While walking through an IKEA home furnishings store last week I saw a bunch of neat "model homes" that took up very little space. Supposedly every IKEA store has their own sampling of small space floor plans - only a few are profiled on their … [Read the rest]
Annual reminder for 2014. Want to get back on track for the new year? Here is a list of ways to get free credit reports, free credit scores, and free credit monitoring services. Remember that there are three major consumer credit bureaus - … [Read the rest]
While dividend size is not the primary driver of my investment decisions, I still love seeing dividend distributions arrive in my brokerage account and consider them a critical part of my portfolio's total return. Eddy Elfenbein of Crossing … [Read the rest]
Here's a 2013 year-end update of our retirement portfolio, which includes employer 401(k) plans, self-employed retirement plans, Traditional and Roth IRAs, and taxable brokerage holdings. Cash reserves (emergency fund), college savings accounts, … [Read the rest]
It's time to check up on our 2013 New Year's Resolutions, which I gave the eloquent theme "Get our crap together" (in case one or both of us dies). I will roughly follow this GYST checklist. Will and trusts. We are fortunate to have a family … [Read the rest]
Not to turn this into a food blog, but talking about The French Laundry reminded me of another awesome Northern Californian meal you could have at a mere fraction of the cost. Both the Tomales Bay Oyster Company and the Hog Island Oyster Company … [Read the rest]
Businessweek has a profile of the latest exclusive, farm-to-table, 16-course-meal restaurant, including a list of the "five toughest restaurant reservations in America". I found myself smiling because I recently ate at one of the places on that … [Read the rest]
There is a minor kerfuffle going on with Matthew Yglesias and his post How to Save Money on Amazon With a Fake Baby vs. internet ethicists including Gawker. Short version: If you sign up for Amazon's Subscribe & Save program and add at least 5 … [Read the rest]
A few well-publicized academic studies have shown that financial incentives can be very effective in helping people lose weight. As a result, there is now a website called HealthyWage.com that will actually pay you money if you can prove you … [Read the rest]
"Enough Is Enough: Stop Wasting Money on Vitamin and Mineral Supplements" is the title of an editorial in the Annals of Internal Medicine that address three different studies released in the same issue about the role of vitamin and mineral … [Read the rest]
I always tell myself to do more research on Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), but I lack motivation because we have great health insurance benefits and not even the option of an HSA-eligible high-deductible plan. I know, what a tough problem to have … [Read the rest]
Just a quick note that I finally updated this site's design after many, many years. The primary goal of this redesign was to improve usability and readability across modern computer screens, which now span from 30" widescreen monsters to 3.5" … [Read the rest]
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