...
I've Paid For This Twice Already...
Reliability - Is It Just A Feeling?
I have a Saturn. A 2001 Saturn L300 that we bought used in 2004, to be exact. The Saturn is completely paid off. And there ends my list of nice things I have to say about it. Those who have been long-time readers of the blog know that we have...
Tell All Thursday, Day Late But Not Dollar Short Edition
Yesterday when I posted my latest post, I was reminded of all the things that frustrate me about blogging - the technological side. I’ll be the first to admit that technology has far outpaced me - when I was a kid with my Commodore 64 I was cutting...
The Home Stretch Can Be As Difficult As The Start
My family has come a long way in the past two and a half years since we started this serious debt elimination journey. When we started, almost half our monthly income went straight to non-mortgage debt, and it had a huge impact on our everyday life. The idea...
Savings Vs Debt Elimination: Saving’s Side of the Story
While most of the time I’ve written this blog, I’ve made debt elimination my primary focus, there is much to be said in favor of putting money into savings even while still in debt. From a small emergency fund to a full-blown savings plan, debt elimination isn’t always the first...
The Case for Debt Elimination Over Savings
Focusing energy on debt reduction (or elimination, as I like to term it) or savings is an ongoing debate, not only for society at large, but in my own life. Once I started taking control of my finances, instead of just going with the flow and barely scraping by, I’ve...
Goals, Balance, and Insight - All For The Price of Soccer Camp
This week my 5 year old son has been attending soccer camp in the mornings, so every day we all get up, get dressed, eat some breakfast and head out to the soccer fields for a few hours. My 2 year old daughter, not a morning person by any stretch...
Tip'd / Published News
Yakezie Carnival #3: Benefits Edition
The traveling carnival stops at Sweating the Big Stuff.7 Tips (http://sweatingthebigstuff.com)...
Should You Use Retirement Savings to Pay Off Debt?
If survival is at stake tapping retirement savings MUST be on the table. Under certain circumstances it becomes beyond absurd to allow your financial situation to collapse while protecting retirement savings. 5 Tips (http://outofyourrut.com)...
What NOT to do after filing for Bankruptcy
If you have just filed for bankruptcy (twice), and your house is in foreclosure, do NOT do this...6 Tips (http://www.budgetsaresexy.com)...
Studio Tax - Canadian Finance Blog
Studio Tax is free software for preparing your taxes in Canada.6 Tips (http://canadianfinanceblog.com)...
Charitable Gifting Rules for Baby Boomers
If you’re considering leaving a legacy to your favorite charity, here’s a rundown of the gifting rules on some of the more popular options.7 Tips (http://consumerboomer.com)...
Money Sense - Canadian Finance Blog
A quick review of my favorite Canadian magazine.8 Tips (http://canadianfinanceblog.com)...
Boston Gal's Open Wallet
The Atlantic article: My Inflation Nightmare has reporter Michael Kinsley wondering if prudent savers, already feeling the hurt of low interest rates in the current recession, might soon face the graver danger of saving erosion if inflation picks up.My specific concern is nothing original: it’s just the national debt. Yawn...
Middle age — you’re so vulnerable
The New York Times article: Time, It Turns Out, Isn’t on Their Side revisits a group of workers who were all unemployed this time last year and attending a job fair in midtown Manhattan. All of those interviewed in the follow-up article are middle-aged and unfortunately few have a...
Request from WBUR for Boston area readers
WBUR (my local NPR station) is looking for Boston area long-term renters who have no desire to be a home owner (instead of saving for a down payment they invest or do other things with the money) to interview. Also, the reporter is looking to interview someone who fits...
Doing whatever it takes to make money
The Marketplace.org story: Doing whatever it takes to make money profiles Kat Beight who has been unemployed for three years and during that time has done all kinds of odd jobs to make money while still searching for a permanent position. Last year, I helped Kat re-vamp her resume....
How investing for the long term turned $180 into $7 million
The Chicago Sun Times article: One woman, three Abbott shares equals $7 million tells the tale of Grace Groner of Lake Forest, IL who purchased three shares of Abbott for $180 in the 1930's. By never selling and reinvesting the dividends those three shares grew to $7 million. But...
Vanity Fair - all about the money this month
Vanity Fair is all about the money this month. Three articles in this issue caught my eye.Greed Never Left interviews Oliver Stone about the upcoming sequel to the movie Wall Street. If you have never seen Wall Street, it is something you should put on your radar to...
