10 links to walk you through today’s financial crisis — and make you smarter than 99% of other people

All right, guys. I’ve gotten lots of emails about what’s going on with the economy and bailout, so I thought I’d put together a list of the articles I’ve been reading over the last two weeks. I added my own commentary to them below, plus links to stuff I’ve written that agrees/disagrees with each of [...]

The Money Diaries: The 20-something who doesn’t make enough to cover her shopping habit

Today is the second post in the Money Diaries series, which is based off New York Magazine’s Sex Diaries. We’ve collected stories from real people about their spending habits over seven days, anonymized them, and posted them here.

Today’s post is from a 25-year old woman who’s struggling between paying her bills and the irresistible [...]

My 3-minute video response: What you can do about today’s economy

Yesterday a bunch of you left comments and sent me emails about what’s going on in the economy. Here’s a quick video I did to answer some of them. Check it out and see my notes below.

Worst screen capture ever?
0:01 — Intro: We’re going to talk about what’s happening with the economy, asking the right [...]

Submit your question: What do you want to know about this week’s financial news?

I’ve been getting lots of questions about this week’s financial news, with questions like “Why is the government bailing out private companies?” and “Where should I be putting my money now?”
I thought I’d try to answer the most common questions at once, so submit your question as a comment and I’ll answer them tomorrow (Thursday) [...]

Morons who don’t know what they’re talking about

I hardly ever post on weekends, but I was reading this forum thread today and I almost vomited in my own mouth while struggling not to throw my computer out the window.
Read this forum thread: What should I invest in?

Photo by smoo
LISTEN VERY CLOSELY PLEASE. JUST BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE ON THE INTERNET TOLD YOU TO [...]

You have $100 extra per month. Should you pay off your mortgage early or invest?

Two answers:

Photo from luxerta
1. Invest (Consumer Reports)
2. Run the numbers (Get Rich Slowly)
The key thing here is to actually do an analysis, as opposed to throwing around hand-wavy arguments like “Renting is throwing your money down the toilet” and “Leverage always makes you money.” If you make a financial decision that will cost you hundreds [...]