| Be minimally extractive |
| 05/05/25 | | Thrift |
"The late Jack Bogle, founder of Vanguard, did more to help the individual investor than anyone in history. And since this week marks the 50-year anniversary of Vanguard's founding, I thought it would be nice to illustrate the unrivaled impact that Bogle had on the investment industry."
|
| Advice for the kids |
| 11/10/24 | | Thrift |
"We aren't a wealthy family. But we can strive to lift up each generation that follows, so our family remains financially resilient - and doesn't suffer the suffocating money stress that afflicts so many."
|
| Spending rules |
| 09/28/24 | | Thrift |
"I fall back on seven rules that - I hope - will make my spending less impulsive and more thoughtful."
|
| Lifestyle creep is mostly a myth |
| 07/27/24 | | Thrift |
"After reviewing the data, I can say that lifestyle creep doesn't seem to be a major issue for most people. In general, as households grow their income, they either spend less overall or increase their spending slightly over time. It's a small minority of households that truly 'creep' their spending upward. This doesn't mean that lifestyle creep doesn't exist, but that the fears of it are greatly exaggerated."
|
| Debt narrows what you can endure |
| 05/09/24 | | Thrift |
"once you view debt as narrowing what you can endure in a volatile world, you start to see it as a constraint on the asset that matters most: having options and flexibility."
|
| Where it goes |
| 04/14/24 | | Thrift |
"A lifetime of frugality has made such spending and giving a whole lot sweeter. It really does feel wonderfully luxurious. And whenever the cash outflow makes me a little uncomfortable, I reassure myself that such expenditures are indeed discretionary and, if necessary, we could eliminate them and our annual spending would plunge."
|
| Can the typical person become a millionaire? |
| 03/09/24 | | Thrift |
"So, can the typical person become a millionaire? Not if they take typical actions."
|
| Thoughts on spending money |
| 02/09/24 | | Thrift |
"Everyone can spend money in a way that will make them happier, but there is no universal formula on how to do it. The nice stuff that makes me happy might seem crazy to you, and vice versa. Like many things in finance, debates over what kind of lifestyle you should live are often just people with different personalities talking over each other."
|
| Overrated things in personal finance |
| 02/09/24 | | Thrift |
"Retiring at age 35 sounds interesting in principle, but it in practice, it would be hell. Imagine being completely idle and have nothing to do except worry about your small pile of money turning to dust."
|
| Our money pit |
| 01/21/24 | | Thrift |
"We just finished a project that proved so expensive that, if I revealed the cost, my reputation for frugality would be in tatters. The cost was comfortably - or perhaps uncomfortably - into six figures. What if we sold our Philadelphia townhome tomorrow? I figure we might recoup half of what we just spent."
|
| Ways you pay more for less |
| 01/14/24 | | Thrift |
"Andrew Chang breaks down four reasons your grocery bill might be rising" [video]
|
| Your money or your life |
| 01/07/24 | | Thrift |
"This partially explains why only 1 in 4 people with over $3 million in investable assets are self-made"
|
| Frugal to be independent |
| 12/03/23 | | Thrift |
"Most people are wired to seek status and success, not necessarily happiness. It's remarkable to watch someone fight back against that trend. From the outside they appear frugal. But in fact they've rejected what the world tells them they should want and looked deeper, finding their happiness elsewhere."
|
| Died with a big secret |
| 11/21/23 | | Thrift |
"'He seemed to have what he wanted, but he didn't want much,' said Edwin 'Smokey' Smith, Holt's best friend and former employer. But Holt died earlier this year with a secret: He was a multimillionaire. And what's more, he gave it all away to this community of 4,200 people."
|
| The dark side of tipping |
| 10/29/23 | | Thrift |
"In a world of card payments, the days of dropping coins into a tip jar are gone. On-screen digital options can sometimes increase gratuities, but at what cost?"
|
| Save more to retire earlier |
| 05/14/23 | | Thrift |
"The good news is that we can quantify how much earlier you could retire if you increased your savings rate by 1%. The bad news is that this answer also depends your current savings rate."
|
| Rich vs wealthy |
| 04/22/23 | | Thrift |
"if you want to feel wealthier you can either: (1) increase your net worth or (2) decrease your desires. This is how you can have far less than someone else while still feeling like you have much more."
|
| Saved by compounding |
| 04/16/23 | | Thrift |
"Consider an investor over a 30-year period earning a 5% average annual return after expenses, versus a pre-cost 7%. Missing out on those two percentage points yields a final result that's half what it could have been."