MYM Updates
If you are going to do some serious shopping, do it smart and do your homework! Top Deals: • 13.3″ Toshiba Satellite T135-S1310RD for $599.99 plus free shipping (normally $699). • Battle Fantasia (360) for $9.99 plus free shipping (normally $22). • Match.com 3 days for $0 Computing and Peripherals: • 20″ HP TouchSmart 300-1025 All-in-one Desktop PC for $872.65...
2009 Black Friday Deals Leaked
This is one of those moments where you should be wary of impulse buying: corporations created this pseudo holiday and are enjoying every minute of it … especially when you say Wow, I wouldn’t normally buy this, but its too cheap not to!” Be sure you are buying what you can afford. ...
Droid vs iPhone vs Palm Pree vs MyTouch: Total Cost of Ownership
Wow, that was a long title, but this is exactly what it says, a comparison of all these phones and what it might end up costing you in the long run. Its hard to really condone some of these phones simply because, not only are they wicked expensive, but in order...
I received a link from a buddy of mine the other day to a site that kind of blew my mind. Swoopo.com is a discount shopping site with lightening fast auctions that seems to work really well. My first thought in seeing a site like this is to try and figure out the sites angle...
Print the image below and present at any participating Boston Market for a $1 Chicken Meal! Expires on November 1, 2009....
Hulu Will No Longer Be Free in 2010
It was too good to last let alone be true…Hulu will be a paid subscription service as of 2010. While we all are enjoying this free service kicking the shorts of cable, it seems that the rumors are true and Hulu isn’t able to survive on ads alone. I am...
Earn More Invest Wisely at The Sun's Financial Diary
It’s still more than a month away from the 2010 tax deadline, April 15, 2010. If you haven’t finished your tax return yet, there’s still plenty of time to get it done before the deadline, so it may be a little early to talk about tax extension. However, if for...
Apparently, I don’t get out much. This weekend, Hubby and I decided to go out with another couple for dinner and a movie. 4 hours and $70 later I was in the car on the way home with a stunned expression on my face trying to figure out where it...
Know When to Shop to Save Money
The parallel between habits when it comes to food and money are significant. Many people reach for a cookie when they’re depressed, others for their credit card. Some celebrate with cake and sweets, still others by purchasing themselves tangible treats. If you’re an emotional spender, best for you – and...
Ally Bank Has an CD That Raises Your Rate
Ally Bank now has a new CD product, the second new product in as many month. The CD product, called 2 Year Raise Your Rate CD, isn’t entirely because it replaces the current 2-year high-yield CD which has a yield of 2.04% APY as of March 9th. What’s new in this...
Teaching Your Child to Save Can Be Fun
“I want (fill in the blank)!” If you’re a parent to young children, you’ve undoubtedly heard your little one utter this phrase many times. Plus, it probably most often occurs at some pretty crowded locales such as the grocery store or Toys ‘R Us where the level of parental shame can...
February 2010 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
After the streak of 10 straight monthly increase was snapped in January, the growth of our net worth returned last month as the overall stock market recovered from January’s poor performance. Even though the gain wasn’t big enough to offset January’s market loss, it was big enough to put net...
Ultimate Money Blog- Save Green and Live Green!
If You Can’t Eat it, Don’t Put it on Your Skin
photo credit: Veganbaking.net One rule that I always follow when it comes to hygiene and making my own body care products is that if I can’t eat it, it doesn’t go into my product. The largest organ of the body is skin. Skin absorbs so many toxins throughout the...
photo credit: bradley j Day after day, I dream of selling my house, buying some land in the woods, and living in a cabin, yurt, or tiny house. Yet day after day I continue the lather, rinse, repeat that is my life. Wake up, go to work, work, come home,...
Why it’s Frugal to live in Arizona
photo credit: SearchNetMedia This is part of a series here at Ultimate Money Blog. I’m going to be featuring fun money facts about all 50 states in America and why it is frugal to live in that particular state. Here are the states we’ve covered so far: Alabama Alaska photo credit: Ms. Phoenix Economy Arizona’s...
Frugal French habits You can Try at Home
photo credit: hipposrunsuperfast.com This advice comes from my friend Trish at Simple Life in France, where she shares her tips on simple living and saving money. Do you ever feel like you’re struggling against an entire consumer culture when you enact a new frugal habit? If you’re like me, you’ve gotten plenty...
photo credit: xmacex One of my favorite things about blogging is the interaction with people. Whether it be my lovely readers or other bloggers, I truly enjoy making contacts with others! I have signed up for the Yakezie Alexa Challenge, where a group of bloggers are trying to create powerful friends...
photo credit: TheTruthAbout… Have you ever been waited on by a teller and you can tell that they’re annoyed, either with you, or something else? Have you wondered what happened to make them so mad? Here are some some things that bankers find annoying. 1. Standing in line (or in the...
