Who knew? Well, you all probably knew this, but I didn't. I've just never done it before. I think I'd be happy living in a cave – as long as that cave was lined with bookshelves. The key is useless things Apparently decorating is made up of useless things that serve no purpose and they have ...
Category Archives: expenses
Can’t retire early because of health care? Really?
In the reader story I had over at Get Rich Slowly a few months ago, a number of people said basically: "I'd love to retire early, but I can't. I'd have to pay for my health care out of pocket and that's not possible. You Canadians can do stuff like that but you have ...
Reaching a new low and the magic “necessities” number
Sometimes there's an inverse relationship between how much you spend and how much fun you have. Sometimes there's a direct relationship between how little you spend and how cold it is. We didn't go downhill skiing over the February long weekend because it was too cold. I was really looking forward to spending that money damnit. On ...
The wacky world of child support
As readers of this blog may know, sometimes I receive child support for my youngest son from his dad, sometimes not. Usually not. I don't get too angry about it because I make more than enough to support my our kid myself. I do ...
Is Inflation Personal?
Several people in the comments of the Get Rich Slowly reader story that was posted the other day suggested that I was being a tad bit optimistic, perhaps even naive about inflation rates. According to the Bank of Canada inflation calculator here,: http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/rates/inflation_calc.html inflation has averaged 4.4% from 1965 to 2010 and 3.1% from ...
Money and happiness quiz!
Oh yay! I love quizzes in books or magazines! Here's a little quiz from the NYT: http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/when-money-buys-happiness/ Here's what to do: List the ten most expensive things (products, services or experiences) that you have ever paid for (including houses, cars, university degrees, marriage ceremonies, divorce settlements and taxes). Then, list ...
Numbers tell stories – sometimes scary stories
If anyone out there is a finance geek like me, when you've been reading balance sheets, building business plans or just analyzing cash flows long enough, you start to notice that numbers tell stories. In the case of personal finance, usually they tell a story of what you value and what you don't value ...