|
| Be like the Reads |
| 04/16/23 | | Thrift |
"While it might seem like common sense not to spend too much or too little, it can be tricky to achieve this balance. But there are some strategies that can help."
|
| Change |
| 02/25/23 | | Thrift |
"By your 50s, you might realize you're on track to have plenty saved for retirement. But by then, if you're like me, frugality will have become a way of life and you could find it awfully hard to change."
|
| Where millionaires keep their money |
| 02/12/23 | | Thrift |
"Many people are curious about the financial habits of the wealthy, and for good reason. Having a better understanding of how millionaires manage their money can help us learn from their successes and potentially improve our own financial well-being as well."
|
| Avoiding Unhappiness |
| 01/29/23 | | Thrift |
"it seems that we can't buy happiness with a fistful of dollars or a stack of credit cards. The thrill of a new purchase is short-lived. But money spent to reduce our financial worries, such as by paying off credit card debt, may help stave off the unhappiness that can lead to depression."
|
| Rich income |
| 01/22/23 | | Thrift |
"if you're interested in understanding how your income compares to others in the U.S. (and whether that makes you rich), then you've come to the right place. So, how much income do you need to be rich? Let's find out."
|
| Spending money |
| 01/15/23 | | Thrift |
"How people invest their money tends to be hidden from view. But how they spend is far more visible, so what it shows about who you are can be even more insightful."
|
| New rules for success |
| 11/27/22 | | Thrift |
"By contrast, value stocks, with their healthy current earnings and often high dividend yields, have become far more appealing. After all, why speculate on the future when you can collect a handsome dividend check today?"
|
| Save enough |
| 11/20/22 | | Thrift |
"Unfortunately, most of us are stuck dealing with the financial markets, volatility and all, to improve our standard of living over the long haul. But the important thing to remember is it doesn't matter how you invest your money if you don't save enough in the first place."
|
| Liquidating assets |
| 08/27/22 | | Thrift |
"How people spend their money fascinates me, especially when I hear that 42% of Americans are struggling financially, that many can't afford their prescription copays and that they're unable to save for the future. The average American household spends some 18% of its net income on things like pets, hotels, eating out, equipment for their hobbies, and entertainment fees and admissions."
|
| Money makes you happy |
| 06/24/22 | | Thrift |
"They say money can't buy you happiness and there is evidence that once income reaches a certain level people really aren't getting much happier with more income. But what about assets? Studies in the past focused on income rather than wealth but now a study among Germans looked at the interactions between income and wealth."
|
| Retire with more money than you need |
| 02/03/22 | | Thrift |
"If we really want to help our kids or the causes that are important to us, however, leaving it all in our will may not be the best way to do it."
|
| Buy things, not experiences |
| 01/15/22 | | Thrift |
"While I appreciate the Stoic-style appraisal of what really brings happiness, economically, this analysis seems precisely backward. It amounts to saying that in an age of industrialization and globalism, when material goods are cheaper than ever, we should avoid partaking of this abundance. Instead, we should consume services afflicted by Baumol's cost disease, taking long vacations and getting expensive haircuts which are just as hard to produce as ever."
|
| Knowing things |
| 09/24/21 | | Thrift |
"I think most of us vastly over-estimate how much money we need to live a full life. We also, wrongly in my view, equate status with net worth. Doing a job you dislike, or retiring later than you would like to, in order to die with a bigger bank balance seems really dumb to me,"
|
| Pay down debt |
| 07/04/21 | | Thrift |
"A safe withdrawal rate is the lesser of the yield on the 10 year treasury +1%, or 7%. The long-term increase in value of assets is roughly proportional to something a little higher than where the US government can borrow for 10 years. That's the reason for the formula. Capping it at 7% is there because if rates get really high, people feel uncomfortable taking so much from their assets when their present value is diminished."
|
| Go figure |
| 04/18/21 | | Thrift |
"A lot of investment math focuses on how money grows over time. But as an attorney who's worked with many clients hoping to retire in comfort, I find myself thinking more about risk - and how the math can work against us."
|
| What it takes |
| 04/03/21 | | Thrift |
"No way. That's been my reaction whenever I've read about people saving 30% or more. I look back and think about making monthly mortgage payments, raising four children, paying for college and trying to save something to supplement my pension. For my wife and me, a 30% savings rate simply wasn't possible. Nevertheless, people do it."
|
| Low cost is better than free |
| 03/28/21 | | Thrift |
"As someone who's worked on pricing R&D at two different wealth managers, I can assure you that like high-functioning pavlovian dogs, companies are very sensitive to what people want as revealed by their actual behavior. If people started subscribing in droves to a direct paid model, they'd hop on that model quickly. But usually we don't. Based on our behavior, we basically look companies in the eye and say 'Lie to me please'. 'Tell me it's free', 'Tell me there's no fee'."
