I love animals, but I don’t want any pets. It’s probably because I don’t want to be responsible for another living being.
Or to be responsible for torturing another living being.
personal finance
Could you live well on $30k a year?
One of the two couples I interviewed in my latest MSN Money column has an adjusted gross income of $30,000 — and is raising kids and paying for a home on that sum.
The other couple is doing the same thing on an AGI of $36,000.
Could you?
Giveaway: “Not Your Parents’ Money Book”
Want to give your kids a shot at financial freedom? Jean Chatzky can help.
Aimed at the middle-school set, “Not Your Parents’ Money Book” arose from Chatzky’s talks with students across the United States. What they wanted to know was fairly pragmatic: How much does it cost to live independently? What kind of job would I need to do that? What’s wrong with the economy? What’s a recession? Why can’t the government just print more dollars?
“Kids haven’t learned that money is a limited resource,” Chatzky told me.
Guillain-Barre syndrome: The anniversary.
Recently my daughter noticed she was having trouble swallowing. This perplexed her until she realized what day it was: Jan. 21, the anniversary of the day she wound up in the ICU back in 1998.
What put her there was Guillain-Barre syndrome, an auto-immune disease that attacks the peripheral nervous system and, in Abby’s case, paralyzed her right up to her eyeballs and nearly killed her.
Blog roundup: Heaving alabaster bosoms edition.
Let’s make this clear: I don’t read romance novels. But a woman I know does. No. Seriously! It’s not me!
Check out her post, “What you should be reading for Christmas,” either as an occasion for hilarity or a chance to make a reading list. Romances aren’t my cup of (overly sweetened) tea, but they might be yours.
And yeah, Christmas has come and gone – but Valentine’s Day awaits.
Julia over at Bargain Babe is giving away 11 prizes, including a $250 Macy’s gift card, to celebrate the site’s second anniversary. Click here to learn more and to enter. Do it quickly, since the deadline for the Macy’s card is 11:59 p.m. Monday.
10 financial lessons from ‘True Grit.’
I’ve been reading and re-reading this wonderful Charles Portis novel since I was a teenager. Mattie Ross is a hell of a protagonist. She’s strong, determined, relentless and, above all, frugal.
Here are 10 things you could learn from her story, courtesy of Mr. Portis and the Coen brothers. And without a single song by Glen Campbell!
1. Negotiate. Mattie convinces Stonehill the stock trader to buy back the four ponies he’d sold to her now-dead father for $25 apiece. (Whether it’s the price of a car or a shirt, you might be able to strike a deal. Doesn’t hurt to ask.)
2. Stand up for your rights. Since her father’s horse was stolen from the stock barn, Mattie asks Stonehill to accept responsibility. He refuses, she persists. (If you think you’re being hosed, say so.)
Blog roundup: Baby, it’s cold outside edition.
Earlier this week I was out walking when the temperature was about 5 degrees. My body felt warm enough but boy, did my face sting. Apparently my blood has gotten thin after six years of living in Seattle, aka “the tropics.”
While I was living in Anchorage, the features reporters had to collaborate on an annual “Christmas lights” story. Acting on tips from readers, we fanned out across the city in search of the best-decorated homes in the city.
“Best” sometimes meant elegant and tasteful. Most of the time it meant “so bright you could get a tan while standing nearby.”
Could your family survive on one salary?
Some couples choose to go to one income: to have a baby, to go back to school, to start a business. For others the change is involuntary and terrifying: layoff, illness, a business going under.
Those who seek change have the option of preparing for it. Those who have change thrust upon them can only scramble to minimize the damage.
Blog roundup: Windy City edition.
I didn’t have a lot of reading time this week because I stayed in Chicago for a few days after attending SaveUp 2010. Thus my recommended reading list is short and sweet. A cheaper Christmas? at I Pick Up Pennies Get a bigger check from Social Security at Kiplinger’s (hint: timing is everything) 25 a-peeling … Read more
Blog roundup: Poor little rich prof edition.
The blogosphere sizzled, both pro and con, over a post in which University of Chicago law professor Todd Henderson claimed he and his physician wife are not rich.
Sure, they have a 4,700-square-foot home, two cars, a gardener, several kids in private school, a full-time nanny for their new baby and someone who comes in to clean a few times a month.
Wonder what that particular brand of poverty feels like? (Also, why two cars if he lives within walking distance of the university?)
Laura Rowley did a swell blog post called Why the rich don’t feel rich at Yahoo! Finance. You need to read it. You should also follow this link within her piece and enjoy economist J. Bradford DeLong as he scores points off Henderson, whom he designates an “unreliable narrator.”
Ain’t no schadenfreude like scholarly schadenfreude.
But do find time also to look at: