As you’ll read tomorrow (or Monday), I’ve entered a new phase in my life. After years of hard work and long hours building this blog (time that I’ve enjoyed), I’ve been shifting things around so that I have more free time. As a result, I’m going to have more time to devote to creating quality blog posts, instead of rushing around at the last minute looking for something to write about.
Because of this, it’s time yet again to take requests. I do this about once a year, and it’s a great way to get a feel for what GRS readers are interested in. I’d be grateful if you’d take the time to leave a comment below with topic suggestions or article requests. It doesn’t matter if we’ve covered the subject in the past. If you’d like me (or one of the other GRS staff) to write about it, let me know.
Have there been too many articles about credit cards? Too few articles about credit cards? Would you like to know more about individual savings accounts? Do you like the articles about the psychology of spending? Would it be helpful to have somebody come in to explain insurance concepts in plain English? Should I try to persuade my wife to share more of her recipes now and then? Let me know what you’d like to read about!
While you’re all providing feedback about the site, here are a few recent articles of note:
Over at The Simple Dollar, Trent and his readers had a thoughtful discussion about the obligations of wealth. “I think there is some inherent distrust of the rich in the mainstream of American society,” Trent writes as he describes how a wealthy person can keep from alienating his friends. There’s so much to say about this topic; I’m tempted to write an entire article about it.
GRS reader Steven writes a blog called Hundred Goals, which is about achieving your goals while managing your finances. After Sierra’s post this morning about travel, he dropped me a line to let me know that he has a recent article about how to have a great vacation.
Speaking of vacation, my pal Jason over at No Credit Needed spent time compiling day-use fees and free days for state parks across the United States. Handy page to bookmark!
And here’s more travel! At The Art of Non-Conformity, my good friend Chris Guillebeau has posted a beginner’s guide to travel hacking. I’ve been asking him to share this info for a long time; now I’ve got to take responsibility to use the knowledge he’s shared.
Finally, I’ve been giving a lot of interviews lately. I’m much more comfortable with these than I used to be. (They used to scare me to death!) Some examples:
- Colleen from The Frisky interviewed me about how to save money even when you’re living paycheck to paycheck. This is a tough quandary, something I’m asked about a lot.
- In an interview with BeFrugal, I discuss frugality, happiness, and conscious spending. (Note: “the ballot” should be “the balance” — I must have mumbled.)
- Jeff Rose at Good Financial Cents also interviewed me. This interview is very much about the process of writing a book, which may or may not interest you.
- I also spoke with Beverly Harzog from Card Ratings. We chatted about credit cards, of course, but also about other aspects of personal finance.
- Finally, USA Weekend has a short piece on how to give your 401(k) a midyear check, for which author Richard Eisenberg interviewed me back in May. This is a perfect example of how much work goes into even a small newspaper article. Eisenberg spent 20-30 minutes on the phone with me, and I’m sure he did the same with the other folks he quotes. Plus, I’ll bet he spent a lot of time writing. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were 4-6 hours in this small piece.
Okay, one last thing before I go. Tim pointed me to a two-year-old New York Times series about the debt trap, which includes an interactive infographic showing average household debt loads over the past century.
That’s enough links for today. Please do leave a comment with topic requests or other feedback. Meanwhile, it’s time for me to go do some yardwork…
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This is by far my favorite personal-finance blog. I come here for two main reasons: the wide variety of topics that go beyond frugality, and the comments.
I would love to see more posts on the psychology of money, choices/priorities, advanced topics, and posts that lead to rich discussions in the comments. BTW I also love the reader stories! I look forward to them every Sunday.
I love that this blog is relevant to high earners who are trying to make the most of what they have. I appreciate posts about living well with less, but not about full-on frugality. If I wanted to focus on that I would be reading a different blog.
I also have to agree with comment #20 that some of the posts by the regular contributors are not very innovative or new; they seem like “Personal Finance 101.” I end up skipping them.
Thanks for all your work on this great blog, and for taking time to ask for feedback!
BTW, have you considered adding a tag cloud? You could use it to better target your archived posts to specific needs or demographics. There’s so much listed in each of your current categories that it’s not always easy to find something specific. (But it is enjoyable to browse leisurely.)
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Can you compare wealth in the US to other countries? What does being “wealthy” look like in Japan, in India, in Chile, in Sudan? I think the perspective would be interesting.
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I am interested in articles about IRA’s. Specifically I am trying to understand the difference between places like Fidelity and Vanguard as compared to places like Scottrade and eTrade.