|
| Liquid net worth |
| 05/23/20 | | Thrift |
"Yes, I have heard that '61% of Americans couldn't cover a $1,000 emergency expense directly from savings,' but it is still difficult to know that so many households are struggling to make ends meet."
|
| A personal finance lie |
| 02/07/20 | | Thrift |
"the biggest lie in personal finance is that you can be rich if you just cut your spending."
|
| The asymptote of joy and woe |
| 10/11/19 | | Thrift |
"Once enslaved to onerous debts, it becomes very difficult to get out of the slimy pit."
|
| Invest your way onto the Rich List |
| 05/27/19 | | Thrift |
"Is it feasible? Can you invest your way onto the Rich List?"
|
| The biggest returns |
| 05/20/19 | | Thrift |
"Personal savings and frugality - finance's conservation and efficiency - are parts of the money equation that are largely in your control and have a 100% chance at being as effective in the future as they are today."
|
| Investing for the disaster to come |
| 05/15/19 | | Thrift |
"The way I see it, by spending less on fancy caffeine now I either reach my goals more quickly, or I am better insulated against my personal apocalypse, if and when it happens."
|
| Personal finance is a bit too personal |
| 05/01/19 | | Thrift |
"So, how do you become a millionaire by age 30? Make a ton of money and don't spend most of it. Shocking, right? The issue is that this advice just isn't an option for basically everyone."
|
| Million dollar coffee |
| 05/01/19 | | Thrift |
"A 12% annual return sounds wonderful in a latte factor example but it's not realistic."
|
| Price matters |
| 04/03/19 | | Thrift |
"Motusbank's fee for chequing accounts is zero, and that includes unlimited debits, including e-transfers, and an interest rate of 0.5 per cent (competitive for a chequing account). On savings, the bank will pay a rate of 2.25 per cent on regular accounts and 2.5 per cent on tax-free savings accounts."
|
| One big thing |
| 02/05/19 | | Thrift |
"74% of retirement success had to do with one thing: savings rate. The other 26% was explained by asset allocation and related decisions."
|
| Cost of living |
| 01/01/19 | | Thrift |
"Living in less costly areas can enable you to spend less and to invest more of your income. You will pay less for your home and correspondingly less for your property taxes. Your neighbors will be less likely to drive expensive motor vehicles. You will find it easier to keep up, even ahead, of the Joneses and still accumulate wealth."
|
| We're stuffed |
| 12/03/18 | | Thrift |
"Don't think you have too much stuff? Try moving out of your home of many years and cleaning out your closets - which we just did. My wife found five boxes of shoes she didn't recall she had and which she had never worn. Even I found two boxes of unworn shoes - but I'm innocent, because my wife bought them for me."
|
| Fanning the flames |
| 11/19/18 | | Thrift |
"What could possibly be wrong with saving like crazy, so you can retire early? That's the notion behind the Financial Independence/Retire Early, or FIRE, movement. Yet lately, I've read a lot of carping about FIRE"
|
| No core |
| 10/22/18 | | Thrift |
"I was asked how to teach children to handle money responsibly. 'Tell stories,' I said."
|
| Spending matters more saving |
| 09/06/18 | | Thrift |
"Yet in reality, most households struggle to save because there is no money left at the end of the month to save in the first place. Because technically their problem isn't a savings rate that's too low; it's a spending rate that's too high, in one or more categories, that is causing all of the available household income to be consumed before the end of the month is even reached"
|
| How much is enough? |
| 12/04/16 | | Thrift |
"Step back a bit, however, and you will see that every money question eventually boils down to a single line of inquiry: How much is enough?"
|
| Frugality isn't what it used to be |
| 10/22/16 | | Thrift |
"It used to be that a fancy car or a country-club membership sufficed. But as these became available to more and more people, the acquisition of physical things has mostly taken a backseat to the acquisition of exotic experiences. Now, Westacott writes, because 'not working is in itself no longer a badge of honor,' what the economist Thorstein Veblen in 1899 called 'conspicuous leisure' is being displaced by conspicuous recreation. To describe the behavior of those who tire of this arms race, perhaps there needs to be yet a new term: conspicuous frugality."
|
| Almost nothing in the bank |
| 09/24/16 | | Thrift |
"Close to half of those who earn from $100,000 to $149,999 a year have less than $1,000 in their savings accounts. Some 18 percent of them have socked away absolutely nothing."
