This guest post from Amanda is part of a new feature here at Get Rich Slowly. Every Sunday will include a reader story (in the new “reader stories” category). Some will be general “how I did X” stories, and others will be examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success.
In May of 2008, I graduated with my MBA from a great school. I went straight from my undergraduate career into an MBA program, so despite numerous internships, I didn’t have a great deal of work experience, nor did I have a nest egg of any kind. Luckily, what I did have was a CPA for a mother who taught me the value of saving a buck when I was very young.
I also was able to go to school on a partial scholarship and applied for numerous others while in the program. With all this said, I went to four years of college and two years of [...]

It’s been a l-o-n-g time since Kris and I gave an update on our garden project. I’ve been too wrapped up in writing a book to pay attention to anything else. Now that I’ve pulled my head out of the sand, I can finally devote some time to other projects — like the garden.
To be honest, we’ve done nearly nothing in the yard since October. Literally. We haven’t found time to cut back the grapes, prune the fruit trees, or train the berry vines. I’m not sure that Kris even plans to place a seed order, although the seed catalogs have been pouring in.
Correction: Kris tells me that she has been working in the flower gardens; I’ve just been too buried in my book to notice it. And the reason she’s not placing a seed order is that she doesn’t need to. Like a good frugalista, she’s decided that, for the most part, she [...]

Sometimes I get questions that are out of my league. In the past, I’ve just sort of ignored these, but I’d like to try to answer more of them. To do this, I’m going to start asking for tips from some of the experts I’ve met through GRS.
For example, my good friend Mac from Get Fit Slowly (where I may eventually write again some day), came to me this week with a question about credit cards. In fact, it’s a question I get surprisingly often: He wants to know how to find the best credit card for his needs. To find out, I tapped a couple of the experts in my professional network.
First, let’s look at Mac’s situation:

My wife and I are long-time users of the Alaska Airlines Platinum Credit Card. We use this card to earn frequent-flier miles, and since we primarily fly up and down the West Coast to visit family with [...]

This post is from GRS staff writer April Dykman.
Social psychologists have found that people tend to choose their significant other based on similarities—similar attitudes, values, and even similar names.
Those findings would seem to suggest that people with similar spending habits would be attracted to each other, too. But a working paper published last year found the opposite to be true. In “Fatal (Fiscal) Attraction,” Rick, Small, and Finkel, professors of the Wharton School of Finance and Northwestern University, found that while most singles say that their ideal mate would have similar spending habits, when it comes to feelings toward spending, opposites attract.
The spendthrift-tightwad spectrum
Rick, Small, and Finkel used a survey to establish where study participants fell on a spendthrift-tightwad spectrum. According to the paper, each of us feel a degree of “pain of paying.” Spendthrifts feel too little pain, causing them to spend more than they ideally would want. Tightwads experience too much pain, causing [...]

Writing Your Money: The Missing Manual has been intense. I’ve spent a ton of time researching personal finance topics ranging from buying a car to funding a 401(k) to the relationship between money and happiness. My research has reinforced some of my convictions (index funds are the best investment for 99% of personal investors, for instance) but has toppled others. One of my beliefs that’s been set on its head is that Americans are better off buying their own homes. I don’t believe that’s necessarily the case anymore.
Advantages to renting
In 2007, Tim Ellis shared a guest post with GRS readers about the realities of home ownership. “It’s a real shame when people are driven to get into the housing market because of misplaced notions of imagined financial benefits,” Ellis wrote at the time. I didn’t pay much attention (because I was in London!), but I now believe he’s right. Yes, homeownership makes sense for some [...]

This is a guest post from Sierra Black, a long-time GRS reader and the author of ChildWild, a blog where she writes about frugality, sustainable living, and getting her kids to eat kale.
Talking about money is one of the great taboos of our culture. I know more about my friends’ sex lives than I do about their bank statements. Many of us find it hard to discuss finances under the best circumstances. When we’re stressed about money, we tend to clam up even more.
If you’re married (or living with a partner), you don’t have that luxury. Financial success is not a private affair. You need to talk to your spouse or partner about your money. This is vital for both the health of your relationship and the health of your bank balance.
You don’t have to take my word for this. This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lou Scatigna, a.k.a. The Financial Physician. An [...]