This article is by GRS staff writer Adam Baker. Baker is a big, fat hypocrite.
The statistics on credit reports errors are staggering. A 2004 U.S. PIRG survey showed that 79% of credit reports contained either serious errors or other mistakes of some kind. 79%? Seriously? How can that be?
I guess it doesn’t help that as of 2006, 27% of adults had never checked their report for errors. Not once. Ever.
Getting your hands on a free copy of your credit report and checking it for errors is one of the easiest ways to help your financial health. Correcting even a small mistake can make a huge difference to your score. A higher score means lower interest rates, insurance quotes, and can even help you land some types of jobs. And it’s never been easier to get a copy of your free credit report.
AnnualCreditReport.com is a government-approved site that enables most people to gain access [...]

This is a guest post from Leo Babauta of the simplicity blog, Zen Habits. Leo also recently started a new blog about minimalism, mnmlist.com.
Finances are one of the most complicated things in many people’s lives … and yet, they don’t have to be. With a little effort, you can simplify your financial life and end the money headaches most people face.
I consider myself a minimalist. As such, I shy from all kinds of complexities. I look for ways to simplify. I like worry-free solutions — I like to forget about it, so I can focus on things that are more important to me.
Here’s how I simplified my financial life:
Step one: I opted out of consumerism.
This is the first and most important step. If you’re a long-time GRS reader, you already know all about this — if you’re new, dig through the GRS archives for some great stuff about frugality and the consumerist mindset.
Too often, [...]

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 publicly tracks his spending on a daily basis.
Everywhere I turn, people are speculating on whether housing prices have bottomed. While I personally feel things are looking better, I’m never a fan of trying to time markets. Attempting this often encourages people to make large financial decisions before they are fully prepared or informed. Buying homes in haste is one of the factors that got us into our current financial crisis.
Luckily, there may be a silver bullet for those of you who aren’t willing to rush to buy but are still considering a home purchase within the next couple of years. Your solution may take the form of a lease option.
What the heck is a lease option?
The first thing you need to know about lease options is that everything is [...]

Mark Frauenfelder is the co-founder of my favorite sites, Boing Boing (which is a “directory of wonderful things”). Mark’s also a GRS reader. He dropped me a line the other day to tell me about a new project he’s been following.
Today, Credit.com is launching a free new online financial tool called Credit Report Card. This tool is designed to provide users with a quick snapshot of their credit reports. According to the site’s FAQ, “it breaks down your credit report into five simple-to-understand categories and gives you a letter grade for each one.”
In his e-mail, Mark offered a personal example of how the service works:

Here’s a screenshot of what a Credit Report Card looks like. It’s my own credit report card. (I’m only showing part of the report card, as I don’t want to share my personal data.) As you can see, I have excellent credit :), but I’ve made too many “Inquiries” in the [...]

This article is by Adam Baker, a GRS Staff Writer. In addition to writing for Get Rich Slowly, Baker blogs over at Man Vs. Debt, where he discusses ways to simplify your financial life.
A thriving emergency fund is an essential piece of a healthy financial picture.
You’ve heard this a million times before. The basics of emergency funds have been covered in depth. We’re used to hearing discussions on why they’re important and how large they should be.
But do you know what we don’t hear much about? How freakin’ boring they are!
Let’s be honest: There’s nothing sexy about building an emergency fund. Sure, it’s possible to get fired up for the initial push. You can take advantage of small, specific tips to create an early spark. But what about going from $1000 in savings to six months of expenses?  Eventually the excitement fades.
Testing a fresh approach can change everything. Sometimes all it takes is a minor shift in mindset. Whether you’re [...]

This is a guest post from Robert Brokamp of The Motley Fool. Robert is a Certified Financial Planner and the advisor for The Motley Fool’s Rule Your Retirement service. He contributes one new article to Get Rich Slowly every two weeks.
With the S&P 500 still down more than a third from its 2007 high, we’re all a little unsure about our retirement plans these days. So it’s time for some good old-fashioned elbow grease. A little effort now should make for a lifetime of security and peace of mind. And the first step is to run your numbers through financial calculators to estimate whether you’ll have enough saved to kiss the boss goodbye. (Metaphorically, of course.)
The calculators’ answers are important information. But what’s even more useful is changing the variables to see what most improves your chances for success. A retirement plan has a lot of moving parts — how much you save, where you [...]