|
| Save more money |
| 07/17/16 | | Thrift |
"Bonds pay borrowers while lenders earn nothing. Stocks soar to all-time highs. How weird is today's financial world? It's weird, all right, but probably not as weird as you think."
|
| 7-day mental quarantine |
| 07/10/16 | | Thrift |
"My wife and I are setting up a customs screening station in our driveway. No, we're not starting an international airport. And it's not for solicitors, strangers or gift-bearing guests. It's for us and our stuff."
|
| How much you'll earn |
| 03/27/16 | | Thrift |
"If you have a Bachelors degree, you will earn approximately $1.8 million in your lifetime. That's it. That's all you have"
|
| The Cost Matters Hypothesis |
| 02/21/16 | | Thrift |
"While markets' efficiency will be forever questioned, there is no question that the costs we incur in investing deduct directly from our returns - it's simple subtraction."
|
| Financial common sense |
| 01/23/16 | | Thrift |
"If you spend all your time thinking about money, chances are, you're going to get pretty good at thinking about money. Indeed, new research suggests that the poor -- for whom concerns about cash are inescapable -- are not as prone to certain financial mistakes often made by the affluent."
|
| Buying begets buying |
| 10/25/15 | | Thrift |
"Buy less and instantly you have less to store; you use less space. Eventually you can work less to pay for all of this stuff. Soon you will stress less too and, above all, your life will involve less waste."
|
| Buying organic is a waste of money |
| 09/05/15 | | Thrift |
"The science available thus far says any additional nutritional benefits from organic produce, compared with conventional, are very small."
|
| Why we hate cheap things |
| 09/02/15 | | Thrift |
"There are two ways to get richer: one is to make more money; and the second is to discover that more of the things we could love are already to hand (thanks to the miracles of the Industrial Revolution). We are, astonishingly, already a good deal richer than we are encouraged to think we are."
|
| Frugal millionaires |
| 06/06/15 | | Thrift |
"While the popular perception of millionaires is that they are more ostentatious than frugal, recent research shows that single-digit millionaires, at least, are generally far more mindful about how they save, spend and invest their money."
|
| Watch for traps on high interest savings |
| 11/08/14 | | Thrift |
"Banks lure you with high rates on savings. But the fine-print conditions and transfer fees can offset the benefits of such deals."
|
| Prudence penalised |
| 10/03/14 | | Thrift |
"The reluctance of workers to save for their old age is usually put down to inertia or impatience - being unable to defer gratification to the distant future. In fact, it may be a rational decision in the face of high charges, confusing products and poor returns."
|
| The importance of being solvent |
| 07/19/14 | | Thrift |
"What is wealth? To me, it isn't a particular sum of money. Rather, it's the freedom to spend your days doing what you're passionate about and what you think is important."
|
| Tiny houses for economic freedom |
| 07/12/14 | | Thrift |
"The 57-year-old schoolteacher's tiny house near Providence, Rhode Island, cost $28,000 - a seventh of the median price of single-family residences in his state."
|
| When the messenger is worth shooting |
| 04/12/14 | | Thrift |
"In addition to being ineffective and boring, the lessons of financial literacy curriculums often end up sounding patronizing and obvious. Check your credit report. Rebalance investments. Budget. The fact that most people don't bother to do these things is taken as a sign of their financial illiteracy."
|
| Our number-one tax shelter |
| 01/18/14 | | Thrift |
"Investing in a Tax-Free Savings Account should be a priority for most Canadians"
|
| Frugal life leaves rich legacy |
| 12/01/13 | | Thrift |
"He clipped coupons, wore sweaters with holes in them to make people think he was poor and took a bus - not a cab - to the University of Washington when he attended an alumni luncheon in his later years. Only a tight circle of family and friends knew that MacDonald was nurturing a secret fortune. When he died in September at the age of 98, he left in his will a $187.6 million charitable trust to Seattle Children's Research Institute, the University of Washington School of Law and the Salvation Army."
|
| The dark side of compound interest |
| 10/12/13 | | Thrift |
"If being in thrall to compound interest is a problem for you, just imagine how it feels for Warren Buffett. The world's richest man has compounded his wealth by 20% since the early 1970s. Before that has was doing even better. Every can of soda the notorious Coca-Cola fan swigged in the 1950s therefore cost him thousands of times as much as he paid for it, compared to if he'd put the money into his investments and had a glass of water."
|
| Risk-free returns for everybody |
| 09/22/13 | | Thrift |
"Investment professionals too often forget that a dollar saved in costs or fees is actually worth more than a dollar earned from investment returns (thanks to taxes). In addition, investing in cost and fee reduction can provide far greater returns per unit of risk than anything else an investment organization can do. In fact, there.s an argument to be made that cost and fee savings represent risk-free returns to investors."
