I heard a saying once related to income (but you could apply it in reverse to debt):

“Acquiring money is like digging with a needle, spending it is like pouring water on dry sand.”

Not sure why the funk, just know I’m in a danger zone lately.

Thanks for the mention! And congrats on the e-book!

About young people in NYC scrimping their way through being able to live in the city by living modestly and general frugality… at least, that’s how I read it!

As for investment philosophies, I agree that one can build a diversified portfolio with low-cost index funds, but these wouldn’t be enough for me. Overall I think Lieber’s advice might be a bit simplistic. I don’t much agree with #2 – but definitely with #3.

As for frugal habits, I’ve never had much income anyway so I’m not sure there’s much more I can do. I was denied a bursary once in undergrad because I actually didn’t spend enough money in the first place! How incomprehensible is that:)

I’m not so sure that I agree with all of Lieber’s points (he seems to contradict himself a bit), but I do agree that it should be interesting to see what he comes up with next.

I have a hard time with #4. I guess I’m too much of a control freak. I personally like to write the check to my Roth IRA in January (or whenever I get the full amount) and decide what amount I save each month. I suppose if I had trouble saving or couldn’t write one check for the amount, I’d have it automatically deducted throughout the year.

Unfortunately #5 doesn’t happen enough. I got lucky – my dad was executor of his uncle’s will and the whole estate was one huge mess that consumed 2 years of his life. It promted my mom and dad to get everything in order for my sister and me – power of attorney, living will, etc. Plus they are even cleaning out their house periodically so we won’t have so much crap to deal with. But if we hadn’t experienced problems with my great-uncle’s estate I don’t think my parents would have gotten around to this.