From the category archives:

Personal Finance

With Rates This Low, Should You be Borrowing to Invest?

I read a rather controversial article recently in the Wall Street Journal aptly entitled “Leverage Baby!” outlining the case for taking on debt to invest it at a higher rate. The main premise of the article was that now may be an optimal time to actually take out loans at extremely low interest rates, use [...]

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Extra Income vs. Saving Money – Have You Considered Everything?

I’m sometimes confronted with various options for either making additional money or saving money by doing something myself, and I then need to reconcile that with my available time. Add to that mix the financial benefits net of expenses and taxes and before you know it, it’s become a little more involved than just gross [...]

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Harvesting Our Own Food for Health, Fun and Savings

This weekend, the family went strawberry picking at a local organic farm. We also started a small garden last week at home. While eating organic, local farming, home gardening, sustainable foot, etc. seem like trendy fads these days, we’ve been giving these ideas a try and we like the experience and the results. How to [...]

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The Cost of Revenge is Staggering: A Tale of Divorce and Financial Ruin

Sometimes I’m amazed by what people do to each other – and their children. What started off as a somewhat typical occurrence in American culture (sadly) resulted in the complete ruination of a family’s future due to poor choices and impulsive behavior. I bumped in to an old friend of mine the other day and [...]

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Is it a Gold Bubble When You can Cash in Gold at Sears and KMart?

If last week’s story on how you could now extract gold coins from an ATM in Dubai didn’t hint at a gold bubble, and tonight’s rant by Jim Cramer about 6 reasons to buy gold (now, that’s a timely call 2 years into the run!) how about when cash-for-gold stands start popping up in big-box [...]

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The Common Thread Between the Housing Collapse, the Euro Crisis and Millions of Americans – Debt

It’s amazing when you think of it. Virtually every major financial crisis of late has involved some sort of issue with debt. And there are millions of financial crises brewing in American households too: The US housing market collapsed precipitously. No, not because Goldman Sachs sold a complex derivative to European clients which is garnering [...]

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Is Putting in a Swimming Pool Worth It?

It’s that time of year again where the weather’s getting nice and the pool parties are starting. We just went to our first one of the year and as always, my wife says, “Boy the kids would love a pool. We have the room. Would it be crazy if we did a pool?” In years [...]

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The Hidden Cost of Staying Home with the Kids

Whether or not to stay home instead of working often comes down to money. Often times it doesn’t, and mom would really just rather be working, but for many families, mom would love to stay home but the numbers don’t work for varying reasons and they go back to work after maternity leave is up. [...]

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My Effective Tax Rate is Under 5% – That’s Just Wrong

So, my accountant finally wrapped up my various tax documents and for the prominent Federal Tax Return, I was surprised once again to see just how low my Effective Tax Rate is – under 5%. That’s my net tax rate after all deductions, credits, etc. Not that I’m complaining, but the tax system is so [...]

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