|
| Time as money |
| 08/10/13 | | Thrift |
"But their data, primarily drawn from the Consumer Expenditure Survey from 1980 to 2003, provide an alternative explanation for why expenditure falls as people enter old age. To start with, they reveal that spending on non-essential items does not drop. In fact, it increases. But three categories do see declines: food, transportation and .personal care. (which includes clothing)."
|
| The ever increasing value of parsimony |
| 07/14/13 | | Thrift |
"We're in a bull market for parsimony. Maybe even a parsimony bubble. Parsimony, which is a polite way to talk about penny-pinching, has never been a more valuable habit. Even with investment yields up from their recent lows, I think it is safe to predict that parsimony is well on its way to becoming a high art."
|
| Jon Chevreau talks Findependence |
| 07/06/13 | | Thrift |
"I thought it would be great to have Jon back. This time we go into a bit more detail about his book."
|
| Is wine BS? |
| 06/30/13 | | Thrift |
"A Lafite Rothschild Bordeaux sells for a minimum of around $500 a bottle, while humble brands like Charles Shaw and Franzia sell for as little as $2. But as far as 'wine economists' are concerned, the level of correlation between the price of a bottle of wine and its quality is low or nonexistent. In a number of damning studies, they suggest that wine is not just poorly priced, but that the different tastes we describe in wine may all be in our heads."
|
| Extreme saving |
| 06/01/13 | | Thrift |
"Today, the 31-year-old father of three saves more than 70% of his net income with the goal of retiring in a few years."
|
| Teach Americans to be cheap |
| 03/24/13 | | Thrift |
"The most potent way to get more wealth to the poor and middle-class is to get these people to save more of their income, and to invest in assets with higher average rates of return."
|
| The 'scrooge' who begat plenty |
| 02/16/13 | | Thrift |
"Perseverance, property rights, contracts, civility to one's opponents, silence, smaller government, trust, certainty, restraint, respect for faith, federalism, economy, and thrift: these Coolidge ideals intrigue us today as well. After all, many citizens today do feel cursed by debt, their own or their government's. Knowing the details of his life may well help Americans now turn a curse to a blessing or, at the very least, find the heart to continue their own persevering."
|
| The future of shopping |
| 01/12/13 | | Thrift |
"How long can brick-and-mortar retailers afford to operate stores that serve as display cases for someone else? More importantly, will that be long enough to transform themselves into something less vulnerable to Internet competition?"
|
| A lost decade for savers |
| 09/26/12 | | Thrift |
"The 1990s were a lost decade for Japan. The 2000s delivered a lost decade to U.S. investors. Now, five years into the onset of the financial crisis, with stock and bond markets booming, housing resurgent, and even Detroit redeemed, it.s savers who find themselves in a lost decade."
|
| The iPhone's sexy, but 'I save' is far smarter |
| 09/22/12 | | Thrift |
"But iPhones are also symbolic of a change in society's attitude toward money. We now get our gratification through spending money rather than by saving it. The savings rate in Canada has been falling for decades, more or less in line with the decline in interest rates. Today, savings accounts offer less than 1 per cent in many cases and barely 2 per cent at best. As a result, a lot of us have come to believe that saving is useless, even foolish. And so, we've moved on to spending."
|
| Saving too much for retirement? |
| 06/17/12 | | Thrift |
"So you're worried you haven't saved enough for your retirement? What if all the conventional wisdom is wrong and you are actually saving too much?"
|
| Negative real rates of return |
| 02/20/12 | | Thrift |
"If it's just you on a desert island and you have to bury food in the ground for safe keeping chances are you will dig up less food than you bury. In general investing only makes sense when there is seasonality, which is why tropical animals don't do it. And, animals that do invest always take a loss even if they invest in the form of fat stores. However, because the marginal product of labor is vastly different between the spring and the winter it is worth it in utility terms even if the material return is negative. That humans don't always take a loss is why the world we live in is so vastly different. Our world changes over time because we can use our brains to think of ways to get more out than we put in. However, this is a special case and should not be taken as some basic property of the world. Its just not."
