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The Simple Dollar

Simple, applicable personal finance advice for the modern world.

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Review: Killing Sacred Cows

Published Sunday, November 22, 2009 - 16:00 by The Simple Dollar

Every other Sunday, The Simple Dollar reviews a personal finance book. I quite enjoy reading personal finance books that offer different advice and ideas than the rest, even if I don’t agree with what they have to say. Killing Sacred Cows, by Garrett B. Gunderson, falls into this category. […]

Consumption Smoothing and Why It Doesn’t Work

Published Sunday, November 22, 2009 - 10:00 by The Simple Dollar

When I was a young professional, my income was relatively low – substantially lower than it was even five years later. I knew that over time, my income would go up; my career path offered lots of opportunities for growing one’s wage and I was dedicated to my career. […]

The Simple Dollar Time Machine: November 21, 2009

Published Saturday, November 21, 2009 - 16:00 by The Simple Dollar

Many newer readers of The Simple Dollar haven’t been exposed to the hundreds of great articles in the archives of the site, so this is a weekly series that highlights the five best posts from one year ago this week, two years ago this week, and three years ago this week. […]

It’s Not the School, It’s the Student

Published Saturday, November 21, 2009 - 10:00 by The Simple Dollar

Yesterday, I read a fascinating research paper by Stacy Berg Dale and Alan Krueger (you can read the abstract here) which offers up a surprising result. In a nutshell, once you take a student’s pre-existing talents into account (as shown by standardized test scores), the school they attend has almost no impact on their lifetime earnings. […]

“So, What Do You Want for Christmas?”

Published Friday, November 20, 2009 - 16:00 by The Simple Dollar

Over the past few weeks, I’ve heard this question several times from various people who find me on their Christmas gift list this year. I’m guessing they’re all thinking more or less the same thing: what do you get for a guy who doesn’t really want anything? So they ask me, and then I’m left with that difficult question to answer. Frugal people are often the hardest to buy winning gifts for. […]

10 Tactics for a Cheaper (and Saner) Thanksgiving Dinner

Published Friday, November 20, 2009 - 10:00 by The Simple Dollar

By this time next week, most Americans will have gathered with friends and family and eaten the traditional Thanksgiving meal. I’ll be gathering for three separate Thanksgiving dinners during this holiday weekend. Quite often, I’ll see people spend exorbitant amounts of money on lavish Thanksgiving spreads. […]

The 40/30/30 Rule

Published Thursday, November 19, 2009 - 16:00 by The Simple Dollar

Recently, I was reading a great article at The 99 Percent entitled The 40-30-30 Rule: Why Risk Is Worth It. I originally intended to include it in my weekly roundup, but as I thought about the 40-30-30 idea, I found that the connections to careers, personal finance, and life were profound. What is the 40-30-30 rule? […]

Personal Finance 101: How Averages Lie

Published Thursday, November 19, 2009 - 10:00 by The Simple Dollar

Whenever a personal finance writer – or a writer of any kind – wants to make a bold, shocking point, they’ll often pull out an “average” of some set of numbers. That average, when read without further investigation, is often really shocking. Could that really be true? […]

Should I Save for Something or Not Buy It At All?

Published Wednesday, November 18, 2009 - 16:00 by The Simple Dollar

Andre writes in: I’m interested in replacing a piece of home audio equipment that is experiencing occasional malfunctions, but works OK most of the time. The receiver I’m looking at costs $500 on Amazon. I’m a little conflicted. The more frugal side of me says to not even buy it. Make do with the broken receiver until it’s completely unusable. […]

The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Home Movies Edition

Published Wednesday, November 18, 2009 - 10:00 by The Simple Dollar

For the longest time, I didn’t really see the point of taking home movies. I would take some because I’d be encouraged to do so, but they always seemed to just wind up in boxes collecting dust somewhere. Until last night. I was digging through one of our closets and came up with a few tapes depicting the day our son was born, his first Christmas, and some other moments from early in his life. […]