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Control Your Personal Economy


If you’ve watched much TV lately or listened to the radio, you’ve probably heard some of Fidelity’s new ads that say, “Let us help you take control over your personal economy.” Their website explains, “Your Personal Economy includes the things you care about — your kids, your family, your retirement, your career. We can help [...]

Barrel of Monkeys or Barrel of Money?


We all remember fondly the games we played when we were children. There is a simple game that kept me entertained when I was young. It was called Barrel of Monkeys. My Barrel of Monkeys came in a bright yellow plastic barrel with twelve monkeys inside. The monkeys’ arms were sort of S curved and [...]

The Student Loan Myth


For the past generation or so, lenders and financial gurus have been promoting the myth that all student loan debt should be considered Good Debt. Student loan debt is said to be good because it is debt accrued in the pursuit of an education, which is an asset that will (ideally) product more money. The [...]

A Life Without Debt: Think Before Marrying Debt


I married a man just like me. He had no debt going into our marriage and no desire to incur any. This has made it very easy for us to create a financial life together that we both agree on and enjoy. I know many other couples who are not so lucky and this has [...]

A Life Without Debt: I’ll Never Be Debt Free


Many times I hear people say, “It’s great that you’re debt free, but I’ll never be able to do that. I’ll always have a some kind of debt,” and then they elaborate on why they can never be without a car payment, mortgage, credit card balance, etc. “It’s just the way things, are,” they’ll finally [...]

Going Into Debt to Have Kids


By Maggie Ellis It is widely taught in financial education that there are only two kinds of debt that can be considered “good debt”: A mortgage and student loans (as long as they aren’t beyond your ability to repay comfortably). We’re always taught that it’s okay to go into debt to buy a house or [...]

A Life Without Debt: Building Wealth


If you are at all interested in finance, you’ve probably heard that it is necessary to be debt free in order to build substantial wealth. While a few gifted investors manage to build wealth while having a lot of real estate debt (think Trump) or debt that finances a business venture (think the people who [...]