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It might be interesting to see posts on how you and a spouse get on the same page about money… I know the usual stuff, but well, it seems like it just doesn’t work all the time. Plus, it takes a lot of ongoing maintenance on our parts. I’m a spender married to a spender!
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I would like more ideas on what to do after you have all your debts paid off. And, I would like more articles about the other side of the equation — increasing your income. I’m especially interested in learning to get more passive-types of income.
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I haven’t made my way through all the comments, so this may already have been addressed, but recently my dad has gone along with signing a POA because he realizes his mental health is failing (he’s 83 and in good physical shape). His financial advisor helped Dad do this along with a lawyer they both know. I’ve been named the person who will take over Dad’s finances should a doctor deem him no longer fit to deal with it himself. While I have the financial advisor to help me, his main interest is keeping all of Dad’s money working both for Dad and for himself (he’s honest about it). But I still have very little idea what my role in all of this will entail, and I’d LOVE to read some blog posts about it. I know this may be one of those advanced topics where you need to tap outside sources, but it would still be greatly appreciated!!!!!
I mean, I get a phone call, Dad’s been deemed incompetent… then what? He and I live 3 hrs drive away from each other. I just have no idea what all to expect. Thanks!!!
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A little late to the game, but how about strategies for taking money out of a NON-retirement account? We’ve been saving for a house DP for years in a very conservative mutual fund, and are about 1-2 years away from our goal. Do we DCA out? Sell all the shares at once? How far in advance? Use some aspect of the market as an indicator or just cross our fingers and hope the market doesn’t go up 9% the week after we sell?
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Insurance is a big concern. When do I drop full coverage on 2001 and 2002 car. When does it make sense to have liability only. Savings is about $200/6mos per policy. What type of life insurance should you have in middle 30′s. Does employee Life Ins. policy’s cover enough or should we have more than one?
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I’m in my early 20′s and am in the process of paying off my student loans. I have no other outstanding debt (I have a credit card that I pay off every month. I’m considering relocating from suburban MA to NYC but am worried about continuing to save in a big city. Also, a post about alternatives to earning money outside of a full-time job (besides blogging) would be great. Starting a business, investing in businesses started by other people, that type of thing.
Other things I’m interested learning about:
Health insurance options – if I relocate I won’t have a full-time corporate job at first and will need health insurance
Investing in the stock market
Real estate investing – I have been saving money for a first home but am considering purchasing a home and renting it out instead
Tax strategies
Estate planning
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I would love to see a weekly or monthly “real life” scenario with advice to the specific person. Sometimes blogs are great reads but unless you can apply them to your budget and income they are not as useful. Why don’t you take one readers debts, income, etc. and offer a better plan? This is especially important for investing (at least for me anyway). I would volunteer my financial info for the sake of getting some real advice and for the benefit of those in a similar situation.
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Hi JD. Long time reader and commenter, I would love to see an article (or another article) about family and money.
In my situation, my parents are bailing out my brother and SIL and leaving themselves low so borrow from me. My own view is that I wouldn’t give money to my brother, but am obligated to give to my parents. I’m sort of caught in a dilemma because I know my parents only ask because my brother takes from them.
I see a lot of articles about parents helping their adult children, but not a lot about the other way around (unless its a very old parent in their 80s/90s).
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My husband and I just bought a home and we love it. It was built in the 50s, though, so there are quite a few upgrades that we would like to do not only for resale, but also for our enjoyment. I would like to see a blog post about how to boost the value of our home. We understand what an investment real estate is, but how can we really maximize this investment through renovations, upgrades, and improvements? How should we prioritize our project spending?
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I would like information about what you think about owning homes as rentals. We are thinking about buying another home and renting the one we live in now since we can’t get what we paid for it. With our calculations we can break even in about 6 years and then start to make money even though we are a bit “under water” with the house right now. What do you think?
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Hi J.D.
Been a reader for a few years now, but this is my first post! Yesterday while consulting a copy of your post on “The Lazy Way to Investment Success,” I compared the recommendations with what is offered in my 401K plan. Of course, there were no matches! My question is, how do I take these general ideas and apply them to what is offered in my plan? Thanks, J.D.
Diane
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Oh, thought of another, given some volunteer work I’m trying to do…
A post for women trying to escape domestic violence. Financial reasons are a HUGE reason most stay where they are or feel trapped (lack of financial knowledge, lack of access to money, etc). I suspect this would be another guest post (try someone from Bradley Angle or other local shelter).
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I would like more posts on saving for retirement, specifically, very low-risk strategies for retirement. (E.g. TIPS, I-Bonds, other bonds, bond funds, savings accounts, etc.) I feel like I don’t know much about the different kinds of non-stock-market options.
