In the recent GRS reader survey, one common request was to delay the weekly podcast announcement until after the show so that I could provide a brief written summary for those who don’t have the time or the inclination to listen. That means I can’t provide a reminder for people to call in during the show, but it may generate more discussion here on the blog.
A millionaire by 26
This week, Jim and I spent the hour talking with Erica from erica.biz. Erica dropped out of college to start a webhosting company in 2001. She was 20 years old. Seven years later, that business was bringing in $76,000 of revenue every month.
Despite this revenue, Erica nearly ran her business into the ground. She wasn’t paying enough attention to the numbers. The company was losing money and the employees were unhappy. To stay afloat, the business raised its rates. Erica was able to pay off the company’s [...]

Note: Although I try to keep GRS a politics-free zone, today’s topic is inherently political. I’ve stayed as neutral as possible in the article, but I know that there’ll be some political discussion in the comments. Please keep conversation civil, as always.
Because I was frustrated with my own ignorance about the U.S. federal budget and our tax system, I recently spent twelve hours researching a variety of tax topics. From my research came two articles: last week’s short guide to the federal budget and today’s post, which answers some of my personal questions about taxes.
Note: Though I’ve done my best to be accurate, I’m sure there are errors in this post. As they’re caught, I’ll make corrections.

Last week, we tried to take a few small steps toward understanding the federal budget. We looked at where the U.S. government spends its money. But where does it actually find the cash to spend?
Of the $2.333 Trillion dollars [...]

Although I thought July was a great month at GRS, I liked August even better. First, we had some terrific articles from the Staff Writer candidates. While they were sharing their thoughts, I was able to spend time digging deep into some subjects myself. There weren’t a lot of “how-to” posts this month, but we had some excellent discussions.
Speaking of Staff Writers: Please welcome April and Baker aboard as official contributors at Get Rich Slowly. This was a tough choice to make. All of the candidates were great — and I hope that they’ll each contribute guest posts from time-to-time.
April and Baker will each contribute one article per week, which will allow me to free valuable time as I begin to work on my first book. (I “met” my editor on Friday, by the way.) I believe they both have a lot to offer GRS readers, and I’m glad to have them on staff. Rumor [...]

Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for August 2009. (Here are the results for 2008.)
After late July’s blistering heat, August has been relatively cool around Portland. Our fruits and vegetables have been producing excellent crops. Kris is constantly busy in the kitchen, canning and preserving food. We’re eating fresh salsa all the time. And hard as it is to believe, I’m almost sick of blackberries.
Fresh berries in a bowl of cereal == a great breakfast! Photo by Kris.

This is actually the best year we’ve had for blackberries. They started producing at the end of July, and there’s been a non-stop flood ever since. Sometimes — in mid-winter — I think I want to plant more blackberries. But during the month of August, I’m reminded that this is a silly idea.
The blackberries aren’t the only prolific producers this year. Our young plum [...]

Eila dropped a line this week to get advice on how to tackle her debt. She and her husband are trying to turn things around, but they’re overwhelmed by medical bills. They’re hoping GRS readers can offer direction. Eila writes:

How do I prioritize my medical bills? I have about $8000 in medical debt that’s broken up into $300 here, $200 there, $1000 over there, etc. The bills are to different medical centers, doctors and hospitals — and they all want their money today. Some are already on my credit report. One isn’t even willing to work with me on payments. I haven’t even called back because I don’t know where to start.
I’m really trying to make the debt snowball work and stop living paycheck-to-paycheck while building savings ($20/paycheck), but I have questions:

How do I make these payments on 15 medical bills? Can I only send $10/month to each? What if they won’t accept anything less than $50? (Or in one case $120?)

If I were [...]

How many of you consider the effects of compound interest (or “compound returns”, if you prefer) when you make financial decisions? I mention the concept from time-to-time — and I’ve even devoted whole articles to the extraordinary power of compound interest — but I don’t know if others keep the notion in mind when they work with their finances.
When I was younger, when I was struggling with money, I only had a fuzzy notion of how compound interest worked. Well, I knew how it worked, but it seemed abstract, as if it had no relevance to my own life.
Now, though, I often keep compounding in mind when I make financial decisions. As I make choices, I actually visualize little graphs in my head. (I’m a geek, what can I say?)
I was rummaging around Money Rates yesterday while researching my post on how to find the best bank accounts. During the process, I found an interesting [...]