@arsenik: So there was one (unnamed) study that apparently compared competent people to idiots — and the idiots lost? That, coupled with the anecdotal advice from whoever the millionaires are that you've talked to on the subject, suggest to me that you're doing a bang-up research job.

@TrixieSkylark: Well, that's why small business owners are going out of business left and right these days...

@TheFu: That's a very thorough (and very responsible, respectable) setup you're running there...

@abhowell: Agreed, the online banking that nearly every bank offers these days is great for tracking expenses. My BofA account will even break purchases into categories and make graphs of how I typically spend my money. Brilliant. It totally gets rid of the need for the "little black book."

@czarandy: Yeah, seriously, as long as you have some self-control and don't spend more than you can pay at the end of the month it's much easier, more convenient, and more secure to just walk around with plastic in your pocket. I see the wisdom in paying for things with only cash if you don't want to risk over…

@phoenix6666: I see the wisdom in only eating when you're hungry, but it's also true that when you eat more regularly your metabolism speeds up to compensate. This is why people sometimes lose when when they _start_ eating breakfast. I had a trainer advise me to eat 5 times a day (small, balanced meals) when I was…

@UglyDuckCar: Don't worry, man. I enjoyed your story.

Two other tips:

@psychiccheese: Is there a fly buzzing around in here or something?

I guess there's no room for pockets in those skin-tight riding shorts...

@JohnnySaber: Actually, I just realized that I misspoke above. I don't know what I was thinking, but I accidentally referred to depreciation as an added expense on top of the purchase price of the car. This is not the case.

@dragonsbait: [Edmunds.com] has a very nice "true cost to own" calculation for cars that factors in things like average insurance costs, repair bills, fuel costs, and even average depreciation.

@Matt Malecot: Exactly. France is going through this in a big way these days. The idea is that everyone _deserves_ a "living" wage, regardless of what they do for work. While this might be nice, it's just not realistic. I mean, what is a "living" wage — is it for the person, or for them and whoever they decide to…

@veronykah: Honestly, I think this may be the best reason mentioned so far not to shop at Wal-Mart — not because it's right, but just because it's unapologetically ridiculous.

@UnderLoK: Just remember Mark Twain's famous quote about smoking:

@fatbob: Not so, because you're still locked in to pay whatever you bought the house for back in the day, plus interest. And, by studiously avoiding making extra payments to accelerate the schedule you've really only made sure to _increase_ the total price of the house overall.

@fatbob: I'd been thinking about what you said about how you want to keep fixed-rate, low-interest loans for as long as possible, and I think I get where you're coming from now. Because the rate of interest on the money is lower than that which you could earn by investing your money in say, stocks, you should do that…

@bobbo33: Thanks, bobbo. This is mostly what I'm talking about, but actually last night I think I discovered an even easier way to figure out what percentage of each payment goes where — use a depreciation/amortization calculator from any of the many mortgage calculators. They show how each individual payment…

@Sirpuddingfoot: This idea makes a lot of sense to me, because you get sort of the best of both worlds. In the beginning of your mortgage you get to take advantage of the small, extra payments that go directly to principle without being too big of a sacrifice, yet still dramatically reduce the length (and sum total)…

@chipper75: Well, you have to keep in mind that even if your house dips in value temporarily (like now), most likely that simply means its value was being inflated for a while anyway. We had a pretty big housing bubble that had to burst in this country, but the fact is that over time housing values are still rising. …