It’s time for Secret Santas all across the country. You’ll draw someone’s name, get them exactly what they ask for, and that someone will get someone else exactly what they ask for and you will eventually get what you asked for. So goes the long-lived tradition. This year, instead of the same old boring ritual [...]

We all know that we should plan for an emergency. From an early age, we’re taught to have an evacuation plan in case of fire and how to call 911 if we need help. If you live in hurricane, tornado, wildfire, or snowstorm country, you’re taught to keep a kit handy with the supplies you’ll [...]

When it comes to how much money the government keeps out of your paycheck, there are often a lot of questions. You don’t want to be giving the government a free loan of your hard earned money, but at the same time, you don’t want to owe a lot of taxes when April 15 [...]

By David John Marotta and Beth Anderson Nedelisky
Would you be willing to give a contractor a blank check and no time limit to build your dream home? Beware of doing the same thing with your finances. Without a financial plan, your investments are controlling your dreams, not the other way around. You need a blueprint [...]

My neighbors’ oldest child just left for college this fall. Watching him load his car with electronics, clothes, and “stuff,” headed for his new apartment, I started reminiscing about when I was just starting out. When I was younger, I lived a life that made others think I was poverty stricken. I didn’t live that [...]

Within the US and Canada there are over 60 dental schools which provide inexpensive dental treatment. With locations all over the US from Louisville, New York City, Ft Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Omaha, and Chapel Hill it is very likely there is a school nearby. As a dental student, I’d like to reveal some factors [...]

With Christmas right around the corner, you should have started to make your Christmas budget as one reader is currently doing. In the process, she wonders what is the better alternative: a real Christmas tree or an artificial Christmas tree?
I am trying to decide whether to purchase a real Christmas tree or an artificial Christmas [...]

By David John Marotta
I don’t favor stock-picking as the best way to meet your financial goals. But even if you favor index funds, as I do, that doesn’t mean you have to use them exclusively.
You have probably heard the statistic that most actively managed funds fail to beat their indexes. Here’s why. Most mutual [...]

The forums are buzzing with new money-saving tips and tricks. “We don’t purchase these anymore,” and “we’ve done this ourselves.” “I found a new way to do this,” and “I always wondered why people would pay for that?” For some of us, these ideas are intriguing, but seem a little out of our “do-it-ourselves” reach. [...]

One basic fundraising rule is to tell potential donors what’s in it for them. It sounds strange that charities would appeal to donors’ sense of self-interest rather than to their sense of charity, but that’s what they do, albeit subtly, so as not to suggest that donors are selfish. While I believe that [...]