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This reader story comes from long-time reader and commenter Bill McFadin, aka Cybergeezer, who commented that he had submitted a story months ago that never ran. We asked if he would resubmit the article, which he kindly did. Some reader stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failure. These stories feature folks with all levels of financial maturity and income. Want to submit your own reader story? Here’s how.

I have been retired three and a half years, and my current income is more than I was earning on the job before I retired. How? Well …

This story is by staff writer Honey Smith.

The dust has (mostly) settled from our home purchase. As a result, I thought it would be a good time to post an updated version of “the reckoning.” I also thought I’d share our reasoning for moving forward with homeownership at this point in our personal finance journey.

The Reckoning

Please note that I have consolidated some separate accounts of the same type into one category for simplicity’s sake. Additionally, I’ve listed our original reckoning amounts from 2012 to give an idea of the progress we’ve made.

Honey’s Reckoning: Debts and Assets

• Credit cards: $0 (was $4822.38)

This article is by staff writer William Cowie.

Ever hear someone say, “You can’t trust those government statistics”? When they say inflation is 1.6 percent, do you feel they might be fudging the numbers to bamboozle the masses? Many people, even the highly educated, feel there is a government conspiracy to doctor the numbers and make them look better or maybe just make us feel better. Investopedia, one of the more respected sites, has a particularly harsh view of these numbers.

Is that true, though? Is your government “cooking the books,” as it were? Let’s take a look at one of the most quoted, and disputed, sets of statistics people look at — the Consumer Price Index, or CPI.

We get dozens of requests at GetRichSlowly.org every day. They are usually queries such as “Can I guest post to promote my business?” (No.) “Will you share our infographic with your readers?” (No.) Last week we received one that intrigued me. The writer had started a crowd-funding effort to pay off his mortgage and he wanted me to share it with the Get Rich Slowly community. I replied, “Why would anyone want to pay off your mortgage? I’d like other people to pay off my mortgage too. What’s in it for them?” His reply and reasoning made me decide to let him tell his story and make his plea to you.

There have been successful crowd-funding efforts in the past couple of years to help people pay their student loans, their personal credit card debt, medical bills and much, much more.