This is a guest entry from Israel Lopez.
This weekend I visited a friend at San Francisco State University. On Saturday, my friend and I had lunch downtown. At about 2pm, we parked my car about 1-1/2 blocks from the restaurant. We had some good sushi. We were gone from the car for maybe an hour. [...]

It’s Halloween — time for a scary, morbid subject.
Young adults don’t think about wills. The typical person graduates from college, gets a job, marries his sweetheart, has children, and never considers a will until he turns fifty. But not everyone lives to be fifty. You can’t always see death coming. A will is for anyone [...]

Wisdom From Wenchypoo: Scam-Proof Yourself to Eliminate Risk
Smart people can still be the victims of scams. In fact, often smart people are most easily scammed because they have too much confidence in their ability to not be scammed.
(tags: scams phishing identitytheft)

Study: Saving for retirement loses ground to debt, living expenses - USATODAY.com
(tags: retirement planning debt [...]

And now for something completely different…
JLP posted a fun question at All Things Financial: “Is there an opening paragraph or two of a particular book that stands out to you?” JLP cites the intro to M. Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled as his favorite:

Life is difficult.
This is a great truth, one of the [...]

Yet another reason to practice sound personal finance, and to save an emergency fund:
When I went out to start my car this morning, the ignition switch would not move. It was frozen. No amount of pounding, jiggling, or fussing could get it to work. I called a locksmith. “Yeah, this is a common problem with [...]

Somewhere between workaday jobs and entrepreneurship lies the murky world of freelancing. The idea of striking out alone appeals to many people. But where does one start? Phil Gyford has created a beginner’s guide to freelancing.
It’s been over a year since I first thought of writing down everything I’ve learned about freelancing. I’ve now been [...]

Fame and Fortune: Steve Wozniak: Apple founder is still gadget mad - Sunday Times - Times Online
You know I love The Woz. (I wrote about him earlier in the month.) Here’s an interview with him about money. Atypical, but interesting. [via GRS-reader Russell]
(tags: wealth interviews apple woz)

Are credit cards evil by nature? | Science Blog
(tags: [...]

My wife and I don’t have children, but many of our friends do. It’s fun to watch them grow. Most of these children are in school now, and beginning to develop an understanding of money.
For example, my young friends Harrison and Antonio are excited about entering a particular model-building contest. (For K’NEX, maybe?) The prize [...]

What Use Is Personal Finance Advice If You’re Making Minimum Wage?
Great entry that links to other discussions on the subject. This is a tough question to answer.
(tags: minimumwage goals career work)

The New Yorker: Millions for Millions
“This year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner and some high-tech entrepreneurs are competing to provide credit to the world’s poor.”
(tags: economics)

The [...]

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of AskMetafilter. Many AskMe users post money questions, such as this recent batch:
Total beginner to investing and finance, researching how to start investing maybe $2K each year, mostly in socially responsible mutual funds — and how a young, healthy person should balance retirement investment with other kinds [...]