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I’d love a post on post-bankruptcy suggestions for people like myself who found this blog (and others) too late.
Also – I’d like to suggest a category in the header or title i.e. BG for Beginner, ADV for advanced, PD for post debt or stage 3 so people are aware BEFORE reading the post where in the spectrum it falls.
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I’m a third stager too and I have two areas that I’d like to see addressedd:
1. Like others, I would like to give responsibly to help others in countries where their annual income is what most of us spend on groceries in a month. Just started reading “The Life You Can Save.” I’m looking for good places to give, that don’t use a huge percentage of the gift for administrative costs.
2. As one who contributes to retirement (an maxes it out), with the market so volitile, I’m thinking of skipping pre-tax contributions and just sticking to a Roth, and then socking away money in banks. I realize the interest rates aren’t great right now, but the volitility is almost non-existent.
What are the tax implications of living off money saved in banks? If I’m earning 1% at best and have $300,000 in the kitty (hypothetical) I am required to report $3,000 annually to the IRS as income. Is that a better way to go in the long run than if I pull out perhaps $50K a year from a regular retirement account and am in the 20% tax bracket, paying taxes on $10,000? I’m beginning to wonder if we have been sold a bill of goods when it comes to retirement fund options. Just trying to figure this out–I haven’t seen anyone address this issue.
Thanks–I do miss your garden project!
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How to handle a large financial windfall (e.g., inheritance, lawsuit, severance if already have a new job lined up).
Being underwater on your mortgage and when should you do anything about it vs. just ‘waiting it out’.
Managing relationships with friends/family who have less money, when is paying more/buying something/etc. being helpful and when is it offensive? How do you decline to co-sign a loan in a respectful way?
I think divorce and money is a huge area that hasn’t been covered. Understandably when you are happily married and have separate accounts, but maybe a good area for a reader story or ask the readers or something.
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I would love to see posts on dealing with student loan debt. I am currently a grad student with a year left, and will have a MASSIVE amount of debt when I am finished! HELP!
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@91 Beata
Things were not different than what you’re describing 10 years ago, or even 14 years ago. I think if you are someone that the colleges *want* or your parents fit in a specific income range you can often get a much better deal from a private school than from your local state school. That was the case for me and for many of my friends from an elite high school (but not the ones with high-income parents). Some schools are also much better able to offer aid than others– my parents paid almost nothing for my private school but through the wazoo for my sister’s. My (top) private school was better endowed and committed to aid. My sister’s was a less-well-endowed top school with a reputation for stinginess.
Private schools being less expensive than state not necessarily the case for a lot of the high school seniors and undergrads I know now, who really are better off going to state school for 4 years or doing 2 years at community college and 2 years at state school. These are people with lower GPAs, less ambition, less family commitment to education, not sports stars, and a stronger desire to stay local. I think those stats probably describe the majority of the experience of people who recommend state school over private. Other folks who recommend state school over private live in California, New York, Michigan, or other states where the flagship school really does give just as good an education as Harvard (or better).
These are all very complicated issues and you’re right that the advice that is usually given doesn’t cover everyone’s experience. But you’re wrong that these factors have changed much over the past 10, even 20 years. It is true that states are more strapped and expenses are going up, but that was happening even before the recession started. The cost of education has been outstripping inflation for quite some time.
Liz Pulliam Weston might be a good person to ask to do a guest post on student aid. I heard her advice on the radio the other day and it seemed very balanced and sensible.
Now… taking on debt for graduate school is an entirely different animal. I bet Funny About Money to do a guest post on that– the employment situation when you graduate with a PhD is very related to whether or not you get a stipend while you’re in there. Professional graduate school, otoh, generally does end up being worth the cost.
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@#111 Adam, I know how you feel. It would be nice to have some advice on how to handle supporting parents and what a strain it puts on your ability to save, spend, retire.
Any article that deals with living in the Northeast would be great. We have a completely different pay scale, tax requirement (it’s not called the TAX YOU TO DEATH state without reason!) and job prospects than most of the rest of the country. The idea of paying off a house up here is unrealistic (more power to those of you who can find a $150K or less home, that wouldn’t cover my garage), as is buying an old beater car to save money (ever try to drive up a hill in an ice storm in a geo metro with bald tires?). I find a lot of the article would work well in more rural areas or in cities/states with a much lower cost of living.
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I would like articles on:
PERS3, CD’s how to invest in them.
life insurance what are they really talking about. And those new peer to peer lending schemes, they sound good but are they for real.
