Dinner with the Diehards: A Chat About Investing
Dec 03It’s been a long time since I wrote about investing at Get Rich Slowly. I haven’t abandoned the subject, but my mind has been on other things. Besides, I’ve been practicing what I preach. I’ve invested my money in low-cost index funds (and some bonds), and I never make a trade. Because I know it pays to ignore financial news, I have. Earlier this week, I peeked at my portfolio for the...
5 Habits of Highly-Effective Credit Card Users
Dec 03
This is a guest post from Beverly Harzog, who writes about credit cards and personal finance at Card Ratings. Harzog is the co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Person-to-Person Lending.When I was in my early twenties, I was a credit card mess. I’d go shopping with my credit card in hand and not worry about how much I spent until the bill came. At that point, though, I’d start...
Shopping with Confidence, and the Clean Slate
Dec 02“Does this shirt make me look fat?” I asked Kris the other day. I was trying on clothes as I packed for our upcoming vacation in France and Italy. I want to limit myself to just four or five shirts for the trip. (Truly light packers would probably only take two shirts.)“Well,” Kris said. “It’s not that the shirt makes you look fat. It’s just way too big on you. It looks like a...
How Much Should You Spend on a Car?
Dec 01
There are all sorts of rules of thumb about how much you should spend on a home, but what about that other major expense in your life — your vehicle? Have you ever wondered how much to spend on a car?I’ve thought about this question before, but never really considered that there might be an answer. (Well, no answer other than “as little as possible”.) But the folks over at BeFrugal have...
Ask the Readers: Help! I’m Overwhelmed! How Do I Get Started?
Dec 01I’ll admit it: I’m way behind on posting reader questions. I get tons of questions, and can never reply to all of them. I do ask a handful of folks if they’d like to put their problems to the general readership. But even after sifting these through, I still have about a dozen dilemmas to put before you.I had hoped to write up one “ask the readers” column per week that I’ll be in...
