Archive
Money: every article
47 articles, newest first.
24 September 20262 pieces
- MoneyThe captain's license is the cheap part of running chartersA six-pack license costs a year of sea time and a few hundred dollars. The boat math decides whether you ever get paid.
- MoneyThe dream job test is what it pays in FebruarySmokejumper, fishing guide, luthier. They're real jobs with real paychecks, as long as you judge the whole year and not the best week.
23 September 202630 pieces
- MoneyAn HSA is a retirement account with a medical wrapperMost people spend the balance every December on copays and dental work. That habit costs them the single best tax break in the code.
- MoneyAdd up the worst year before you pick a health planFour numbers decide what your coverage actually costs, and the deductible is the one people stare at for the wrong reasons.
- MoneyPrice every health plan on a good year and a bad yearTwo numbers decide which family health plan is cheaper, and the enrollment portal shows you neither one.
- MoneyPick your family's health plan with three columns of mathThe premium is the number they put in front of you. The worst-year total is the number that actually decides it.
- MoneyAsk the pharmacist for the cash price before you hand over the cardYour copay isn't the price. It's one of at least three, and the cheapest one is usually the one nobody offers you.
- MoneyA health savings account is a tax account with a medical nameTriple tax break, one strict entry requirement, and a deductible you have to cover in cash. The arithmetic decides whether it's yours.
- MoneyPay yourself a salary when the work won'tTrades, commission and seasonal work don't pay monthly. Your mortgage does. Here's the arithmetic that closes the gap.
- MoneyThe only refinance number that matters is the break-even monthClosing costs divided by monthly savings gets you close, but two common tricks make a bad refinance look like a good one.
- MoneyPay yourself the payment for three months before you borrowA $12,000 loan at 12.9 percent hands the lender $3,424. Saving the same monthly amount gets you there in 36 months instead of 48, and the math is yours to check.
- MoneyPay for the wedding in cash or move the dateThe guest list is the budget. Everything else is decoration, and most of it's negotiable if you run the numbers first.
- MoneyRead your home insurance policy on a Tuesday, not after a fireSix numbers in your policy decide what you actually get paid. Most people meet them for the first time standing in a wet hallway.
- MoneyWhat actually moves your credit score and what doesn'tTwo things do most of the work, a dozen things do almost nothing, and one common piece of advice costs people money every month.
- MoneyThe second income is smaller than the paycheck saysBefore one parent comes home, do the subtraction that tells you what that job is actually adding to your family.
- MoneyThe phone call that empties a family's savingsIt starts polite, it starts urgent, and it ends with somebody at a Walgreens buying $500 gift cards. The defense takes four minutes.
- MoneyThe side income tax bill nobody sets money aside forYou cleared $11,000 detailing cars on Saturdays. Roughly a third of it was never yours. Do the arithmetic now, not in April.
- MoneyRetirement accounts and the one question that sorts them401(k), IRA, Roth, HSA, SEP. Strip the alphabet soup and it comes down to who taxes the money and when.
- MoneyThe rent versus buy math nobody runs before they signA $350,000 house, an $1,850 rent, and five years of arithmetic that doesn't flatter either side.
- MoneyNegotiate your raise with a page of evidence, not nerveCourage doesn't move a budget line. A one-page file with numbers, dates and a market range does, and you can build it in a few evenings.
- MoneyThe family tax breaks that are worth the paperworkA credit cuts your bill dollar for dollar. A deduction cuts it by your tax rate. Once you see the difference, the rest of the form gets simpler.
- MoneyWhat each college savings account actually does with your money529, Coverdell, custodial, Roth, plain brokerage, I bonds. The real differences, the tax math, and which one deserves your first $200 a month.
- MoneyRead the medical bill line by line before you pay a dollarThe first piece of paper the hospital sends you isn't a bill. It's an opening offer, and it's usually wrong in their favor.
- MoneyYour Beneficiary Form Beats Your WillMost of what you own won't pass through your will at all, and the paperwork that actually controls it takes twenty minutes to fix.
- MoneyWhen to do your own taxes and when to pay somebodyThe test isn't how smart you're. It's whether your return contains judgment calls, and how many Saturdays you're willing to burn finding out.
- MoneyRun the monthly money check in forty-five minutesSame day, same order, same folder. Statements, bills, transfers, goals, plus one annual job you rotate in so nothing ambushes you in March.
- MoneyWhen your bank closes your account and won't say whyThe letter gives you two months and no explanation. What to do in the first week, in the right order, before your direct debits start failing.
- MoneyDo the life insurance arithmetic before you take the meetingWork out your own number on one sheet of paper, then walk into the conversation knowing exactly what you're buying and what you're refusing.
- MoneyWhat you're actually buying when you buy an index fundStrip out the marketing and an index fund is a list, a rule and a fee. The fee is the part you control.
- MoneyWhat an index fund actually is and what it costs youStrip out the sales language and an index fund is a list you buy in one go. The arithmetic on fees is the part most people never run.
- MoneyDo the life insurance arithmetic before anyone quotes youWork out your number on one sheet of paper, then buy exactly that. The whole upsell depends on you walking in without a figure.
- MoneyWhat a $250,000 mortgage actually costs over 25 yearsYour first payment is mostly interest, and it stays that way for nearly a decade. The arithmetic behind that, and the levers that change it.
22 September 202613 pieces
- MoneyHow to work out your life insurance number and stop thereThe arithmetic takes twenty minutes. The hard part is refusing the upsell that comes after it.
- MoneyAn index fund is a list and a machine that buys the listNo jargon, no hype, just what you're actually buying, what it costs, and the arithmetic that decides how it turns out.
- MoneyDo the arithmetic on your mortgage before you signThe monthly payment is the number they show you. The total of payments is the number you actually agree to pay.
- MoneyGiving when the month is already tightPick the number on a calm day, write down the order of operations, and decide in advance what you'll do when the car breaks.
- MoneyTeach your kids money before an app does it for youYour children are learning about money right now, from you or from a screen. A practical plan by age, with the arithmetic written out.
- MoneyHow much life insurance you need, and what kind to buyWork out the number yourself in fifteen minutes, then buy the boring policy that covers it and get on with your life.
- MoneyThe car payment isn't the priceFour numbers decide whether a car purchase helps you or quietly drains you for the next seven years. Run them before you walk in.
- MoneyYour emergency fund is insurance, not savingsIt exists to stop one bad week turning into three bad years — and to buy you the right to say no to a bad offer.
- MoneyPaying Off Debt in the Order the Arithmetic SaysMost people attack consumer debt evenly across every balance. That's the expensive way to do it. There's a sequence, and it isn't complicated.
- MoneyBuild a budget that survives an actual monthMost budgets break in week three. The fix is arithmetic: fund the irregular stuff monthly, build in slack, and check the numbers once a week.
- MoneyYour payslip, your tax code, and where the money wentMost people check the bottom number and file the rest. The other lines are where the errors hide, and they're usually yours to catch.
- MoneyWhat to do with a lump sum before it quietly disappearsA bonus, an inheritance or a settlement is the easiest money in the world to lose. The arithmetic for keeping most of it is simple.
- MoneyHow to read a job posting before you lose a week to itFifteen minutes with a calculator tells you more about a job than fifteen hours with a cover letter ever will.