|
| For savers in Canada, a sinking feeling |
| 02/05/12 | | Thrift |
"Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, among other central bankers, has kept interest rates near historic lows since the onset of the global economic crisis in an attempt to stimulate the flagging economy, and there's no sign of a rate hike any time soon. But some critics say the playing field is now tipped too far in favour of borrowers rather than savers. Canadians in droves have piled on debt to buy new homes and make other purchases, prompting warnings from Mr. Carney of the dangers of carrying too much debt - even as his policies encourage borrowing and provide little ability for savers to generate substantial low-risk income. "It's one thing for Carney to say this is a problem and warn people," says William Robson, president of the C.D. Howe Institute in Toronto. But "actions speak a lot louder than words." Inflation, while low at an annual rate of 2.3 per cent, compares with one-year guaranteed investment certificates (GICs) paying roughly 1 per cent a year. Simply put: A dollar saved today will be worth less a year from now."
|
| The truth about wealth |
| 12/19/11 | | Thrift |
"A study by Jonathan A. Parker and Annette Vissing-Jorgensen of Northwestern University found that the beta of the top 1% nearly quadrupled between 1982 and 2007 to 2.39. The top 0.01% had a beta of 3.96, making even the riskiest tech stocks look safe by comparison. Economists and wealth managers say the betas of the rich have likely soared even higher in recent months as markets gyrated sharply."
|
| A new page at Canadian MoneySaver |
| 11/02/11 | | Thrift |
"Mr. Hodson said he likes the current roster of MoneySaver writers, a mix of self-taught experts and advisers and other investment industry people who contribute free of charge. Something else he likes is the longstanding MoneySaver policy of not taking advertising from the financial industry. That kind of independence can be costly in terms of forgone revenue, but Mr. Hodson's Sprott years have left him financially secure enough not to worry about it."
|
| What's the use of saving money? |
| 09/29/11 | | Thrift |
"Ritchie Hok, an actuary living in Ottawa, is convinced savers will ultimately wind up paying the price for others' imprudence. At the peak of the U.S. housing bubble, Hok lived in Minneapolis and saw the excesses first-hand. While there he resisted those who urged him to get into the market a wise move given prices are down 40 per cent there. Now that he's in Ottawa, though, he's hearing all the same arguments for why he should take advantage of low rates and buy a house before prices rise even further. He's convinced Canada's housing market is a bubble that will eventually burst, and when it does, policy-makers will rush to people's rescue. "My fear is that most people in Canada are now debtors and not savers, and so governments will enact policies to help them because they make up most of the population," he says. "Savers may get screwed on the way down, too." If Hok is right, the frugal few could be in for even more pain ahead. Why is it again that it pays to save?"
|
| A madcap quest for 'free' |
| 03/04/11 | | Thrift |
"As soon as Kathy Spencer walked into the Rite Aid in Haverhill, early one recent Sunday morning, she knew something was up: All the carts were gone. At that hour, she was accustomed to having the store to herself, quietly piling hundreds of dollars worth of goods in her cart, quietly working the system, quietly walking out the door without having to pay for any of it. Instead, the store was "a madhouse full of crazy women fighting over toilet paper,'' she said. She knew exactly who was to blame: she was."
|
| A continuing disgrace |
| 01/23/11 | | Thrift |
"However, what is disgraceful is that savers cannot hedge this inflation risk. The government stopped the sale of index-linked national savings certificates last year. This was not because the government didn't need the money the budget deficit is still 150 billion. It can only be viewed as a deliberate attempt to punish savers by denying them the chance of a positive real return. And slamming savers is not in the country's long-term interest."
|
| Why a Budget Is Like a Diet |
| 01/02/11 | | Thrift |
"As a species, humans are notoriously poor at following through with their plans. Sticking to a budget - a dirty word even among many financial planners, who prefer the more euphemistic 'spending plan' - feels too much like dieting. And we often fail at both for the same reasons: too much focus on the restrictions, not enough on fun. So it's not surprising when people end up bingeing later, more than making up for dollars not spent or calories not consumed."
|
| Bargain Junkies Beating Retailers |
| 12/22/10 | | Thrift |
"'I wonder why they waste money on advertising,' she muses. 'We'll buy whatever they want us to buy - as long as they pay us to buy it.'"
|
| Wedbush's roof leaks, but his wallet doesn't |
| 11/21/10 | | Thrift |
"His investment firm, Wedbush Inc., manages more than $15 billion in assets, employs 1,000 people and is valued at $300 million. His personal stake is worth more than $150 million. Yet Wedbush has never let go of a compulsive frugality with roots in a Great Depression boyhood and his early days as an entrepreneur, when pinching pennies was the difference between survival and oblivion. For Wedbush, cost control is much more than a slogan. It's a guiding principle, maybe even a way of life."
|
| The joy of spending |
| 09/22/10 | | Thrift |
"If you have 2 million and can't force yourself to buy a coffee, there's a problem."
