Here at Get Rich Slowly, we imbibe many flavors of frugality, smart investing, and money management. Between J.D.'s (and others') posts and the treasure trove of comments, you could build a path to wealth tailored to your individual income, assets, and circumstances.

But how will you know when you're done? Are you there yet? Are you rich? And what will you do once you get there?

When I worked as a lawyer at a Big Bank I conducted an informal poll of my co-workers, asking what their magic number was: What dollar figure would make them feel comfortable retiring? (Or at least leaving their comfortable jobs to pursue their passions?) I guessed that at least some would say $1 million would be enough to let them leave in comfort. After all, we weren't living in a big city, and the cost of living in our town was pretty reasonable.

Note: Although I try to keep GRS a politics-free zone, today's topic is inherently political. I've stayed as neutral as possible in the article, but I know that there'll be some political discussion in the comments. Please keep conversation civil, as always.

Recently at The Simple Dollar, Trent posed the question, "How much do taxes matter to you?" As might be expected, his readers responded with passionate comments from both sides of the political spectrum. The discussion frustrated me, though. There's just too much misinformation, and people offer their opinions as if they were facts.

I'm as guilty as anyone else.

I remember when my parents gave me a raise in my allowance. I was seven and I went from $2 a week to $5 a week because I started doing my own laundry and washing my own dishes. I was so excited to be a model employee. I remember that day plotting out just how many extra GI Joes I could buy in a year and how impressive and extensive my collection would be. Then I remember going to the pharmacy down on the main avenue and buying $4 worth of candy instead of $2. My whole GI Joe plan started to disintegrate in a heap of peanut butter cup wrappers.

You know what I remember more vividly? I remember the day my parents stopped giving me an allowance. It was the same year I moved my lemonade stand from Wednesday afternoon to Saturday morning and from the corner of my side-street to right down on that same candy-filled main avenue and saw my revenues rise tenfold.

Lemonade stands are so tired! This young entrepreneur is selling jokes.

From there, I started going around the house finding things that needed to be done, whether it be the deck re-stained or the water damage on the basement ceiling redone and I'd negotiate with my parents fair pay for the task. It usually didn't matter that I had no idea how to replace a bathtub or efficiently organize a closet, there were books in libraries, helpers at local hardware stores, and now, google to offer a quick afternoon of learning. I now had an eye for opportunity and was learning skills that set jobs into motion.

Looking for an effective way to improve the chances that you won't run out of money in retirement? It's easy: Just delay retirement.

That may not be the solution you wanted to hear. But by working just a few years more, you can greatly enhance your portfolio's longevity, as well as have a higher Social Security benefit to rely on in the event that your money runs out. To illustrate these benefits, consider a 62-year-old who has saved $250,000 for retirement. In the past year, she earned $75,000 at her job, and contributed 15% of her salary, or $11,250, to her 401(k). She figures she could live on 75% of her pre-retirement income.

How long would her money last if she retired today as compared to later ages? We fired up the “Am I saving enough? What can I change?” calculator (found among the retirement calculators at The Motley Fool) to analyze her situation. Here are the results.

When I was in my early twenties, I was a credit card mess. I'd go shopping with my credit card in hand and not worry about how much I spent until the bill came. At that point, though, I'd start worrying a great deal — sometimes, I'd worry about it all night!

It didn't take long for me to realize that I had to change my evil spending ways or cut up my card. So, I spent a lot of time learning everything I could about credit cards and personal finance. I literally read everything I could get my hands on. The more I learned, the easier it became to have a relationship with my credit card that it didn't involve sleepless nights.

Fast forward a couple of decades. Now, I spend the better part of every day either writing or talking about credit cards or personal finance. But I freely acknowledge that credit cards aren't for everyone. Cash is king for many people. But for those who do want a mutually beneficial relationship with their credit cards, here are the five habits common among cardholders who use their cards effectively. Continue reading...

My philosophy on credit cards has changed completely in the last five years. I've gone from anti-credit-card to pro-credit-card — but only for those who can use them responsibly. I think they're a great convenience, and I like getting cash back when I use mine.

But not everyone thinks this cash-back feature is a good thing. In fact, my inbox is a-flutter with folks who want me to comment on the recent credit-card study from the Consumer Payments Research Center. This study (which can be downloaded as a 810kb PDF from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston) found that credit cards transfer wealth from the poor to the rich. How? Through fees and rewards programs.

From the abstract: Continue reading...

In the Get Rich Slowly forums, DannyBoy has a question that I think many people face: "What can I do if my girlfriend isn't serious about money?" He writes:

I'm the sort of person who essentially looks into every area of his life to save, start investing, and be smart about money as much as possible. Do you think that somebody like myself, who cares so much about where his money goes, can be happy with a girlfriend who doesn't? Everything else between us is cool, fun, etc, But I don't want the money issue to turn me off her.

We're both young: I'm 19 and she's 23. She says she doesn't want to save for retirement because we could all die in a second, therefore it's a waste of time and money to save if the worst should come around. I don't really agree with this. I mean, chances are most of us will make it to retirement. (Unfortunately, some won't.) How do you think I should handle the situation?

As some of you know, Courtney and I recently spent just under a year traveling abroad with our two-year-old daughter. A couple of months ago, we returned home to Indiana and decided that we'd take a six month break from our mobile lifestyle. Our decision meant we needed to start looking for short-term rentals that would meet our temporary needs.

When we started to browse rental options, we created a list divided into Wants and Needs. Some of the Needs included things like two bedrooms, a safe neighborhood, flexible lease terms, and some sort of yard or grass.

Under Wants we placed criteria like a standalone house, a fenced-in back yard, a one-car garage, and proximity to decent sidewalks or paths. Remember, we weren't buying a permanent home: We were searching for a quick six-month stop.

I'm back, and I sound just like your mom: Save that damned emergency fund, already.

This week (Feb. 24-March 1) is America Saves Week. And not a moment too soon: As a nation, we're losing ground. An ASW survey shows that just 51 percent of us have a savings plan with specific goals; four years ago that number was 55 percent. (Still too low, IMHO.) Just 40 percent of us have budgets that allow for savings at all, compared with 46 percent in 2010.

The ASW report notes several reasons (stop me if these sound familiar): relatively high unemployment and underemployment rates, stagnant wages and the struggle to pay off homes. (Hint: In the past four years, the number of homeowners who expected to pay off mortgages before retirement dropped 10 percent.)

Thanks for your interest in sharing a guest post with the Get Rich Slowly audience. Here are some things to consider.

There are no length requirements for GRS articles. I always say an article should be as long as it needs to be -- but no longer. If your piece is 500 words, great. If it's 5000 words, that's fine too.

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