New Year’s resolutions: 5 ways to simplify your financial life
Make 2011 your year to simplify. The day I started to practice investment KISS (Keep It Simple, Sister*) was when I finally got control of my financial life. I dropped my broker, quit hunting for hot...
View ArticleHow to avoid STD: “Sexually transmitted debt”
In marriage, what’s your biggest financial risk? That your spouse has a secret vice, and I don’t mean playing around with other partners. It’s STD in a different form – “sexually transmitted debt.”...
View ArticleHow to beat “frugal fatigue”: 8 Ways to rightsize your life
Do you have “frugal fatigue?” You’re not alone. Pinching pennies becomes exhausting, year after year. You dream of breaking free and buying everything in sight. But tiresome as budgets are, consumers...
View Article7 Steps to cutting college costs
I’ve always thought that part of the struggle to pay for college comes from the ingrained belief that you should stretch for the “best” schools, or “dream schools,” regardless of the size of the loans...
View ArticleIs your money market fund doing the job you want?
For investors, money market mutual funds are handy. You can use them as a parking place when you’re moving money from one investment to another. Many of us also use the funds as ready cash reserves. We...
View ArticleA great reverse mortgage idea: Take a credit line now
I’ve got a financial proposal that is probably going to surprise you. Take out a reverse mortgage at age 62, even though you don’t need the money. In fact, take it especially if you don’t need the...
View ArticleOffered a buyout on your lifetime-income annuity? Just say no.
Do you own a variable annuity with lifetime income benefits? Did you buy it in the years before the financial meltdown? You have a terrific contract that your insurance company might be trying to take...
View ArticleHow to handle your money during this artificial, man-made crisis
What’s a struggling (and angry) investor to do, in the face of a government shutdown and threatened default? An artificial financial crisis (not based on fundamentals) cooked up entirely for political...
View ArticleHow Romneycare reduced consumer debt, and Obamacare might, too
Researchers at the Chicago Federal Reserve took a look at how health care reform in Massachusetts, in 2006, affected consumer finances. Turns out, it made people better off. Your financial life has a...
View ArticleHow To Make Your Money Last: The story of a new book
Hello all. I’ve been writing a book, which put me out of action on this site for a while. turns out, I can’t simultaneously walk and chew gum, so I walked. The book is called “How to Make Your Money...
View Article
