My Money Blog

How To Never Retire: Cash Out Your 401(k) When Leaving a Job

Posted on April 1, 2014 // 17 Comments

I mentioned Charlie Munger and his principle of inversion in a recent book review. Sometimes the best solution to a problem comes by approaching it backwards. You can learn more about it by reading the transcript from Mungers' 2007 USC Law School … [Read the rest]

Amazon Mom 3-Month Trial + 50% off Diapers

Posted on March 27, 2014 // 2 Comments

Amazon Mom is a program that has some nice perks for parents (open to anyone... mom, dad, grandparent, or caretaker). The main draw is the 20% off diapers & wipes (5% Subscribe & Save discount + 15% Amazon Mom discount) and the fast shipping. If … [Read the rest]

Do We Regret Paying Off Our Mortgage? One Year Update

Posted on March 27, 2014 // 32 Comments

It has been a year since we paid off our mortgage early. I already discussed our reasons for doing so in that post, so I won't repeat them here. I also wrote a really long post on every single facet I could think of in the Pay Off Mortgage Early … [Read the rest]

Mortgage Interest Tax Deduction Doesn’t Help Homeownership?

Posted on March 26, 2014 // 14 Comments

The mortgage interest tax deduction primarily helps the wealthy buy bigger houses rather than increase homeownership rates, according to a new study quoted by this WSJ article. The study found that such tax benefits have help increase the size of … [Read the rest]

The Up Side of Down: A Book About Failure

Posted on March 25, 2014 // 6 Comments

Failure. Or as Megan McArdle puts it - "deep, soul-crushing periods of misery following stupid mistakes that kept me awake until the small hours of the morning in a fog of anxiety and regret." Yup, I've been there. I was afraid that the new … [Read the rest]

The Power of Compound Interest Shown in a Single Chart

Posted on March 23, 2014 // 24 Comments

It's not just how much you save, it's when you save that matters. The best time to start is now. This is the power of compounding returns, which this single chart will help you visualize: Susan (grey) invests $5,000 per year from age 25 … [Read the rest]

American Airlines Free Bonus Miles – Facebook Required

Posted on March 23, 2014 // 4 Comments

American Airlines has a new AAdvantage Passport Challenge where you can earn free bonus miles for various small activities: Play trivia and other games to earn up to 700 miles Share and complete social actions to earn up to 350 miles Take … [Read the rest]

LearnVest 50/30/20 Budgeting Pie Chart

Posted on March 21, 2014 // 11 Comments

LearnVest is (yet another) online financial advisor, but they are more focused on money management and life planning than nitpicking asset allocation details. Founder Alexis Von Tobel's book Financially Fearless is on my (long) reading list, and … [Read the rest]

Barron’s Best Online Broker Rankings 2014

Posted on March 19, 2014 // 2 Comments

Weekly business newspaper Barron's just released their 2014 annual broker survey rankings. Here's a snippet about their criteria (emphasis mine): Our evaluation criteria focus on the needs of wealthy, active traders. We looked at eight categories … [Read the rest]

Can You Ace This 3-Question Financial Literacy Quiz? – Only 1/3 of Americans Surveyed Did

Posted on March 19, 2014 // 17 Comments

There is a lot of policy talk about increasing financial literacy in order to improve people's decision-making. The Conversable Economist blog discusses a paper that digs into this subject, called "The Economic Importance of Financial Literacy" … [Read the rest]

Statistical Proof of Lifestyle Inflation!

Posted on March 16, 2014 // 11 Comments

The idea that as people earn more, they tend to spend more as well has been termed lifestyle inflation. Derek Thompson in this Atlantic article illustrates this concept using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A family led by a high-school … [Read the rest]

Uber Car Service Promotion Codes: Free $$ Ride Credits

Posted on March 13, 2014 //

Update: Get over $100 in additional free ride credit from competing car services here! Uber is a service that allows you to summon a ride via a private car or taxi using just your smartphone. All payment including tip is put on your credit card … [Read the rest]