Taking a Deeper Look at Wants Versus Needs

I believe that many of the personal finance problems that people face are due to a confusion between wants and needs.

Retirement savings for the self-employed

A number of people have asked me how I’m saving for retirement now that I’m self-employed, and several more asked yesterday when I mentioned that I was signing up for a SEP-IRA. In order to clarify everything, here’s exactly how I’m saving for retirement as a self-employed writer.

How Little Moves Now Can Create Huge Effects Later

I often write about how a person can save a few dollars here and a few dollars there by making a few little changes in their life. For some of my readers, this seems pointless, and they’re quite happy to tell me so. “Why bother saving $3?” they’ll ask.

Saving Money Versus Saving the World

A reader wrote in the following question: How should we balance frugality with social/environmental responsibility?

The First Money Talk: A Conversation Every Couple Needs to Have

At some point, as a relationship grows and becomes more serious between two people, questions begin to arise about long-term plans, particularly as it begins to become clear that at least a significant portion of two lives are going to overlap and become one.

Is Investing in Individual Stocks Merely Gambling - Or Something More?

Investing in individual stocks is basically gambling pretty much sums up the way I've felt since I tried investing in stocks. But is that the right lesson to take away from the experience?

The Credit Card Holy Wars

One of the most frequent negative comments I get on The Simple Dollar relates to credit card usage.

The Why and How of a Household Inventory

The household inventory is one of those “once in a great while” tasks that’s easy to overlook and forget about, but it’s not very hard and it can pay huge dividends if something goes wrong with your living quarters.

Chipping away at the Paycheck to Paycheck Routine

Here are some tips that I would suggest for breaking out of the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck:

Another way to view the market downturn

A lot of people see this as a reason not to buy stocks or sell them. Let’s look at it another way.

Six Ways to Break Free of the “Purge and Splurge” Cycle

Just this morning, I was leafing through my favorite personal finance book of all, Your Money or Your Life, when I came across the idea of the "purge and splurge" cycle.

The $100 Question - And What It Means

If you found a $100 bill floating around, what would you do with it? It’s a question I’ve been asking a lot of people lately, and the answers seem to fall into two general groups. According to my notes, I asked thirty one people that very question, and here’s how they fell out.

The One Month Money Challenge

When I reached my financial rock bottom and decided to change things, I realized it wouldn’t be easy to immediately change my habits, so I took a “one month challenge” to see what exactly was going on with my money.