We started Control Your Cash for one reason:
Your relationship with money is almost certainly dysfunctional. You don’t know what you don’t know, probably because nobody ever taught you.
Fortunately, you can stop letting money act on you – and actually take charge of it.
We don't give patently obvious advice here, stuff like "spend less than you make." (Wow, what insight.)
Instead, we show you what pitfalls to avoid and what quiet opportunities to take advantage of. Spend a little time here and you’ll no longer have to pretend that you know what the S&P 500 is. Or whether a Roth IRA is better than a traditional one. You’ll understand the why, and the how.
And you’ll find that personal finance is a lot less complicated than you thought.
The Latest
The Best Alternatives to a 401(k)
The well of creativity is barely a trickle at this point. Our muse went to St. Tropez with someone younger and better-looking, and that was months ago. Is she ever coming back? We’ll leave a light on. Spend more time at the gym. Buy more flattering clothes. Vacuum the house once in a while. Damn, […]
Carnival of Wealth, Back from the Dead Edition
If you missed last week’s Carnival of Wealth…well, you weren’t the only one. First, the excuse: we use a couple of hosting services to organize the carnival submissions for us. One of those services has been down for a while now, the other one takes submissions and watches them disappear into the ether. So […]
An Investopedia Repost About Lockouts and Such
From our Investopedia files, a piece about sports labor strife. Which doesn’t pertain to your life unless you’re an athlete, an agent, or maybe a team owner, but it’s an entertaining read. Trust us, we wrote it. Here’s an enticing sample: By 2011, pro football had metamorphosed from popular sport into national obsession. That spring, […]
Carnival of Wealth, Andrew Pohl Edition
That’s the problem with being selective. You accept only the good submissions, or the stupendously awful ones, and pretty soon the number of submitters dwindles to a trickle. Presenting another edition of the Carnival of Wealth, the only personal finance blog carnival worth a damn. Even with only 2 submitters. One of whom is […]
From the Archives
What coverage should you get when renting a car? (I of II)
As any savvy retailer knows, the basic products themselves aren’t the profit centers. The extras are. Otherwise appetizers, alcohol and desserts wouldn’t exist. When you buy insurance on your personal vehicle, you have all the time you need to shop around and run numbers. When you buy insurance on a rental, you’re subject to […]
Shortcuts Are More Work Than They’re Worth
In honor of the late John Wooden, this week’s lesson is to work on your fundamentals. There are two major ways to evaluate stocks: fundamental analysis and technical analysis. Groan. Stop whining. This isn’t difficult. Fundamental analysis means assessing a company’s financial statements: taking the accountants’ work and reaching conclusions with it. Technical […]
Review of A 5-Year-Old Book
We recently discovered the works of behavioral economist Dan Ariely. (Thank you, Amazon recommendations! And thank you for carrying our book, now in its umpteenth printing.) When we discovered that Jason of Hull Financial Planning is also a fan of Professor Ariely’s, we knew we were in the right place. You need to read […]
Ordinary Income. Extraordinary taxes.
A couple of days ago we pointed out how money doesn’t care where it came from. Some people think that their regular salaries should go towards daily expenses, while windfalls (inheritances, stock appreciation, house appreciation, etc.) can go towards less vital stuff like vacations and ATVs. That’s an idiotic perception. If you have […]