Money, Matter, and More Musings
My Comment On A Foolish Article
Read this article on Fool.com: Rocket Stock or Dud? A couple of years ago I would not have noticed anything amiss with this article.. and would have probably blindly agreed with the argument because it comes from some investment-savy dude on Fool.com. Without much ado, here is what I commented on that article: On...
Stock Market Technical Analysis - Loads Of Bull Crap And Bear Crap
In all the time that I have been away over the last few months, I have spent an enormous amount of time reading up articles on market technical analysis. At this point of time (it’s a continuing effort), I feel pretty disappointed with the whole concept of so-called “technical analysis”...
Think about this. Stocks tumbled Friday on worries about the government taking a bigger chunk of Citigroup and a bleak reading on the economy, again touching 12-year lows. (source) As Wall Street slides towards a 12-year low, it’s almost like getting back 12 years on your financial clock - and a great...
Are Americans Killing The Economy By Saving Too Much?
This appeared on CNN Money a couple of days ago about Americans saving too much: Why saving is killing the economy Saving more and cutting debt might sound like a good plan to deal with the recession. But if everyone does that, it’ll only make matters worse. That’s probably the most misleading (almost...
Blind Men And The Elephant - The Story Of A Stimulus Package
O how they cling and wrangle, some who claim For preacher and monk the honored name! For, quarreling, each to his view they cling. Such folk see only one side of a thing. – Source So oft in theologic wars, The disputants, I ween, Rail on in utter ignorance Of what each other mean, And prate about an Elephant Not...
Zecco Bait And Screw: Account Minimum Increased To $25000 For Free Trades
Oh come on man! … from zero dollars Zecco has increased its minimum balance requirement for free trades to $2500 earlier and now to $25000 ! Hello Jeroen Veth… that’s an “order of magnitude” change !.. and doesn’t really gel with your self-proclaimed objectives (source): At Zecco we believe in complete transparency...
Rule #1 Blog: Phil Town on Investing
I am excited, humbled and grateful to share that after just one week from its release, Payback Time has hit: - #1 on the New York Times bestseller list - #1 on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list - #1 on Amazon.com Thank you to my loyal fans and readers!...
Wow, what a fabulous few weeks it’s been! Such a whirlwind with the phenomenal launch of Payback Time and all of the TV interviews I’ve been doing. It’s exciting but there is so much to do! Fortunately, I’ve come across a great tool in a new best-selling book called Master...
Phil Town Comments on Under Armour
I got this question from Mark recently, about UA (Under Armour). Nice work. I'm going to talk about this on my new TV show. Here's your homework: justify a long term strategy in UA by finding a similar business that sustained 15 year growth at 20%. Hi Phil, First,...
Phil Town Explains Payback Time and Stockpiling
The other day I received a comment from Doug, about a discussion he had with his wife. (Click here to read his question.) The topic: the differences between Rule #1 investing, Payback Time, and value investing. Here's what I told him. [Click through to entire post to...
Book Correction-Page 138 "SUPERCHARGE YOUR SEARCH"
On page 138-141 in Payback Time I show you how to use the MSN Money Search tool called "supercharge your search." It's an awesome tool. Unfortunately it no longer exists. For reasons unknown to me (and without my permission) MSN took down this supercharged toolset after the book went to...
Wise Bread
Live Where the Water Tastes Good
By Philip Brewer There's an old song, the "Michigan Water Blues" that starts, "Michigan water tastes like cherry wine." I grew up in Michigan, so the song always had a certain resonance for me, but I've lived other places where the water tasted good, and a few where it...
Join Our Special Saturday Tweetchat at 12:30 CST For a Chance to Win Prizes
By Will Chen Join our special Saturday edition Tweetchat from 12:30 - 1:30 pm CST for a lively conversation and a chance to win a $20 gift certificate! We'll be tweeting live from SXSW. Use #SXSW and #bloggercred to participate. Topic: How do you measure blogger credibility? Featuring special guest...
