I have a friend who enjoys horse racing. Well, to be precise, I have a friend who enjoys betting on horse races. When we go to Las Vegas, we like to spend an afternoon at a sportsbook. We pool our money and he picks a few races. On any typical trip, we sit down with […]
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Should You Be Using a Robo-Advisor?
In 2010, I found myself attending the Finovate Fall event in New York City. Even though I’d been a personal finance blogger for over five years, I hadn’t heard of so many of the companies presenting. I took a lot of meetings those couple days including one with a young guy planning on changing the […]
Credit One Bank Card Reviews: Credit Cards for Credit Score Builders
Credit One Bank (that’s Credit One, not to be confused with Capital One) is a bank dedicated to providing credit cards for those looking to either establish or rebuild their credit. It has grown to become one of America’s leading credit card providers, with more than 7 million credit card holders nationwide. Credit One Bank […]
6 Best Banks to Refinance and Consolidate Student Loans in 2018
In college, I was required to live in campus housing for my entire Freshman year. At Carnegie Mellon, that meant Donner Hall. We were in the basement floor, affectionately called the Donner Dungeon. For what it’s worth, I really enjoyed my time in the dungeon. I became lifelong friends with many of the guys on […]
Tiller Money Review: 10X Your Spreadsheets with Automation
There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who love spreadsheets and, Weirdos. I jest. But only a little bit. đŸ™‚ I’ve been tracking our net worth for many years using an Excel spreadsheet. It started as a “budget bible,” a name and template borrowed my friend Melinda, but soon evolved to only […]
7 Lessons I Learned About Money & Life from Chess
When I was younger, I remembering playing chess with my dad and always losing. I didn’t play a lot and I was never more than a casual player. Starting around Thanksgiving of last year, I started playing online a little bit more. I’m somewhere around a 1200 on Chess.com (15/10 time controls), which puts me […]
A parent’s guide to deciphering college financial aid letters
A new study found 40 percent of college financial aid letters can be inaccurate and misleading — so much so that students and families wind up spending much more cash on college costs than they planned to. The data comes from New America and uAspire, a nonprofit leader in college affordability, which examined over 11,000 […]
21 Apps to Help Sell Your Junk & Stuff Online
There’s a shelf in my basement stacked with things I know I will never use but are too valuable to throw away or recycle. Or at least I think they’re too valuable too throw away or recycle. It’s things like old electronics, old cell phones, DVDs, books, and other odds and ends that are valuable […]
Free Coin Counting: How to Beat Coinstar’s Crazy 11.9% Fee
When I’m buying something, I tend to use a credit card. It’s easier to keep track of expenses when you put it on a card and it’s often faster too. But there are those times when cash is preferable. I try to use cash at smaller stores, to give them a break on the merchant […]
10 Ways to Make the Most of the @FinCon Conference
When I first started blogging, I didn’t go to conferences because I had a full-time job. After I quit to blog full-time, I started going to all kinds of conferences. I went to massive internet marketing conferences like Pubcon and Affiliate Summit, I went to smaller fintech conferences like Finovate, and I even went to […]
12 Side Hustles Perfect for Teachers to Earn Extra Money
My sister is a high school teacher in South Boston. For many years, before having children, she would spend a month or so teaching in England with a summer program. It was part vacation, part side hustle, but 100% trip to England. It’s never bad to keep your skills sharp while getting a mini-vacation in […]