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Loss Incentive: a Jedi Mind Trick to Save & Invest More
Motivating oneself to hit big financial goals through saving and investing over the long-term is often a mental game. And it’s a game that many of us lose in favor of spending on day-to-day...
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Change Credit Card Payment Due Dates to Avoid Late Fees
I’ve become a bit of a credit card collector. I have been using a different credit card for just about every common expense. I have one for fuel, one for groceries, one for restaurants, one for...
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Why “No-Spend Days” Don’t Work (& what to Replace them with)
As a personal finance blogger, I read a ton of financial content. More than I probably should. And about once every other week or so, I come across the advice to try the enticing and mystical “no-spend...
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Hack your Credit Utilization Ratio to Improve your Credit Score
Let’s talk credit score hacking. For better or worse, credit scores are important. How you score can impact whether or not you get credit, the rates you get on approved credit, and even whether you get...
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Earning More Does Not Cure All
If you’ve spent any amount of time reading personal finance advice, you’ve surely come across gurus or opinionated individuals with an unwavering faith in the power of income to cure all financial...
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Compound Returns: 2X your Retirement Savings by Starting at 25 vs. 35
One of the biggest sentiments I encounter when chatting about retirement savings with others goes a little something like this, “Ahhh. I’m young – I’ve got plenty of time to save for retirement in my...
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Housing Bubble 2.0 is here. Protect Yourself from the Next Crash
I was casually reading a local news article on housing prices across the Michigan market when I noticed something odd – in every major city that I checked, the average home sale price in 2016 has...
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Get a Free Sam’s Club Membership from AmEx
By many accounts, Citi hasn’t done the greatest job with its rollout of the new Costco Anywhere Visa Card, after Costco and American Express parted ways this year. Citi received 1.5 million customer...
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Chase Freedom: Get 5% Cash Back at Costco, Sam’s Club, & BJ’s through 2016
The new Costco Anywhere Visa from Citi is a pretty nice all-around cashback card that offers an enhanced 2% cash back rewards at Costco over the old Costco branded AmEx card’s 1% cash back. 2% cash...
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Hacking the 3 Stages of Life
I think we can all agree that having time, money, and energy are good things to have (and the more, the better). Well, there’s a wise old adage about the 3 stages of life as it relates to time, energy,...
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How Long Should you Keep Tax Records?
I strive to be a minimalist. Clutter, whether it’s stuff, electronic, or old fashion paperwork can cloud my mind and really weigh on me. That’s why a recent reader inquiry from “Stacey C” really...
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Those who Avoid Short-Term Consumption Trends will Prosper
About a year and a half ago, I saw the writing on the wall. OPEC had been pumping out millions of barrels of oil a day at a significant loss in order to drive supply higher than demand and drive down...
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IRS Launches a “Sharing Economy” Tax Guide
As the U.S. economy shifts more and more to service based consumption and the “Sharing Economy” continues to grow, income taxes may not be quite as simple as receiving and reporting a W2-form from an...
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How to Shop at Sam’s Club without a Membership
Membership retailers like Sam’s Club and Costco can be a bit intimidating at first. There is the personal financial dilemma about whether or not to shell out the price for an annual membership fee if...
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Republic Wireless: Now you Can Bring your Own Phone
Republic Wireless has long had one of the cheapest data plans on the market and has been a true disrupter in the mobile plan space. They’ve changed their plans and pricing over the years a few times,...
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It’s Time for a Federal Ban on Salary History Questions
The State of Massachusetts gets a big thumbs up from me for just becoming the first state to prohibit employers from asking potential hires about their wage, salary, or benefits history as a question...
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EpiPen Further Proves that Unchecked Capitalism & Health Care Don’t Mix
Well, if you needed any further proof that unchecked capitalism and health care are a toxic combo after Steven Brill’s exposé a few years back, add Mylan’s EpiPen price increase to the list of...
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Your Employer’s 401k Match is Not a Suggestion (or Maximum)
So, you have a 401K. Congratulations! (many don’t) What’s next? You have to decide how much you would like to contribute, of course. And this crucial stage is where I fear that many people get tripped...
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Reduce your Consumption by Delaying Purchases for 1 Month
All purchases we make can really be distilled down to 2 categories: 1. The stuff we need. 2. The stuff we want. Where things get a little murky is when our brain tries to convince us that the stuff we...
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Where to Get Cheap or Free Flu Shots
The 2016-2017 flu season is here and sick days are about to start piling up. Should you get a flu shot? There are many good reasons to… On average, approximately 5% to 20% of U.S. residents get the flu...
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