Best of Personal Finance Roundup: How to Be a Cheap Drunk with Taste
By Linsey Knerl Welcome to Wise Bread's Best of Personal Finance roundup. Today, we spill some tips for sipping wine and other spirits for a little less than what you'd expect. Plus, we share the benefits of raised garden beds, a quick and cheap hurricane lamp tutorial, and habits...
Don't Have Enough To Pay Your Taxes?
By Debbie Dragon What do you do when you finally get all of your information together to file your income taxes, and you find out that not only aren't you getting a tax refund, but you actually have to pay taxes?! It's not a problem if you have enough...
4 Deadly Mistakes You Must Avoid When Pursuing Your Dreams
By Henri Junttila In my last post I wrote about how you can find your passion, but today I want to focus on the mistakes people make while going after their dreams. If you can identify with any of these mistakes, you might want to get it corrected as...
Book Review: On a Dollar a Day
By Xin Lu Could you survive on one dollar's worth of food per day? Vegan high school teachers Kerri Leonard and Christopher Greenslate endured a one month experiment where each of them consumed one dollar of food per day. In On a Dollar a Day: One Couple's Unlikely Adventures...
Early Retirement Extreme
Marginal earnings, when working is no longer worth it
Everybody ought to be familiar with the concept of marginal utility, which is the utility/use/satisfaction that adding one more unit brings. For example, suppose you like ice cream cones. Then the marginal utility of the first cone is high. The second is a bit lower, but once the belly fills...
A couple of years ago I developed a fascination with yacht cruising and sailing around the world(*). I suppose this had something to do with the idea of needing to learn many different skills to successfully complete a cruise and the fact that it was me against nature rather than...
In case you don’t read all the comments (note that it is possible to get all the comments in a single feed), I wanted to highlight an idea from Oasis in a recent comment of having a downsizing party. You invite your friends to your home, the price of admission...
I really have to admire anyone who can crank out a book in a matter of months. I have been working on mine for almost two years and it has turned into the biggest project I have undertaken since my PhD thesis. Actually in comparison, it took me about 2...
Great post, I agree, and other common blog comments
Ever wondered why some comments appear more than others and why some comments only appear on blogs with many readers? The explanation is fairly simple: human psychology and statistics. Great timing. I was just doing this … It is self-evident that for a post with some relevance to real life...
Car depreciation and maintenance
For those who do want a car but would prefer to keep costs as minimal as possible, I suggest (not based on personal experience at all, incidentally) to buy a used car without too much electronics and doing as much maintenance on it yourself as possible. This is subject area...
My Financial Journey
Retirement Nestegg Report – February 2010
Another strong month this month. Part of this is due to the fact that my company put in their year end 5.5% contribution into my 401k (this is on top of the 4% they match with each paycheck). I also had some very strong performance in some of...
Retirement Nestegg Report – January 2010
Well the market turned a little south this month, but my retirement nestegg actually grew at a pretty good pace this month. This was entirely due to the fact that I am now fully vested in my company’s 401k matching money. My company has a very generous 401k...
Retirement Nestegg Report – December 2009
Well 2009 has come to an end and my retirement nestegg is at an all-time high. Despite things being so horrible and everything being in shambles with the economy my retirement nestegg grew 76% this year and to be honest other than these reports I barely noticed or barely...
Retirement Nestegg Report October 2009
Short and sweet this month. Pretty flat – although down about 4% from my interum nestegg report where I broke $100,000 for the first time. Traditional Rollover IRA – $10,334.01 (-3.37%) My Roth IRA – $30,592.09 (+1.54%) Wife Roth IRA – $16,801.79 (+4.59%) Current Traditional 401k – $39,156.17 (+0.06%) Roth/Traditional...
Interum Retirement Nestegg Report – I broke $100,000 !!
Traditional Rollover IRA $10,782.36 My Roth IRA $31,604.25 Wife Roth IRA $17,183.87 Current Traditional 401k $40,916.17 Total Retirement Nest Egg $100,486.65 Well as you can see from above nestegg report I broke through the 6 figure mark for the first time in my life. What does this mean in the grand scheme...
Retirement Nestegg Report – September 2009
My retirement nestegg report for this month. Slowly but surely approaching a six figure retirement nestegg account. Traditional Rollover IRA – $10,694.27 (+3.89%) My Roth IRA – $30,126.74 (+4.66%) Wife Roth IRA – $16,065.05 (+4.41%) Current Traditional 401k – $39,132.26 (+9.73%) Roth/Traditional % = 48.10 % (tax free) Total Retirement Nest Egg $96,018.29...