This article is GRS staff writer Adam Baker. In addition to his work at Get Rich Slowly, Baker blogs over at Man Vs. Debt, where he maintains a list of every single item his family owns.
It’s no secret that J.D. loves him some Warren Buffett. Honestly, though, who doesn’t? Financial wisdom seems to ooze from his pores. Previously on Get Rich Slowly, J.D. has touched on Buffett’s philosophies, well-known frugality, and charitable efforts.
Buffett was born, raised, and still lives in Omaha, Nebraska. Even as a child, Buffett constantly tinkered with business concepts. He filed his first income tax return at age 13, including a $35 work expense deduction for his bike and watch. These days, at age 79, Buffett is one of America’s most respected business minds and constantly jockeys with Bill Gates and Carlos Slim Helu for the position of richest person in the world.
A couple of weeks ago, CNBC ran [...]

Sometimes the best personal finance books aren’t about personal finance.
In June 2006, for example, I shared a brief review of Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. Ostensibly this book is about creativity and overcoming procrastination, but I found its lessons valuable for pursuing my financial goals. Last year I read Mastery by George Leonard. On the surface, this book has nothing to do with money, yet it’s one of the best books about money I’ve ever read.
John C. Maxwell’s Failing Forward is another of this ilk. It’s not meant to be a personal finance book, yet I’m willing to bet that more of you can improve your financial lives by reading it than by reading The Automatic Millionaire or Personal Finance for Dummies (though these are both fine books). Why? Because books like Failing Forward apply to your entire life rather than just one part of it.
Failing forward
I clearly remember a period during the [...]

After my post about mattress shopping the other day, Garrison contacted me. “My home just flooded and due to renters insurance I was thrown into the market for a new mattress,” he said. “I called up my long-time best friend whose entire family is in the mattress business. I used his advice in my purchase and I’ve been completely satisfied.” Here’s what Garrison’s friend, Justin, had to say.
I’ve written a lot here to help you buy a mattress. Once I started thinking about this, all sorts of information came back to me. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
Make sure there is at least a 30-day trial period. This is a deal-breaker and you should absolutely not purchase a bed without this guaranty, no matter what else they are offering. Most beds take 4-6 weeks of sleep to really break in and feel how they are going to feel [...]

Last Friday, I attended a workshop put on by Pamela Slim, who writes about entrepreneurship at Escape from Cubicle Nation. Before this meeting, I didn’t know much about Slim or her message, but her work came highly recommended from my friend, Chris Guillebeau. “Pam is the real deal,” he told me. “Her book is what a lot other books have tried to be.”
Based on this recommendation, I drove to hear Slim speak. I was impressed. Chris is right: She’s the real deal. I was so impressed, in fact, that I spent the weekend reading her book, which is also called Escape from Cubicle Nation.
Opening up to opportunities
Escape from Cubicle Nation starts at the beginning of the entrepreneurial journey: deciding what to do with your life. Slim spends several chapters discussing how to get in touch with what’s important to you. At times, this almost seems touchy-feely. Almost.
Even if you currently have no intentions to [...]

During yesterday’s episode of The Personal Finance Hour, Jim and I spoke with Liz Pulliam Weston, financial columnist and credit score expert. Weston provided background on how the credit scoring system works, and offered tips for how to maintain (and improve) your credit score.
During the show, Weston mentioned a past MSN Money article in which she wrote about 8 secret scores that lenders keep. These lesser known (and confidential) scores are also a part of your credit profile:
You’ve heard by now of credit scores, the three-digit numbers lenders use to gauge your creditworthiness. Credit scores predict how likely you are to default on a credit account or loan; they’re used to help set interest rates and terms. What you may not know is that credit scores are just the start of the way financial institutions evaluate you, and they’re not even the most commonly used scores — far from it.
Weston enumerates eight other scores [...]

Join us this afternoon for the 13th episode of The Personal Finance Hour. Today, Jim and I will be joined by a special guest, money writer Liz Pulliam Weston. Weston, “the most-read personal finance columnist on the Internet”, writes regularly for MSN Money, and is the author of Your Credit Score: Your Money and What’s at Stake.
We would love to have you call with questions and share your own experiences! There are four ways to hear the show. You can listen through an audio feed at the show page, or you can dial the call-in number at (347) 327-9144. You can also listen through this widget:

Note that the widget always holds the archive of the most recent episode. So, right now it contains last week’s episode about earning extra money. Later this afternoon it will contain episode number thirteen.
We’re also on iTunes! You can subscribe to The Personal Finance Hour as a weekly podcast [...]