Retirement seems so far away. Then again, so did 30 and that’s all up in my grill. Like other distant things, thinking about retirement is easy to delay in favor of the triage of daily life. But objects in the mirror are closer than they appear. Since there’s no way to rapidly save for retirement […]
One of my favorite coats is a gorgeous knee-length number that coordinates with almost anything. The best thing about this coat is that I paid the criminal price of $10 for it. I found it on a clearance rack. It was the only coat of its kind and happened to be in my size; our […]
I once saw an “Oprah” episode with a guy so hell-bent on reducing his monthly grocery bills that he had a practice of purchasing doubly-ply toilet paper, unrolling it and then re-rolling it into two separate rolls, thus turning 12 rolls into 24. Swear to God. Enter multiple scatological puns here. (What a cheap-ass! That’s […]
Around the same time I started raking in the big bucks (courtesy of the Tooth Fairy), my father started enforcing the rule that the topic of money was off-limits in polite conversation. There was no, “Hey, how much was your incisor worth?” in my house. And the one time I asked my dad the amount […]
During a coffee break at the Boston Federal Reserve’s housing crisis conference, I answered my 23-year-old, unemployed, freshly engaged sister’s phone call. She and her (also young but at least employed) fiancé were shopping for homes near San Francisco, where housing prices start above half a million dollars, and wasn’t I so excited for her? […]
Let’s face it, saving money is a bitch. But all the big stuff in life—car, college, marriage, kids, travel—have equally big dollar signs attached. To minimize debt, saving for these expenditures ahead of time is important. Here are six effective strategies to set money aside—and keep it there. Separate Accounts My favorite personal finance dude […]
You’re not going to like this. But now—mid-January—would be a really smart time to start thinking about your 2019 taxes. Yes, going to the gynecologist sounds like more fun. And, sure, right now the only taxes you’re thinking about are the sales taxes on your holiday purchases, but consider this: with a little bit of […]
It seems like the floundering economy has taken its toll on everyone in some way or another. Maybe you ended up in the unemployment line, or maybe your pantry’s stocked with nothing but store-brand food. And while the financial environment may have led you to cringe whenever you look at your checking account statement, our […]
This past payday, I was as excited about having the funds to bring home this season’s faux fur vest as I was about skimming 10 percent off the top and watching our savings account increase. And I have to admit, I’m pretty proud of myself for being responsible enough to make that deposit regularly – […]
