Philip Brewer's blog

Poem on opting out

A while back I wrote a piece on Opting out of the money economy, a topic I've long been interested in. Because of that long inte

How to Become an Expert

This article is not about how to fake being an expert, so it's not some quick, easy thing you can do and then be way better at something tomorrow. It's about actually becoming

The two-mile challenge

Bicycling for transportation is something that's important to me, so I was immediately attracted to the

Finding joy in temporary frugality

If you read frugality and simplicity blogs for any length of time, you'll run into a lot of people who take great joy in having simplified their lives. Gradually simplifying y

Book review: Retire on Less Than You Think

Halfway through Fred Brock's book Retire on Less Than You Think: The New York Times Guide to Planning Your Financial Future, I was already drafting a review that would

Creating an artificial windfall generator

Everybody enjoys getting a windfall. One of the attractions of the lottery (besides the infinitesimal chance that you might win a life-changingly huge amount) is that the smaller

Huge Tax-Free Investment Returns

The fact is, you can pretty easily get 30% or more on investments that are not only very safe but come with built-in inflation protection. But don't get too excited.

It's all your money

Sometimes you get a windfall--a bonus, an award or reward, a gift, a long-forgotten loan unexpectedly repaid. When that happens to you, do you use the money to make a special purc

How to Make Moonshine

Making moonshine is especially easy because running it through a still makes all the delicate balancing of flavors that mark a great beer or wine irrelevant.

The sinking dollar

It takes more than $1.40 to buy one euro today. It cost less than $1 as recently as late 2002. A Canadian dollar is worth just about exactly a US dollar--a parity not seen since

How the subprime lending boom hurt everybody

Among the Wise Bread community, I get the sense that there's a kind of "pox on both their houses" attitude to the problems in the subprime mortgage markets. People who worked thro

How to Spot Counterfeit Money

Have you ever gotten a bill where something seemed a little off? Ever wished you could quickly check to see if it was good? Well, here's how.

New $5 bill unveiled

The US Treasury today unveiled a new $5 bill, with security features intended to make it harder to bleach out a $5 and use the paper to counterfeit a $100 bill.

Carry some cash

I recommend carrying some actual cash money. When I do that, a lot of people say, "Why? Everyplace I go takes credit and debit cards." In fact, I know people who brag about spen

Pre-career advice

If you've got a living situation like most high school and many college students, where you'll continue to have a roof over your head and food to eat even if you don't

Save time, money, energy, and eat great

Depending on how old you are, your mother or grandmother probably had one of these: a pressure cooker. (She probably also had a story of one exploding, which may be why they're n

Our high, high standard of living

In the 1950s and 1960s, a working man could support a family at a middle-class standard of living with just one income. It might surprise you to learn that one person working full

Book review: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need

Andrew Tobias' The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need is the perfect book for every Wise Bread reader.

How to be happy

A lot of happiness (and unhappiness) comes from within. But there are other things that matter a lot: relationships, doing important work, living your life according to your valu

Renting is cheaper

Everybody has seen a rent-versus-buy analysis. Here's a different way to look at it.