Editor's pick
InvestingGuide
Index Funds Explained Without the Jargon
An index fund is a rule, not a manager. What the rule costs, what it buys, and why 0.85% instead of 0.04% takes $70,624 off a thirty-year balance.
11 min read
The library
165 plain-English reads on budgeting, saving, investing, debt, credit and taxes. Newest first unless you say otherwise.
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Budgeting
Why Budgets Fail in Week Three
Budgets do not fail from weak discipline. They fail because five specific things were never in them, and three of the five are predictable to the dollar: $1,011 a month, in this case.
8 min read
Saving
Where to Keep Your Emergency Fund
The account has one job: be there in a day and not lose value. What that rules out, what the yield is worth on $15,000, and why a CD you break at month five nets $64.
7 min read
Saving
Sinking Fund vs Emergency Fund: The Difference That Costs You
One is for the expenses you know are coming. The other is for the ones you do not. Two households, the same money, the same balance every month, and one of them ends December with $296.
6 min read
Editor's pick
SavingGuide
The Emergency Fund, Sized Honestly
Every article says three to six months. None of them says three to six months of what, and on one household that reading is worth $10,410. The sizing test, worked at two incomes.
11 min read
Budgeting
How to Budget When Your Income Changes Every Month
Budget on your lowest month, not your average. Seven of twelve months fall below an average, and on one freelancer's real year, budgeting on it would have spent the tax money exactly.
9 min read
Saving
What Actually Counts as an Emergency
A $640 alternator on a nine-year-old car is not an emergency. A $340 windscreen is. The three-part test that separates them, and why it decides whether your fund survives August.
6 min read
BudgetingGuide
Sinking Funds Explained: The Budget Line Nobody Sets Up
A sinking fund turns an irregular expense into a monthly amount. Here are the nine most households need, what each one really costs, and why the total is $603.
9 min read
Editor's pick
BudgetingGuide
How to Build a Spending Plan That Survives Real Life
A budget tells you what you meant to do. A spending plan survives the month it meets. The four-bucket method, worked through one household's real $4,800.
11 min read
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