Whether your furnace is broken or you’re just looking to save a buck, you might be surprised at how well you can get along without heat. Here are some simple and inexpensive ways to make cold days and nights more comfortable without touching the thermostat. Wear layers: I’m not just talking about wearing a long-sleeved [...]
Sometimes it seems like a minor miracle if you can make it from the airport doors to your seat on the plane without being searched, patted down, waiting in an exorbitantly long line, having your gate changed, being charged a fee, or a host of other annoyances. There are many things at the airport that [...]
When traveling outside the United States, there’s a good chance you’ll need certain vaccinations in order to fully protect yourself from illnesses that are more common in other countries than they are here. These vaccinations may be ones that you would probably never need if you didn’t leave the United States (like typhoid and yellow [...]
If you’re shopping for a house, one of the biggest favors you can do yourself is getting educated about the complicated process of applying for a mortgage. A mortgage is probably the most expensive obligation you’ll ever have, and if you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s easy to get taken advantage of. Despite attempts [...]
In Investing in Socially Responsible Mutual Funds, I explained that most socially responsible funds provide subpar returns compared to traditional funds. I also talked about how you may not agree with many of these funds’ definition of socially responsible. If you’d like to invest only in companies you support or try to achieve better returns [...]
You may not be able to sleep at night knowing that you own a tiny piece of Halliburton, nor will you be able to sleep at night in 25 years if you can’t afford to send your kids to college. Investing is essential to your future financial security — even if you manage to sock [...]
I seem to have inherited the garage sale gene from my grandparents. Every time I went to their house as a kid, they would show off their latest garage sale finds — puzzles, wall art, books, and whatever knickknacks struck their fancy. I never went to many garage sales as a kid, but now that [...]
You’ve probably heard before that it doesn’t always make sense for both adults in a household to work because the second spouse’s income is all taxed at the marginal rate. When childcare costs are factored in, there can be little-to-no financial motivation for both parents to work. But did you know that taking a full-time [...]
If you visit this website regularly, you probably aren’t a novice to the basics of personal finance. You’re already familiar with what you need to do to retire, how to protect yourself through insurance, and what constitutes good debt versus bad debt. There’s probably at least one person in your life, however, who hasn’t started [...]
In my recent article about how to start an IRA with $1 in 15 minutes, I said that you would be putting your money into a money market fund. I thought I should explain in more detail what this is for those of you who decided to go this route, so that you are informed [...]
