I’ve long held the belief that choosing to donate to worthy causes is a deeply personal thing. Some people donate their time. Others donate their money. Whichever you choose is the right answer for you. At the end of the day, I sincerely believe that donating to charitable causes is a very good use of […]
Per Diem… it’s a phrase that means “an amount of money paid per day.” In the world of personal finance, it’s a phrase that is not used nearly enough. I want you to commit to a per diem. That’s right. I want you to pay yourself some amount of money every single day. I’ve written […]
The question often arises about whether it’s better to invest your money or to pay down debt. My position is that you should do both. The reality is that the younger you are, the more time your money has to compound if invested. From the tiniest acorn did the mighty oak grow, and all that. […]
If I can impart one nugget of wisdom to you today, it is this. You need not make every mistake yourself in order to learn a lesson. You’re always free to learn from others. I’m not promising that you’ll avoid making your own mistakes – that’s utterly impossible. What I am promising is that some […]
I’m fascinated by people who oppose the idea of becoming financially independent. Personally, I think that this opposition is borne of the acronym FIRE. Most of us in the personal finance echo chamber know that this is an acronym for Financial Independence, Retire Early. It’s rather unfortunate that so many have twinned the two concepts […]
Near as I can figure, it takes some time to become wealthy. There are those who manage to do it very quickly, and they generally fall into one of these three camps: Being born into wealth. Winning the lottery. Inheriting money from someone else. And I have to give an honourable mention to those who, […]
Roughly 20 years ago, I landed my first professional office job. It entailed monthly meetings with my manager, wherein I updated him on my current workload. He was an amiable man and most meetings were sprinkled with little nuggets of life advice. One of the acorns of advice that has always stayed with me is […]
Raise your hand if you’ve found some surprise money in your bank account this past month! While a great many people have lost their jobs, those who haven’t might have noticed that there’s definitely extra money in their bank accounts. This is called surprise money because most people are surprised by how much they normally […]
Right from the get-go, I’m going to ask those of you who already know this to forgive me for stating the obvious. Minimum payments benefit the lender way, way, way more than they benefit the borrower. Beware the minimum payment! When you borrow money from the lender, you’re taking out a loan. And when you […]
How are you doing today? I hope that you’re ignoring the gyrations of the stock market and going about your business of self-isolating, washing your hands, and self-distancing. They might not be the most exciting activities, but they will flatten the curve and help to avoid overburdening our hospitals. As I approach my golden years, […]