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Soften the Effect of High Gas Prices

by Luke Landes
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I got lucky: I decided to leave my job, and the associated daily commute, around the time gas prices started rising faster. Now, with more unrest in northern Africa, a gallon of gasoline at the pump costs more than $3.50 on average, with some location sporting a price north of $4.00. High gas prices, though ... Continue reading this article…

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Five Reasons I’m Happy I Rent

by AmberBalanced
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This is a guest article by Amber, the writer behind Blonde and Balanced, a blog about striking a balance in life, health, and money. Blonde and Balanced was included in my list of personal finance blogs you can trust. Old-school financial gurus sometimes claim that renting is wasted money or that renting doesn’t provide a ... Continue reading this article…

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Advantages of Buying a House With Cash

by Luke Landes
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The decision of whether to buy a house with cash or take out a mortgage may be one that most people never have to face. For the most part, American society is comfortable with the idea of going in debt to buy a house for two reasons. First, the value of a house is expected ... Continue reading this article…

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Best Buy’s Buy Back Program

by Luke Landes
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The consumer retailer Best Buy has found a way to lock customers into tighter relationships. The company’s rewards program may no longer the attraction it once was, so the company is introducing a benefit that will encourage shoppers to come back to the store. It also encourages the product upgrade philosophy, something that cell phone ... Continue reading this article…

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The Causes of the Financial Collapse

by Luke Landes
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In May 2009, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission was created to determine the primary factors that drove the economy to collapse, sparking the Great Recession. Their reports will be released in just a few hours to the public. The committee consists of members from both sides of the political aisle, and opinions within the report ... Continue reading this article…

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Life After Salary: One Month Without a Paycheck

by Luke Landes
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About a month ago, I celebrated my imminent departure from my former employer with a lunch with my co-workers. They’ve been spending the past few weeks trying to get through the year-end reporting period, and from what I hear, I should be glad I left when I did. I know, however, that I should have ... Continue reading this article…

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Study: College Students Aren’t Learning Basic Skills

by Luke Landes
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A new study following thousands of college students from 2005 through 2009 concludes that students are not learning the basic cognitive skills required for functioning properly in life, namely critical thinking, complex reasoning, and communication skills. The primary assumption that the goal of earning a college degree is obtaining these particular skills is where this ... Continue reading this article…

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Verizon Wireless Kills “New Every Two” Discount

by Luke Landes
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The year 2000 was not an easy one for me. I had hardly any money thanks to a low-paying non-profit job and student loan debt. Even when not spending much beyond the necessities, I wasn’t improving my financial condition. I was moving around from apartment to apartment; by 2004 I would had lived in seven ... Continue reading this article…

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4 Ways to Retire Early by Cheating

by Luke Landes
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Save for the last few years, the extreme early retirement movement was gaining momentum. If the American Dream was homeownership, saying, “See you!” to your boss with a more colorful word choice was the American Daydream. Who wouldn’t want financial freedom at age thirty, spending the best years of one’s life doing only what they ... Continue reading this article…

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Should You and Your Spouse Combine Money?

by Luke Landes
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In American society in the past, when it was more common for a family to have one income, that income might have covered the family’s expenses that correspond to the expenses that two incomes pay for now. That family, if typical, often consisted of a father, a mother, and two children. The one income was ... Continue reading this article…

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Why You Should Care About Your Wallet and Your Waistline

by Philip Taylor
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This is a guest article by Philip Taylor, the owner of the blog PT Money. Philip created PT Money to share his own experiences with successfully managing his money. It’s no secret that our money and our health are connected. More people want to excel with these two things for their lives more than any ... Continue reading this article…

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How to Buy Facebook Shares Now

by Luke Landes
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Update: As of May 2012, Facebook is trading publicly. You can purchase Facebook shares like any other stock trading on NASDAQ, using a discount brokerage or a full-service broker. I mentioned recently that although Goldman Sachs appears to be trying to come up with a plan to skirt the regulations set forth by the Securities ... Continue reading this article…

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Standard Deductions and Exemptions for Federal Income Tax

by Luke Landes
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Most taxpayers can choose between itemizing tax deductions to reduce taxable income, which requires accurate record-keeping and support, and taking the standard deduction. The standard tax deduction is a fixed amount that reduces the amount of money on which taxpayers owe the federal government. Generally, if you can show that you’ve had more deductible expenses ... Continue reading this article…

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2011 Federal Income Tax Brackets and Marginal Rates

by Luke Landes
Income tax

Latest information: 2012 tax brackets and rates 2013 tax brackets and rates The extended deadline is here for filing your 2010 income tax return. Since the Bush era tax cuts were extended, the income you’ve earned in the United States this year is subject to the same low rates as last year, but the margins ... Continue reading this article…

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Kids Play in the Stock Market, Adults Go Elsewhere

by Luke Landes
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Financial planners love to give examples about a hypothetical investor who placed $2,000 in the stock market every year since he was eighteen years old in 1950 and retired rich thanks to the stock market’s returns. They talk about the power of compound interest and getting rich slowly, investing in low-cost index mutual funds. There’s ... Continue reading this article…

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Gas Prices: Are You Ready for $5.00 per Gallon at the Pump?

by Luke Landes
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One of the benefits of no longer having a daily commute is I’ll be spending much less for fuel in my car. When I traveled to an office five days a week, and even when my travel schedule was changed to four days a week to allow one day for remote access, I filled up ... Continue reading this article…

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Is it Time to Buy a House?

by Luke Landes
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If you ask a Realtor or a national association of individuals within that profession whether now is the perfect time to buy a house, they would say yes. Of course, their answer was yes a year ago, when average prices were low, and their answer was yes a few years ago, when average prices were ... Continue reading this article…

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Life After Salary: The Human Connection

by Luke Landes
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Working in an office on a team with other employees is a social activity. Although there is work to be done and goals to accomplish, and although most of us stare at computer screens all day and spend most of the time in a cubicle or an office, many tasks require communicating with the people ... Continue reading this article…

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Life After Salary: Structure and Motivation

by Luke Landes
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Time management has never been my strength. I like working at my own pace, and the certain working structures, like deadlines, tend to annoy me rather than motivate me. It’s no wonder I’m excited about leaving a job with a typical standardized nine-to-five schedule. I allow myself distractions and breaks and often procrastinate. Despite this, ... Continue reading this article…

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How To Lose $10 Million Fast

by Luke Landes
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On Thanksgiving, the New York Times published a story about a man who had a check for $14 million ten years ago — $10 million after taxes — and who now has little to his name (Nick Martin). It’s not the sort of uplifting, family-focused feature article you usually see around the holidays, but people ... Continue reading this article…

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