Posted February 4, 2010 - 06:00 by Philip Brewer
Are you as tired as I am of personal finance sites saying that you've got to have a plan? If you're a planner, it's unnecessary advice, because you've got a plan. If you're not a planner it's pointless advice, because you're not going to make a plan anyway. And that's okay, because just leaving some slack can be as good as making a plan.
Posted January 22, 2010 - 06:00 by Philip Brewer
There are many strategies for frugality: Don't buy stuff you don't need. Stock up when you get a good price. Make smart decisions about when to pay up for quality and when to get the cheap stuff. Then there's what I call ruthless frugality: Always getting the best price.
Posted January 20, 2010 - 06:00 by Philip Brewer
For more than two years now writing at Wise Bread, my whole thesis has been that frugality leads to freedom—if you can live cheaply enough, you can choose whatever work calls you, instead of whatever work pays the most. This book thoughtfully presents the case that my view is not just shortsighted but actually harmful.
Posted January 13, 2010 - 06:00 by Philip Brewer
The frugality blogosphere was buzzing last week with an article by Katherine Hibbert about how she was getting by in London spending just about nothing. People were arguing about whether her lifestyle was really frugal, simple, or sustainable.
Posted January 11, 2010 - 06:00 by Philip Brewer
People who have a natural aversion to debt often wonder how some people get themselves into such terrible problems with debt. Don't they know how much it costs? Don't they understand they can't just go on boosting their standard of living through ever-increasing levels of debt? But that's not really how it happens.
Posted January 7, 2010 - 06:00 by Philip Brewer
This post was prompted by a reader question, but it's an issue that many people face—we see versions of it all the time in the forums. So, I thought I'd walk through what I think is the best way to approach any problem of this sort. It starts with comparing interest rates, but it ends with a comparison to lottery tickets.
Posted December 17, 2009 - 13:16 by Philip Brewer
I have a guest post up on The Simple Dollar that talks about Living Off Capital.
Posted December 14, 2009 - 07:12 by Philip Brewer
Simple living should be about enjoying the good stuff. So, rather than go into a bunch of things you can do to head off possible problems, I'm going to give you just one tool for avoiding bad stuff. Happily, it's a tool so powerful that you just about don't need any others. Then we can get back to putting our focus on living large.
Posted December 9, 2009 - 06:00 by Philip Brewer
Frugality sites are full of advice for cutting your expenses right away. Everybody's got a list of unnecessary expenses, an exhortation not to buy stuff you don't need, and some ideas for how you can get the things you do need more cheaply. Living cheaply for the long term is different. Call it "strategic frugality."
Posted December 2, 2009 - 10:00 by Philip Brewer
I always knew what I wanted to do. What I wanted to do changed over time, and at any particular time I wanted to do more than one thing -- and sometimes I wasn't sure if any particular thing that I wanted to do would turn out to be satisfying or remunerative. But there were always things I wanted to do. It turns out that this is not universal.
Posted November 19, 2009 - 15:08 by Philip Brewer
Your paycheck has probably been bigger this year because the government stimulus package to cut the amount of tax withheld from people who were expected to get the new "Making Work Pay" tax credit. But there's a problem: According to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, more than 15 million taxpayers may unexpectedly end up owing taxes.
Posted November 19, 2009 - 06:00 by Philip Brewer
Given the number of posts at frugality sites on how to make your own cleaning supplies (and the number of reads those posts get), the topic is obviously one of interest to the community. My take is that there's an easier way to save money on cleaning supplies than making your own: Use less.
Posted November 13, 2009 - 08:29 by Philip Brewer
Most people I know have a frustrated passion. There's something they'd rather do a lot more of, but making a living gets in the way. Some people simply accept that their passion will get short shrift, while other people make great efforts to arrange their life so they can follow their passion. For the latter folks, I'm familiar with three general strategies: dream job, day job, and early retirement.
Posted November 11, 2009 - 08:09 by Philip Brewer
During a recession is the worst time to be a temp -- whatever work companies have will go to employees, as a way to avoid having to lay them off. Another bad time is middle of a recovery -- things are going so well that managers figure it's safe to hire new permanent employees. Still, there are two good times to look for temp work, and we're coming up on one of them.
Posted November 10, 2009 - 09:41 by Philip Brewer
Changes in the economy have pushed more and more people into part-time, temporary, and freelance work, as more and more companies cut back on traditional, long-term, full-time employees. Recently the Newshour on PBS had a report by Paul Solman on the problems faced by freelancers in a tough economy -- and pointers to some useful resources.
Posted November 8, 2009 - 06:00 by Philip Brewer
Remember travelers checks? In the days before ubiquitous automated teller machines, they were a useful product. You could use them almost like cash -- but you could carry more than you'd feel safe carrying in cash because if they were lost or stolen you could get them replaced. Well, savings bonds have all those features but one.
Posted November 3, 2009 - 06:00 by Philip Brewer
If you're tracking your spending, you know how much money it takes to live on. If you're tracking your investments, you know about how much return you're getting from your capital. With those two numbers, you can get a pretty good estimate of how much money it takes to buy your way out of the rat race.
Posted October 28, 2009 - 05:00 by Philip Brewer
There are people out there whose livelihoods depend on the fact that most people go every day to some job or another. Business owners, investors, retired folks -- capitalists in general -- pay their expenses with profits that would be threatened if there weren't plenty of workers trading their life for a paycheck.
Posted October 13, 2009 - 05:00 by Philip Brewer
I pay almost no attention to "deals" sites. I scarcely even read the lists of deals here on Wise Bread. There are several reasons, but they pretty much come down to two things: I don't have the time, or the money, to pay attention to deals.
Posted October 6, 2009 - 05:00 by Philip Brewer
There are good reasons to go to college. And, if you do go to college, you will no doubt learn a lot. But you can learn anywhere — and probably learn more, better, and faster if you do so on your own. If you choose to go to college, make sure you know what you're paying for.
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