Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on the website Make Change as an advice column “It’s Complicated,” which is in the spirit of my occasional “Ask an Ex-Banker” posts. If you have personal finance questions for “It’s Complicated” or “Ask an Ex-Banker,” send me a note!    Dear Its Complicated: I’m a single fulltime freelancer […]

Let’s say you read my earlier post on angel investing and decided – despite my helpful warnings – that you would still like to pursue angel investing in your area. You don’t listen, do you? Well anyway, your next step as a smart money person would involve collecting data about angel investing to, you know, educate yourself […]

I always enjoy a good debate like “Is X worth it, financially?” When X = College the debate seems particularly fraught. A friend sent me a link to a blogger Erik Rood who makes a nice case for why investing in college does not pay as well as we might think, compared to competing financial […]

When you take the longest view of stock investing, a few patterns emerge, such as the importance of understanding value instead of investing according to an exciting “story.” Since this insight runs contrary to the way the Financial Infotainment Industrial Complex typically presents stock market investing, we need frequent reminders. Consider this your annual checkup. […]

How important is homeownership to building wealth in the United States? I’d put it on a list of the top five most important things people should do. Off the top of my head the other four are probably Stay out of high-interest debt Automate your savings and investments Invest in risky, not safe, things Invest […]