A Tentative Personal Finance Blog

If you save and invest money every month, you will become a millionaire at some point. As Einstein put it, compound interest is the “eighth wonder of the world.” It all depends on how much money you currently have, how much interest that money will earn (the tricky part), and how much you can save […]

You may not have a lot of cash to invest and you probably can’t afford a professional to decide where those dollars should go. With access to a 401(k) for the first time, new hires entering the workforce may be at a loss when it comes to investing. What to do? Fewer […]

Many people focus on the risk of market volatility, the possibility of losing money through market fluctuations. However, they may not give enough attention to inflation risk, the possibility that their investments will not grow sufficiently to stay ahead of rising prices.
Peoples’ exposure to each type of risk should depend upon their time horizon, […]

Many of us are likely to encounter challenges to successful investing. And although individuals respond differently, behavioral economists have identified some common predispositions, ranging from loss aversion to overconfidence, that may influence investors’ financial decisions. Gaining a better understanding of these tendencies can enable investors to base their choices on logic rather than […]

While almost everyone will have unforeseen expenses from time to time, their effects can be mitigated with some upfront planning. By establishing an emergency fund, you can become more financially prepared to deal with the unexpected and won’t have to compromise other goals, such as saving for your retirement.
Typically, an emergency fund should cover […]

At MSN.com, Liz Pulliam Weston recently listed some traits of the wealthy.

They’re more generous toward charities. Households with half a million dollars or more in investment-ready assets donated an average of 6% of their income in 2004, versus 2% for the overall population. (The poor are more generous than average, […]

Growing up I played a lot of 8 bit Nintendo and Sega Genesis. I was a Koopa Trooper extreme and Eldrick of Dragon Warrior was my middle name. Even with all that time spent, I was never much a console video game player. I liked the the multiplayer aspect of it. […]

I remember my first trade like it was just yesterday. I had done research for two months and I had my heart in plunking in money into Dodge & Cox’s International Stock Fund. I was excited. Although I knew that past performance doesn’t guarantee future performance, I had asked the question […]

Four months ago, I decided to take a plunge into the world of investing. So far I’m up almost 7%. If returns continue to come in at the same rate, although I don’t anticipate them to do so, I’d be making a whooping 21% for the year! That would be amazing for […]

A reader at Get Rich Slowly asks:
I refinanced my house a few years ago at a great rate (5-3/8%). At the time, we had a lot of equity in the house so we borrowed against it in order to build an addition.
After we were finished, we had a significant amount of money left over, […]