Personal Finance Advice

NOTE: It appears that while the process described in this article originally worked, Fidelity has closed the loophole and you now need the minimums you described to open the account. Most people have the impression that in order to open a retirement account, you need to do a lot of research, have a large sum [...]

There is rarely a single answer in personal finances that fits for everyone. Due to this, issues that you always assumed were easy to answer may be more difficult that your thought. That is a question I received from a woman wanting to know whether or not purchasing a house was the right move for [...]

When it comes to where to invest your money, a lot of people get overwhelmed with all the options that are available. A lot depends on your individual circumstances and what the money is to be used for in the future. The following reader had such a question: My dilemma is a simple one: I [...]

Something has been bugging me about IRAs lately. Most of the time I read an article or discussion about Traditional IRAs, as opposed to ROTH IRAs, I see that it is a pretty common assumption that income tax rates will be lower when one retires. Every time I see any mention of tax rates most [...]

When it’s time to leave a job you have more than the loss of income to think about in regard to your personal finances. You also need decide what you will do with the accumulated money in retirement plans at the company. That is a question that this reader has: My wife will be retiring [...]

I keep reading general financial advice and disagreeing as it applies to me. Obviously, every one has a unique financial situation. Overall, it is better to get financial advice tailored toward your own situation. But over and over I notice that financial advice does not really apply to my case simply because I am young. [...]

Since I live in an area of the country where housing prices are higher than what I can afford, I was considering buying property in a very affordable state where I used to live and renting the property out. That city has a lot of available duplexes and quadraplexes, so I decided to read up [...]

Just when you think the tax code couldn’t get more complicated, we approach 2010, when a multitude of taxes are waived and taxpayers are given large breaks (e.g. estate taxes repealed in 2010). There is one newer tax provision, however, that I have not heard discussed much at all is very lucrative for middle income [...]

When you make financial decisions, there are times when you’d like to have others take a look at the decisions you have made and give their honest opinion on whether or not they think you’re on the right track. That is exactly what the writer of this email was looking for: I earn approximately $77k [...]

In order to justify expensive purchases, many people, including plenty of otherwise very intelligent folks, like to refer to certain types of spending sprees as “investments.” Luckily for me, from the time I was about four years old, my father took any opportunity he could to tell me that anything that loses value after you [...]

Hanging around the frugal online personal finance communities I see the general advice to buy the cheapest house you can afford. I disagree with this pretty heavily. We moved to a lower cost of living area in our early 20s because it was frankly the only way we could have the lifestyle we wanted to [...]

Donating appreciated stock to charity is a very common tax tool for the wealthy. When you donate stock that you have held for more than a year (through direct transfer of the stock to the charity) you get a tax deduction for the fair market value of the stock, on the date of donation. In [...]

A lot of problems with finances are the direct result of being financially lazy. That is, you know what you should be doing, but you’re just too lazy (or have a convenient excuse) not to do it. And while life is certainly not about making sure every detail of your finances is perfect 24 / [...]

There has been some discussion and I have received a couple of emails pertaining to the question of how good of an investment the forever stamp will be when it arrives. My answer: Lousy. While on first appearances purchasing forever stamps and holding onto them may seem like a good investment, the reality is there [...]

It always amazes me that people want to invest their money in stocks when they are carrying credit card debt with double digit interest rates. Except for a few people that credit card arbitrage, almost everyone is better of investing their money into paying off their credit card debt than trying to invest somewhere else. [...]

When people decide that they want to leave the corporate rat race and build their own business, they will often be faced with the choice of whether to purchase a franchise business rather than start from scratch. Franchises offer many attractive attributes including a business model that is already proven to work and much of [...]

If you are looking for ways to begin, improve and / or confirm your investing knowledge, you don’t have to pay a lot (or any in this case) money to do so. Morningstar offers 172 free investing classes broken down into 4 areas: stocks, funds, bonds and portfolio. An added bonus is you can earn [...]

You don’t see them very often these days (I remember getting them as gifts from my parents when I was young – just to date me), but at one time you actually received a certificate when you purchased stock (shares are now typically held for investors in “street name” at their stock brokerage firm) to [...]

The old adage that the higher returns you receive when investing, the higher the risk is one that everyone should pay close attention to, but when it comes to investing, how do you know what your risk tolerance is? Here are five quizzes to help you determine your risk tolerance: How Much Risk Can You [...]

Here’s the question I get asked most often when people learn that I write this blog: “So how can I become rich?” Here’s the answer: “Do what you already know.” That’s the secret. Your already know everything you need to know to be rich. The problem is, even though you know, you probably aren’t going [...]