Home › The Simple Dollar

The Simple Dollar

Simple, applicable personal finance advice for the modern world.

Profile of The Simple Dollar

Latest Posts from The Simple Dollar (page 39)

Personal Finance 101: A Thorough Guide to Price Comparisons while Shopping

Published Friday, December 14, 2018 - 10:00 by The Simple Dollar

Mindy writes in: Is there a simple trick to doing price comparisons at the store? […]

Looking Up the Ladder: A Different Perspective on Spending

Published Thursday, December 13, 2018 - 10:00 by The Simple Dollar

A few years ago, I wrote an article entitled Looking Down the Ladder: A Different Perspective on Spending. The article covered the idea of a spending ladder, and I’m going to quote the explanation of a spending ladder here: One idea that really stuck with me, though, was his idea that one’s preferred level of spending constitutes a rung on a ladder. […]

The Difference Between What You Should Be Doing and What You Are Doing

Published Wednesday, December 12, 2018 - 10:00 by The Simple Dollar

Several times during the course of writing an article, I feel a bit stuck for what I should write next. How exactly do I say what’s on my mind? […]

Saving for College? These Rewards Credit Cards Can Help

Published Wednesday, December 12, 2018 - 08:00 by The Simple Dollar

Whether you’re already a parent or thinking of having children, the rising cost of a college education is cause for concern. Even a public, four-year university now costs $10,230 per year on average, and that price tag doesn’t include room and board. […]

Defining Frugality Through Life’s Other Resources

Published Tuesday, December 11, 2018 - 10:00 by The Simple Dollar

Yesterday, to start off the reader mailbag, I offered up this little riff: When I was younger, the idea of paying for a service to do an ordinary household task for you seemed silly. Why would I ever pay for someone to wash my laundry or do the dishes? […]

Questions About Energy Drinks, Balance Transfers, I-Bonds, and More!

Published Monday, December 10, 2018 - 10:00 by The Simple Dollar

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question. 1. Squeezing Generation X 2. Replacing energy drinks 3. Balance transfer catch 4. Help breaking down a goal 5. I-bonds for emergency fund? 6. Sharing financial specifics with kids 7. Warm blanket recommendations 8. […]

Fed Meeting Preview: How to Take Advantage of Rising Interest Rates

Published Monday, December 10, 2018 - 08:00 by The Simple Dollar

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) holds its last meeting of the year on December 18-19, and the general expectation is that it will raise interest rates by 0.25%. If that happens, it will continue a steady rise over the past three years that has seen interest rates increase from near 0% to the expected new benchmark rate of 2.25% to 2.5%. So, how would such an increase affect your personal […]

Defining Goals for the Coming Year (and Reflecting on the Past Year)

Published Saturday, December 8, 2018 - 10:00 by The Simple Dollar

In the past, I wrote a post in December each year evaluating the successes and failures of the previous year and establishing some goals for the coming year. […]

Who Has the Best Deals on Holiday Lights: Target, Home Depot, or Sam’s Club?

Published Saturday, December 8, 2018 - 08:00 by The Simple Dollar

Holiday shopping wisdom says you should wait until after Christmas to buy Christmas lights, which is 100 percent true if your sole focus is on price. However, as my wife and I discover every year, that’s a great way to limit your selection to nearly nothing. Christmas lights are about the only reason I’ll venture out to stores on Black Friday or Thanksgiving weekend. […]

Keeping Down with the Joneses

Published Friday, December 7, 2018 - 10:00 by The Simple Dollar

Sarah and I live in an area where most of the homes near ours are similar to our own and most of the families near us have a similar level of income and external signs of spending. This isn’t a particularly bad thing, but it’s not a particularly good thing, either. On the one hand, if there’s no one nearby that’s clearly much more affluent than us, there’s not much of a desire to “keep up with the […]