I feel I am getting the financial education that I missed in school… hay that would be a good article. Financial ed in schools why are we, the richest nation on earth, so back ward in that regard.
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I would love to see an article about how to financially untangle joint finances when you divorce (or break up, I guess). I live in Virginia, that allows uncontested divorces (which it is), so I’d rather not pay a lawyer if I don’t have to.
He will be keeping the house, but it is in both our names, and my name is first on the mortgage. The only other debt we have is a loan for my car in both our names (the others are paid for). Of course, all 3 vehicles are registered in both our names, too.
Do we each have to get new loans as individuals? Or is a quit claim deed sufficient?
Those are my specific questions, but any links/information about untangling joint finances would be great!
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My favorite posts have been your stories of people who want to get out of debt but don’t actually decrease spending. They think that ‘making a budget’ actually will solve the problem.
In fact, I feel like there are long time periods on this site that that point is not reiterated. Maybe your positive cash flow equation should pop up more often.
Love the site.
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I’d love to see an article or series of articles on time management. I always feel that I’m making a trade-off between free time for myself (I’m the mother of a 10-month-old) and saving money (using that free-time instead for meal-planning, clipping coupons, ironing vs. sending my husband’s shirts out to the cleaners, etc.)
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I really liked how you tracked the finances of growing a garden, but I’m more interested in the finances of running a blog – would you mind doing a cost/expense post showing the finances of your blogging business?
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I would love to hear your take on the obligations of wealth. Trent is great but really doesn’t “get” anything outside his own experience.
Some have asked to hear more on the joint/separate financess question. I would read that ONLY if people are going to be intelligent and civil about it. Whenever anyone else brings up the question, it becomes a giant game of my-way-is-the-right-way and it just makes me want to puke.
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JD, would it be possible to write more about the business of blogging? That is, how does GRS run? What does it take to run it? How does it make money and so on. As an aspiring blogger, I think I’d find that very interesting.
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There seem to be quite a few people interested in a series of posts about blogging as a business. I think this could be very interesting if done right, with periodic updates like the gardening series.
I wouldn’t want to use GRS as an example (for a variety of reasons), but since I’m itching to resurrect one or more other blogs, I’d be very open to showing how to build a blog from scratch, including all of the income stuff.
I’ll do an intro post on this next weekend maybe. The three blog options we could do this with are: Animal Intelligence, a blog about animals; Four Color Comics, a blog about comics; and Success Daily, a blog about self-improvement. I could do the animal or comic blog immediately, but the success blog wouldn’t start until January 1st.
Thoughts?
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article on budgeting for different types of irregular income. I am in sales and am half salary and half commission, so it makes it tough to budget when I’m not sure what the commission will be each month ahead of time. Suggestions?
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J.D.
I have to agree with WEN in that we need more articles geared to “what’s next” after you have gotten rid of debt, have 6-8 months emergency fund, an affordable mortgage, etc. We also need articles for singles who have to depend soley on their income. Situations are different for singles versus married couples. Finally, an article on how to prepare to take care of elderly parents if necessary. More people are facing financial hardships as a caregiver to elderly parents.
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I would like to see an article about the one thing I have been thinking/obsessing about a lot lately: What if I had started being money conscious/frugal xx years ago? How much better (or worse) off would I be?
I would be curious to hear your story in those terms. I am sure there would be some great feedback from other readers also.
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I’ve been a relatively new reader of GRS and love love love for its variety of posts. GRS became part of my daily routine and enjoy reading it with my morning cup of coffee:)
As already mentioned by some previous readers in their posts, I would like to see some posts on Investing in stocks and understanding stock terminology and anatomy. Would be great to add Stocks category to your site. Just my little thought.
Keep up the good work!!!
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@JD
As someone who has just started a blog (cough cough), that would be awesome.
Not that we’re focused enough to actually put in the effort for a truly successful (and focused) blog, but if there’s low-hanging fruit it would be nice to learn by example rather than trial and error.
I’m not sure that it matters *which* blog you focus on, so I’d go with one you could do right away.
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My husband and I have started a business recently, but it hasn’t taken off enough yet to transition away from our day jobs. At that point, we will definitely need information on medical insurance vs. HSAs.
Also, a post aimed at people in the early phases of entrepreneurship and any tips for making sure that your personal finances stay in order while in transition from a day job would be great.
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I vote for posts about psychology behind money decisions or more third stage type posts – specific steps you’ve taken to spend less time on GRS and what you’ve given up financially.
