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The Simple Dollar

Simple, applicable personal finance advice for the modern world.

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Latest Posts from The Simple Dollar (page 9)

Reader Mailbag: Tax Day

Published Monday, April 15, 2013 - 10:00 by The Simple Dollar

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to five word summaries. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question. 1. Selling gifted art 2. Money and anger 3. Stock performance question 4. Entertaining children without television 5. Value from used books 6. Old medical debts 7. Community volunteer opportunities 8. Breakfast recipes 9. […]

Examining Two Credit Card Repayment Strategies

Published Sunday, April 14, 2013 - 16:00 by The Simple Dollar

Kim writes in: My dad told me that the best way to pay off a credit card is to pay it all off at once so I have been saving up the money to do that. My boyfriend argues with that saying that the best way to do it is to make the biggest possible payment each month. Who is right? Your boyfriend’s plan is better in a very straightforward sense. […]

Where Does 7% Come From When It Comes to Long-Term Stock Returns?

Published Sunday, April 14, 2013 - 10:00 by The Simple Dollar

Whenever I talk about investing in stocks, I usually suggest that you can earn a 7% annual return on average. That percentage is based on a few assumptions. First, I’m assuming that you’re investing for longer than ten years. That’s because in a given year, the stock market is very volatile. Some years see an enormous dip in the stock market, like 2008, when many investments saw a 40% loss. […]

Is This Everything You Need To Know About Financial Planning?

Published Saturday, April 13, 2013 - 16:00 by The Simple Dollar

Here’s an interesting article I discovered over at the Vanguard site about the basics of retirement planning. […]

Ten Pieces of Inspiration #121

Published Saturday, April 13, 2013 - 10:00 by The Simple Dollar

Each week, I highlight ten things each week that inspired me to greater financial, personal, and professional success. Hopefully, they will inspire you as well. 1. Seneca on wanting more “It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.” -Seneca If you can keep your cravings under control, success is much easier to find. 2. […]

Do Something A Little Scary Each Day

Published Friday, April 12, 2013 - 16:00 by The Simple Dollar

Have you ever changed the oil in your car? The process is actually pretty easy. You just get an oil pan, climb under your car, unscrew a nut, and let the oil run out in the pan. After a while, you screw the nut back in, then open your hood, unscrew a cover, pour some oil in until it measures at the right level, then replace that cover. […]

Five Little Pieces of Advice That Changed My Life

Published Friday, April 12, 2013 - 10:00 by The Simple Dollar

I’ve received so many great pieces of advice over the years, from family and friends, from great books, and from wise people. Recently, I sat down to make a list of the key pieces of advice that I wanted to make sure to clearly pass along to my children. […]

I’ll Get Around to It Someday

Published Thursday, April 11, 2013 - 16:00 by The Simple Dollar

During the last year or two of my grandmother’s life, I had a very difficult time communicating with her. I would call her every once in a while, but it often felt like she didn’t want to talk to me on the phone. There was a distance there, one that didn’t really exist at any other point in either of our lives. I wanted to go visit her to figure out what was wrong. […]

Reader Mailbag: A Frugal Heat Shield for Our Garden

Published Thursday, April 11, 2013 - 10:00 by The Simple Dollar

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to five word summaries. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question. 1. Handling financial incompatibility and stress 2. Inexpensive but unorthodox wedding 3. Eliminating regular expenses 4. Career paralysis 5. Why smartphone for non-business use? 6. Buying a lifelong home 7. […]

Clearing Away Distraction

Published Wednesday, April 10, 2013 - 16:00 by The Simple Dollar

Every single person reading this article has a bunch of different influences and demands pulling on their lives. Financial plans. Family responsibilities. Friendships. Romantic relationships. Careers. Community responsibilities. Personal interests. Health concerns. Ethical dilemmas. The list goes on and on and on and on. Our days are littered with little distractions. […]