|
| Land of the free, home of the tightwad |
| 09/19/10 | | Thrift |
"And - this is the probably the most important bit - it allows U.S. families to cut their debt a lot faster than you might believe. One analysis by Deutsche Bank projects that by 2013, American households might be able bring their debt ratios down to where they were about 20 years ago. That's probably too optimistic. But consider the possibility that today's frugality will feed a roaring economic expansion several years from now. In the short term, its economy is still messed up. But longer term? It's never wise to bet against the U.S."
|
| Your banking may be more expensive |
| 02/16/10 | | Thrift |
"When you lose your job, the last thing you need is for your expenses to increase. Yet, at some banks, that's exactly what can happen with your checking account."
|
| Doing the math on coupons |
| 02/10/10 | | Thrift |
"If motivation is an issue, the next time you find yourself facing a stack of coupon booklets and flyers don't ask yourself if you can be bothered. Try asking yourself if you'd like to earn more than $100 an hour for a job you can do, at home, while sitting on the sofa watching TV."
|
| Why so many Americans are broke |
| 01/14/10 | | Thrift |
"Bookstores are full of books about getting out of debt. Why, then, are so many Americans struggling to get by? One reason, according to Connecticut College Psychology Professor Stuart Vyse, is that when it comes to money, people are not as rational as many economists - and authors - think. In his book Going Broke: Why Americans Can't Hold on to Their Money, Vyse cites studies that consistently show that people commonly make mental mistakes when it comes to their money. This realization is the foundation of behavioral economics, which holds that people behave differently than in the supremely logical fashion that classical economics predicts."
|
| Economists are cheapskates |
| 01/02/10 | | Thrift |
"Academic economists gather in Atlanta this weekend for their annual meetings, always held the first weekend after New Year's Day. That's not only because it coincides with holidays at most universities. A post-holiday lull in business travel also puts hotel rates near the lowest point of the year."
|
| Spend now, pay later |
| 08/22/09 | | Thrift |
"With noble intentions, much of what was advocated and popularized by the Woodstock generation involved an increased role for government in the economy. They argued that 'smart people' in the government would 'manage' the economy and 'protect' people from themselves. Government would run 'temporary' deficits and 'create' jobs. It was argued that society's prosperity needed to be shared through government-administered programs, regulations and taxes."
|
| GICs are safe, but don't expect much |
| 06/27/09 | | Thrift |
| The end of personal finance |
| 05/03/09 | | Thrift |
| Haggle your way to extra |
| 04/24/09 | | Thrift |
| Big Macs and fries |
| 04/24/09 | | Thrift |
| Austere times? Perfect |
| 04/13/09 | | Thrift |
| Free toothpaste for life! |
| 03/18/09 | | Thrift |
| 10 tips for a better deal |
| 03/18/09 | | Thrift |
| Feeding a family in the depression |
| 02/18/09 | | Thrift |
| A lament for savers |
| 02/13/09 | | Thrift |
| Analyzing market-linked GICs |
| 01/25/09 | | Thrift |
| The IBM fortune and the funeral home director |
| 12/12/08 | | Thrift |
| Where have all your savings gone? |
| 12/07/08 | | Thrift |
| A return to thrift |
| 10/30/08 | | Thrift |
| The new age of frugality |
| 10/10/08 | | Thrift |
| American savers have drawn the short straw |
| 09/08/08 | | Thrift |
| Wise investing: no substitute for saving |
| 08/25/08 | | Thrift |
| Why Generation Y is broke |
| 08/09/08 | | Thrift |
| How to leave your wife |
| 07/28/08 | | Thrift |
| Can a family eat on $100 a week? |
| 07/27/08 | | Thrift |
| How to retire on $12,000 a year |
| 06/04/08 | | Thrift |
| Is marriage a dumb move? |
| 10/26/07 | | Thrift |
| Life and debt in suburbia |
| 10/05/07 | | Thrift |
| How rich friends make you feel poor |
| 08/25/07 | | Thrift |
| How to earn $1 million by not watching TV |
