19

Ask the readers : Charitable donations by married couples, How do you handle it?

Everyone has heard that “Men are from Mars and women are from Venus”.  It is true that men and women think differently, act differently and feel differently about any given situation. Even in the household budget, we have different line items for her stuff and his stuff, his hobbies and her hobbies… but I have [...]

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18

Debt Ceiling deal : What does it mean to me?

Unless you have been living under the rock, you would have heard all the back & forth around the debt ceiling crisis. After a few weeks of fierce drama on the political stage, President Obama signed the debt ceiling deal aka Budget Control Act Amendment (the link is to the actual bill which is 74 [...]

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17

F is for Fake … Why we fall for scams?

The Internet is full of tips on scam protection. Yet people continue to fall for scams. Why? If you talk about scams to non-victims they will say that they don’t understand how the victims missed out on the obvious. But is it obvious? There are so many educational campaigns to raise awareness on phishing. Why [...]

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7

Carnival of passive investing – cartoon edition

Welcome to the 8th edition of the Carnival of Passive Investing – the cartoon edition. The Carnival of Passive Investing focuses on articles and research in passive investing strategies. The theme for this month’s Carnival is Cartoons! I have included a few investment related cartoons for your enjoyment. Without further ado, to the carnival – [...]

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30

Learning to give up the rat race

I started this blog a little more than an year ago. For 2 reasons – share information I know and become a better writer. From the feedback I am getting, I have been reasonably successful in both of these goals.  Somewhere alone the line though, I lost focus on these two things…gradually, over time, things [...]

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31

Cost of living in California

When I first moved to California from the East coast, I felt like I have moved to the paradise… miles of beautiful coast line, mountains, national parks, scenic drives, excellent restaurants, a dream come true. Being a penny pincher, slowly the taxes and the cost of living begin to take a toll on me. Now [...]

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24

How to save money on magazine subscriptions

One of my favorite Sunday afternoon activities is to curl up in my favorite recliner with a drink and a magazine. Magazine subscriptions are one of my guilty pleasures, a splurge that stayed in our budget. I subscribe to a number of magazines – Money, Kiplinger’s, Smart Money, Forbes, AAII (American Association of Independent Investors) [...]

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17

Extended warranty – Worth it or not? Why do people buy them?

“Would you like to add an extended warranty to your purchase today?” We get asked this a lot these days. We have to make a decision within 3 seconds to shell out the money and get an extended warranty or take the risk. These extended warranties or as they are called these days “protection plans” [...]

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14

Credit card hardship programs – What, how and more

Nothing beats having an emergency fund for a rainy day. But for a lot of people that realization comes only “after” getting into an emergency. At that time the priority should be getting out of the bad situation without accruing any major debt. With the recent economic down turn and a lot of jobs lost, [...]

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