Tools


If you’re new here, you may want to learn what this site is about. I encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Do you have a roommate? A partner? A friend to whom you’ve loaned money? Buxfer is a fantastic web-based tool for anyone in a situation with shared expenses. The [...]

[read all of Track Shared Bills and Expenses with Buxfer]

The United States government has a host of useful web sites. Even the IRS site is informational. I’ve written about various government resources in the past, such as:

The U.S. Department of Labor’s statistics on minimum wage workers.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s information on the cost of food.

Today I discovered another USDA site: The Food Stamp [...]

[read all of The USDA Food Stamp Nutrition Connection]

Bill wrote the other day looking for my opinion on Sharebuilder. Sharebuilder is an online discount brokerage that encourages automatic scheduled purchases of stocks and exchange-traded funds. In plain English, the company makes it easy to start investing. Here’s what Bill had to say:
I was wondering what you thought about Sharebuilder. I am considering signing [...]

[read all of The Pros and Cons of Sharebuilder]

Alan wrote to tell me about a new site he discovered. Price Protectr is a smart little web app that helps consumers save money after they’ve purchased big-ticket items.
There are lots of stores out there that offer price protection policies — when the price drops on an item you’ve purchased, they’ll refund you the difference. [...]

[read all of Track Price Drops with Price Protectr]

While my U.S. readers are spending their Thanksgiving holidays eating turkey, watching football, and visiting with family, it’s the perfect time to perform another roundup of personal finance sites from around the world. It’s been ten months since I last updated this list. As usual, if you know of a non-U.S. personal finance site, please [...]

[read all of Personal Finance Sites from Around the World (2007 Edition)]

It’s been an annoying day here at the box factory. November 15th must be some sort of telemarketing celebration day. I’ve been handling three or four calls an hour from these bozos all day long. It drives me nuts.
I have little patience for spammers of any sort. Telemarketers are the worst. I have filters that [...]

[read all of Turning the Tables on Telemarketers]

In this guest post, SC takes a look at Mint, one of the recent batch of on-line financial management tools. I haven’t had a chance to use the site, so SC volunteered to write about his experiences.
Mint is a new website that claims it will help you organize your finances, automate your financial life, and [...]

[read all of Mint: A Fresh New On-Line Personal Finance Tool]

Is it better to buy or rent? It’s one of the eternal personal finance questions, and one that each person has to decide for herself. There are lots of non-financial factors that affect this decision, of course, including your hobbies, lifestyle, and personal psychology.
Despite these non-financial considerations, often the choice comes down to money. What [...]

[read all of The New York Times Rent vs. Buy Calculator]

It’s that spooky haunted time of year — my annual post about estate planning! Last year I shared a brief guide to creating a will. Today I’m going to look at a recent New York Times article by Christine Larson that provides an overview of will preparation software.
Larson writes, “Recently, the increasing sophistication of [...]

[read all of A Brief Overview of Estate Planning Software]

Earlier today, Justin asked for feedback about whether he should buy a condo or continue to save for his retirement. GRS reader Andrew forwarded a tool that may help Justin make his decision.
HouseMath 2.0 is a web-based app designed to help users explore the costs of purchasing a new home. You enter the numbers for [...]

[read all of House Math 2.0: A Real-Estate Analysis Tool]

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