Also, perhaps I could volunteer to write a hybrid Reader Story/HSA post? I am currently trying to convince my employer to switch over to HSA/HDHP to save some money. Perhaps hearing a real-life example would be helpful to introduce the topic and at the same time provide some number crunching that drives the decision making.
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It has been said before but I really would like to see article about managing money as a couple.
Also, like Stephen Angell (89) I would like to see “articles of an international flavour”. It does not have to be technical stuff but people of different culture have different relationship with money and I think it could be inspiring to hear about that.
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More on the psychology of spending (and saving), please. Also enjoy the learning about the connection between financial health and body health.
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I _have_ an HSA and am still not sure I understand it completely, so this is another vote for a health savings account post (or several).
And another vote for how to save for a house. What’s the best way to do it? How much cash should you have before you should even start thinking about buying? 20% of the cost? I just don’t know.
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I just saw Lynnor’s comment and second that: some post about how to get away from an abuser on whom on is financially dependent would be tough, but valuable.
This happens far too often, and I think it would be helpful for anyone to know how to help someone in that situation.
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It might be interesting to compare different parts of the US, with comparable houses, jobs, etc. and see what you’d have to earn in NY in order to live similarly to what it would take in FL, for example.
(I’ve often wondered if people who live in really expensive places really benefit enough from it to make it worth it–assuming there are no family ties, etc.) It seems like they are just living a really inflated life, but in the end, they live at the same level as some parts of the country can on 1/3 or 1/4 of the income. Then, don’t those who live in these inflated areas (I’m thinking CA and NY) pay more taxes and they won’t qualify for things like the Pell Grant because they make too much? Of course, you’d need to compare similar sized cities or rural areas in order to make it even comparable, but it could be fascinating.
I also like the psychological articles. I appreciate the “falling off the wagon” articles and the variety here. I just skip the ones that aren’t interesting to me.
I’m interested in the “how to make money at a blog” as well.
Keep up the good work!
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please do your own blogs, you have way too many guest blogs ,especially in the past year
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I am about to be finished with grad school and would like you to post on the best way to consolidate your student loans which I am dreading paying back.
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I’d be interested in reading about how to save and plan for grad school after working full time for a few years. With the economy changing and many adults switching careers, it would be great to get your point of view and advice on how to go back to school without having a huge student loan to deal with.
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I totally disagree with Dan @143. I love the guest posts.
I am not a childless 40 year old male living in a city in the pacific northwest who was once in debt and makes a living off of an excellent blog.
Guest posts provide lots of different perspectives and areas of expertise. The quality control is very important, but I can count on GRS to cover things that apply to me even if they don’t apply to J.D.
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I would love to hear stories about saving money as a single person. I do believe there are different issues. For example, I have heard couples on here saying that they don’t go out as much but this isn’t as easy for someone who is single. I am a very social person so if I stay home that can be isolating, which is not the life for me. Perhaps though this is not the norm for your audience, which is the feeling I get but just thought I would throw my two cents in. Is there a personal finance blog that is geared more towards single people?
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JD – a post about the business side of any of your blogs would be good, especially if you include some information about the time you spend on research/writing/editing/behind-the-scenes stuff, and a breakdown of the expenses versus income. I’m interested in starting a blog, possibly with an eye to future cash flow, and I would love to see a realistic perspective on the tangible and intangible costs and benefits of seriously blogging.
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I’d like to see an article on what you think about the folks on sites like creditboards.com who actively dispute negative (but accurate!) items on their credit scores with seemingly great success. Is this practice ethical? My boyfriend thinks it’s not unlike disputing a traffic violation on the off chance that the police officer can’t show up at court on your court date. I’d love to do this with some negative items on my own credit reports, but I’m not sure how I feel about devoting a significant amount of my time “beating the system.”
I’d also like to learn more about which credit cards are easiest to apply for to build up your credit score. I, for example, have the aforementioned negative items on my credit score from 3 years back, but now have a 710 Transunion credit score because I’ve been much better at paying all of my bills and loans on time. I’ve been denied credit in the past, and don’t know where to begin now that I’m making a new start.
Lastly, I’d like to hear your thoughts on what’s the best way to save for a house. What do you think about paying cash for a home? If not, how much of a down payment should one aim to save?
I love your site! I can’t wait to see what new material you come up with, now that you have the luxury of more blogging time.
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We have talked a lot about renting vs. buying, which is an awesome arguement…but I’d like an article looking at buying the cheapest house in a not so good area vs. the best house you can afford using the location, location, location strategy. Who will come out on top in the end, the person who picked a house in a great town, schools, and projected resale value or the one who kept their payments as low as possible and saved/invested the difference?
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