How To Cook Everything Fast, Reviewed By a Slow Cook

As part of my ongoing effort to Cook It Yourself in 2015, I've been trying out new cookbooks. (So far I've managed to lose over 20 pounds by cooking at home and eating less of what I cook at home. ;) ) I bought How to Cook Everything Fast: A … [Read the rest]

Teaching Money Management Skills… Without Using Money

In the book The Opposite of Spoiled by Ron Lieber, there are a number of tips and tricks presented to help teach your kids to be good with money: The foundation of the book is a detailed blueprint for the most successful ways to handle the basics: … [Read the rest]

Annual Income by College Major Ranked by Quartile and Percentile

Here's another article about the relationship between college majors and future earnings. But this WSJ article at least looks beyond just providing the median wage and helps you visualize the spread between the 25th and 75th percentiles for each … [Read the rest]

Bogle on Mutual Funds, An Investment Classic Book Review #TBT

Whenever I feel overwhelmed by the amount of noise coming at me through my computer screens, I read a book. When the new books on my desk don't impress, I find an old book. That is how I came to buy a used, first edition of Bogle on Mutual … [Read the rest]

Paperless vs. Paper Statements

Pictured above is the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 Scanner. It can digitize a page every 2 seconds, and some version of it has been on my Amazon Wishlist for many years. However, I still haven't plunked down 400 bucks for it, because I don't know if … [Read the rest]

Sling TV Review + Free Amazon Fire TV Stick or Roku Stick Promo (Updated)

Updated review after 3 months of using Sling TV. Promo still live for a couple more weeks. Sling TV allows you to stream a package of major cable networks live over the internet. That means you can watch it on your smartphone, your home TV, or … [Read the rest]

Charlie Munger On Leverage and Paying Your Mortgage Off Before Retirement

While reading back through various transcript notes from the 2015 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, I recalled the following quote from the Q&A session. A shareholder had asked why Berkshire had never borrowed money to buy stocks (i.e. leverage). … [Read the rest]

Montessori Chart of Age-Appropriate Chores For Kids

I'm currently reading The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous, and Smart About Money by Ron Lieber. So far, it covers a lot of topics about money and kids that even us adults don't like to talk about in public. For … [Read the rest]

Real Estate Crowdfunding Experiment #1: Property Details and Numbers Breakdown

Woohoo, I just received my first interest payment on my real estate crowdfunding experiment #1. I put in $5,000 at 11% APR, which should work out about $46 a month but the first partial payment was an underwhelming $16.81. I e-mailed Patch of … [Read the rest]

Hard Money Loans: The Next “New” Asset Class?

Bloomberg has a new article about how hard money loans to house flippers are the next asset class to be both crowdfunded and taken over by institutions. Like peer-to-peer loans and LendingClub, it may have started out with individuals lending to … [Read the rest]

Verizon Wireless 8% Customer Loyalty Discount

If you have Verizon Wireless but don't already have a good employee or education discount on your plan, you may want to try this Customer Loyalty Discount at vzw.com/appreciation. You may qualify for up to 8% off of your monthly access fee. Note … [Read the rest]

Teaching Kids to be Entrepreneurs: Jack’s Cosmic Hot Dogs

Here's a follow-up post to The Best Advice For A Teenager Looking For a Job. One of the podcasts I regularly listen to is the Alton Browncast (of "Good Eats" fame). Many topics are food-related but often it boils down to him talking with really … [Read the rest]