Trick or treat! Thanks, everyone, for a great October. As usual, there were some excellent discussions. I was also pleased to be able to give away over $600 in prizes to celebrate Get Rich Slowly’s 18-month anniversary. My Real Life took precedence this month, though I did my best to maintain quality around here. This [...]

It’s that spooky haunted time of year — my annual post about estate planning! Last year I shared a brief guide to creating a will. Today I’m going to look at a recent New York Times article by Christine Larson that provides an overview of will preparation software.
Larson writes, “Recently, the increasing sophistication of [...]

This morning’s discussion about credit cards and emergency funds was interesting. Many commenters noted that if you have a history of using credit responsibly, a credit card can actually make an acceptable buffer in case of the unforeseen.
JenK made an analogy I like: “Credit cards, like knives, are not risky in and of themselves. [...]

Sometimes I wonder: Have I always had personal finance conversations all the time? I don’t often initiate them, but money seems to be a constant topic, even when people are unaware that I write about it every day.
Just this morning, for example, I met with a fellow who needs some boxes to ship his woodworking [...]

Valerie writes: “Someone in our family recently suggested that compact fluourescents weren’t worth it due to their high initial cost compared to incandescent light bulbs. We’ve switched all our lights to CFL, so my husband looked into the actual costs. I thought you might like the results” In this guest post, she lays out [...]

Here’s a roundup of recent articles from around the Money Blog Network (and beyond).
Ramit at I Will Teach You to Be Rich has the post of the week, writing about an annoying e-mail he got. One of his readers wrote:
This is nothing personal against you, because every personal finance author I’ve read says the same [...]

Here’s the longest “money hack” I’ve ever posted. This is another reader comment from our recent discussion about the transition from “becoming debt-free” to “living debt-free”. In this guest-post from James, who is new to GRS, he describes how he created a “virtual employer” in order to limit his natural spending habits. By playing games [...]

Earlier this month, Julie warned us that Macy’s had flipped her store card and sold her data to Citibank. I recently experienced something similar.
A few months ago, I received some “advance checks” in the mail from Bank of America. You know the ones — the kind of checks your credit card uses to entice you [...]

Earlier today, Justin asked for feedback about whether he should buy a condo or continue to save for his retirement. GRS reader Andrew forwarded a tool that may help Justin make his decision.
HouseMath 2.0 is a web-based app designed to help users explore the costs of purchasing a new home. You enter the numbers for [...]

The toughest personal finance choices are those where your heart wrestles with your mind. Justin wrote because he’s found a great place to live, but it’s just on the edge of what he can afford. He wants help deciding what to do:

I’ve been renting for the past two years (and several years before that in [...]