| 07/17/07 | | Thrift |
| What's up with all those tip jars? |
| 07/07/07 | | Thrift |
| Lessons from living down and out |
| 04/05/07 | | Thrift |
| The emergency fund you can eat |
| 03/15/07 | | Thrift |
| Could you stop spending for a month? |
| 03/12/07 | | Thrift |
| Take a big bite out of grocery bills |
| 03/09/07 | | Thrift |
| Looking for love, and money |
| 02/21/07 | | Thrift |
| What should it cost to say 'I love you'? |
| 02/13/07 | | Thrift |
| Living 'poor' and loving it |
| 02/09/07 | | Thrift |
| Financial sanity down a country road |
| 02/07/07 | | Thrift |
| Surviving (and thriving) on $12,000 a year |
| 01/10/07 | | Thrift |
| I make $6.50 an hour. Am I poor? |
| 12/28/06 | | Thrift |
| Are you on track to retire rich? |
| 11/14/06 | | Thrift |
| Huge debts, paid off fast |
| 11/13/06 | | Thrift |
| Why your 'lizard brain' makes you a bad investor |
| 11/05/06 | | Thrift |
| 'Dilbert' deserves the economics Nobel |
| 10/11/06 | | Thrift |
| Extreme saver |
| 09/08/06 | | Thrift |
| How we did it |
| 08/05/06 | | Thrift |
| Financial infidelity is rampant |
| 07/13/06 | | Thrift |
| Today's graduates face a world that is seriously tougher |
| 06/17/06 | | Thrift |
| Why so many grads 'fail to launch' |
| 04/08/06 | | Thrift |
| Extreme savers: meet the parkers |
| 03/31/06 | | Thrift |
| 5 mistakes investors just can't afford |
| 03/25/06 | | Thrift |
| Kids: Bad investments, big returns |
| 02/25/06 | | Thrift |
| The fantasy - and reality - of your own business |
| 02/12/06 | | Thrift |
| Is marriage cost effective? |
| 02/11/06 | | Thrift |
| More nickel-and-dime fees to fly? |
| 02/05/06 | | Thrift |
| Frugality: You get it from your kids |
| 01/22/06 | | Thrift |
| You're worth $135,500 |
| 12/16/05 | | Thrift |
| Your holiday present |
| 12/11/05 | | Thrift |
| When status has too high a price |
| 12/10/05 | | Thrift |
| Walking the line between scrooge and santa |
| 11/23/05 | | Thrift |
| 3 big reasons couples fight about money |
| 11/14/05 | | Thrift |
| Don't wind up divorced and destitute |
| 11/06/05 | | Thrift |
| Save big on a tiny income |
| 10/23/05 | | Thrift |
| Is your kid a spoiled brat? |
| 10/06/05 | | Thrift |
| Blogging toward financial sanity |
| 10/03/05 | | Thrift |
| 8 financial train wrecks you can avoid |
| 09/30/05 | | Thrift |
| Steer clear of 'flood cars' |
| 09/25/05 | | Thrift |
| Protect your wallet in a divorce |
| 09/25/05 | | Thrift |
| Using debit is better than paying ABM fees |
| 07/22/05 | | Thrift |
| Confessions of a compulsive shopper |
| 07/22/05 | | Thrift |
| Low-cost, low-tech ways to protect your home |
| 04/01/05 | | Thrift |
| The lies we tell |
| 03/14/05 | | Thrift |
| Suddenly single |
| 02/24/05 | | Thrift |
| Can frugal living make you happier? |
| 02/22/05 | | Thrift |
| Free land in the heartland |
| 12/26/04 | | Thrift |
| Retirees don't have to be so frugal |
| 11/17/04 | | Thrift |
| Destination disaster |
| 11/14/04 | | Thrift |
| Unlucky in riches |
| 11/10/04 | | Thrift |
| Most expensive colleges |
| 10/24/04 | | Thrift |
| From debt to wealth on $10 a day |
| 09/27/04 | | Thrift |
| Rich Man, Poor Man |
| 09/19/04 | | Thrift |
| Are we saving too much? |
| 08/15/04 | | Thrift |
| Can't banish budgeting? This software's for you |
| 07/07/04 | | Thrift |
| The Kings and Queens of mean |
| 06/10/04 | | Thrift |
| Bummed out? Bad time to shop |
| 03/25/04 | | Thrift |
| How to lead a rich life |
| 02/27/04 | | Thrift |
| Making 'cheap' romance memorable |
| 02/12/04 | | Thrift |
| The 'yo-yo' car sale trap |
| 01/15/04 | | Thrift |
| Be sure to compare service fees if you use your card a lot |
| 01/09/04 | | Thrift |
| Ten helpful tips for saving and investing this year |
| 01/03/04 | | Thrift |
| Keep more in 2004 |
| 12/31/03 | | Thrift |
| Scrooge of the investing world |
| 12/13/03 | | Thrift |
| Rip-off room revisited |
| 12/07/03 | | Thrift |
| A new charge called 'Oops' |
| 12/04/03 | | Thrift |
| 10 ways you mindlessly waste money |
| 09/16/03 | | Thrift |
| The cost of the good life |
| 09/15/03 | | Thrift |
| What college doesn't teach you |
| 08/15/03 | | Thrift |
