Budgeting for Summer Vacation

Summer is still months away, but it’s never too early to start planning your next vacation. Most families, especially those with kids, will take their long vacation of the year between the months of June and September. There are exceptions, of course. When I was younger, we took a 2-week ski trip every March or [...]

Worth Reading in February

Here are 9 things that caught my attention over the last few weeks. They are all worth reading: Short and sweet. Kind of like this post on minimalism and money over at Budgets are Sexy. Free Money Finance kicked off March Money Madness this week with the first round of competing posts. The rules are simple: [...]

The Complete Guide to Warehouse Club Shopping

Shopping at warehouse clubs is something that comes up a lot in the personal finance community. Readers pose questions like these often: Are the items actually cheaper? Is the membership cost worth it? What do I buy and what do I avoid? Which is better–Sam’s, Costco, BJ’s or (insert yours here)? I’d like to share [...]

5 New Tax Lessons for 2012

It’s February 1st and while for most Americans, taxes are still a distant thought, my business taxes were filed last weekend and my personal taxes are “in the envelope,” so to speak. I’m not trying to be an A+ student, I simply want my money back. While I strive for the $0 refund every year, [...]

9 Shortcuts for Money Management in Record Time

Time. It’s a universal constant and a universal complaint. We all get the same amount, and most of us treat it as a precious commodity. We also complain about how little of it we have. We read books and blog posts about how to get more time, which really means using the time we already [...]

Frequently Asked Questions About Baby Expenses

We have two plus years of baby care and the expenses that come with it now under our belt. At the same time, a lot of our friends and family are now having babies for the very first time, as are many of you, my dear readers. As a result, I’m constantly encountering questions about [...]

How Safe are Your Plans from Unexpected Expenses?

This post is super-important. If you can embrace the concept of financial readiness, I believe you can achieve any reasonable financial goal that you set. The problem is that we’re lying to ourselves. We design our budgets, set up our goals and live out our financial lives with the expectations that the world is at [...]

Warning: Unemployment May Be Good For You

It was 2006, shortly after graduating college with professional degrees in architecture, and things were looking up for us. Real estate in Florida was reaching its peak, developers couldn’t hire architects fast enough to create new projects, and firms of all sizes were hiring even semi-decent talent. I honestly believed I could find good-paying work [...]

Is Your Money Better Off Single or Married?

Most people don’t consider the financial implications of marriage when they take the plunge. Inherently, this isn’t a good or a bad thing, it’s simply that we have too many other things on our mind when we’re in love and ready to pop (or answer) “the question.” But…as we all know, marriage can have a [...]

Thoughts on 2 Years of Fatherhood

Our son turned two last weekend. Developmentally, this marks a point in his life where we’re starting to see emotion, a sense of  preference and improved communication, otherwise jointly known as the Terrible Twos. People randomly ask me if I’m scared of what’s coming next, as if some impending doom is about to descend over [...]

Mvelopes Re-Design and Free Version Fall Short

I started using Mvelopes to manage my budget in February 2009, less than one month after the launch of this blog. Since then, the software has remained mostly the same in terms of functionality, design, and price. Last week, Finicity launched a new version of the product with the promise of grand improvements. Unfortunately, my long-time [...]

What Do You Have to Lose?

I have a serious problem with contingency planning, even when I don’t mean to. In the back of my mind, I’m always 10 steps ahead of everyone else in terms of thinking of the “what-ifs.” It’s not necessarily a bad thing–I tend to be a very defensive driver, anticipating dumb things people will do well [...]

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