Articles on Personal Finance

Your 401(k) is not an investment

Your 401(k) is not an investment. Neither is your IRA. Those are legal compartments for holding investments. [more]

What's Faster for Mortgage Payoff: $100/Month Extra or 1 Payment/Year Extra?

Is it better to pay $100 per month extra on your mortgage or make an extra payment at the end of each year? It depends on your loan balance and interest rate.

Laws the Leg-Breakers Don’t Want You to Know About

Gone are the days when debt collectors only hassled the lazy, financially inept, or the completely downtrodden and hopelessly unlucky. [more]

Lovely Links from All Over the Web

Just when you thought we couldn’t get anymore love from other blogs, Wisebread is thrilled to be mentioned by some very kind folks from around the web. [more]

Credit squeeze (formerly know as a panic)

There used to be a particular financial event called a panic. [more]

Jettison the Junk: Why Clutter Clouds Your Mind and Saps Your Energy

A life cluttered with junk not only takes up space — it can take your energy, too.

High tech for mass transit

The local bus company where I live has started providing a bunch of high-tech aids to riders. The coolest one is sophisticated trip planning. [more]

Personal Financial Advisors awaiting your call

Financial advice is everywhere (even here at www.wisebread.com) from the bank teller to a wealth manager who wants to dispense planning advice, manage your investment portfolio, an

Opting out of the money economy

It's a quirk of mine that I've always found the idea of opting out of the money economy to be interesting.

My car payments are too much! What should I do?

Last August, I decided to purchase my first new car ever. I had only ever owned used (and entirely paid-for) vehicles prior to this. I researched the type of car that I wanted and

Plan for expensive fuel

Does your budget include a contingency for fuel to get much more expensive? Because it ought to. I learned about the need for contingencies early. [more]

Book review: Your Money or Your Life

This book is one of the classics of modern frugality, and it's been a source of some controversy. At the bottom, though, its message is a simple one: Pay attention. Pay attention t

Start with recurring monthly expenses

I tend to divide spending up into four categories. [more]

Stopping the Student-Loan Debt Stress

Is your student-loan debt causing stress, influencing you to make financial decisions that are not necessarily in your best long-term interests, and delaying your entry into what your parents [more]

Best investment: yourself

I read a lot of investment books. [more]

Broken down? Turn your pencil into a flashlight.

If there's one thing I know about travel, it's be prepared. But it's sometimes easier said than done. We all know we should carry emergency supplies in the trunk of the car, and one of those essentials is a flashlight. [more]

Are You Ready for Home Ownership?

My husband and I just moved to the Great Northwest, and we batted around the idea of purchasing our first home. [more]

Stock Investing Online: ShareBuilder vs. Discount Brokerage

Are you eager to get started in stock-market investing but want to take it slow and easy at first? [more]

Did Office Max hire an accountant with an I.Q. of 62?

I think I may be losing my grip on reality. Recently I received four coupons in the mail from my local Office Max. Two coupons were for $10 off a purchase of $10. [more]

Why Treasury Bills Are Always a Worthwhile Investment

When rates are rising, you need something that responds quickly to changes in the market. That's where Treasury bills come in.