Sure, if you can make up for it elsewhere, either in your husband's 401(k) or a new Roth for him, go for it. My wife's 401(k) sucks and mine is quite good, so of our 401(k) assets we contribute far more in my name than in hers. In the end it won't matter whose name it is under. (Unless we get divorced, I'm sure people…

Great story, man. Thanks for sharing that. And good luck.

I can confirm the "other people's kids" phenomenon. I love mine to death (obviously) but there are a LOT of kids I just don't like. Same way with dogs. I blame my introversion...I figure if I got to know them better I'd probably like them more.

I can completely see both sides of this argument. (How's that for taking a side?) But over time I've concluded that you as an individual need to understand yourself and your strengths/weaknesses/hopes/dreams/priorities and make the decision that's best for you, despite whatever pressure society or your mother-in-law…

Two thoughts here.

Yep. I have my RSS feed from Longreads dumped right into Pocket.

Well said, man. I listened to the audio book of Unbroken (which is even better than the book, if that's possible). And when Zamparini got transferred to another Japanese POW prison, the book describes how he was excited to escape The Bird's wrath, only to land at his new prison, and who else walks in? When the…

I'd be curious to learn more about this churn system though. Can you point me to any links?

I'm totally on board with using credit cards for as many purchases as possible to reap the rewards. But if you have problems with credit card debt or even just routine overspending brought on by the mental disconnect of using a credit card rather than cash or a debit card, then this simply isn't a good strategy for…

I use Excel. I started out very basic back in the late 1990s and as I've learned more about personal finance I've added many layers to my spreadsheet. I don't think I could replicate anything like it with software and with Excel I have more flexibility to play around with the numbers.

Absolutely. You have to have a sound budget to really make this work. That said, let's assume that your Needs make up 90% of your budget so you could only cut 10% in an emergency. Even then it would stand to reason that your emergency fund could be 10% smaller as a result.

I agree with most of this. I'm always a bit surprised to hear experts talk about emergency funds in terms of car repairs or a new appliance, because people who own homes or cars should be budgeting/saving for maintenance on a routine basis anyway. If you set aside $100 each month for both your home and your car, you…

Warren recommends 50% for "Must-Haves" as she calls them (I called them "Needs" above), 30% for Wants, and 20% for Savings. My budget doesn't fit perfectly into her recommendations - I have more Needs and Savings and less Wants - thus neither does my emergency budget.

I have a strategy that I'm surprised I don't hear more "experts" talking about. (Maybe I'm missing a branding opportunity here!) When people talk about emergencies, they always talk about saving enough. But if necessary you could probably make temporary but major reductions in spending too. So in addition to my…

I'd consider buying a NOT GREAT BOB t-shirt if someone came up with such a thing.

I'm in Iowa and the difference at Costco is about $0.05. Years ago it used to be closer to $0.10 but it seems after gas prices skyrocketed in 2008 the gap narrowed. So now I gas up when I'm at Costco (once every 3-4 weeks) but not worth going out of my way for.

Generally speaking, and I say this as a huge personal finance geek who pays a lot of attention to this stuff, this isn't terrible advice.

Kids are a nuclear bomb on your finances, there's just no way to get around it. Daycare is an absolute killer. And about the time you dig out from under having your first one, it's about time to have the second. My kids are 7 and 5 and it's only been in the last year or two I feel like we're truly "caught up" - and I…

I feel pretty strongly that college is the ticket to a good career and high quality of life, even if you end up (as many do) working in a field unrelated to your major. American society puts a premium on the growth and development that those four years give you, and statistically speaking this is the surest way toward…

I understand this sentiment, yet at the same time we're all overworked and buried in email. Speaking for myself, if I responded to every email with an estimate of when I might actually get around to solving their problem, I would 1) double the number of emails I send, and 2) constantly feel like a failure because I'm…