There is no place more delightful than one’s own fireplace.
— Cicero

At the grocery store today, I saw a big selection of different kinds of “easy burn” fire logs, fire starters, and such. The very existence of these things is a sad reminder of how far our culture has sunk. Why is the simple act of starting a fire, a skill humans have had for millennia, such a mystery to so many modern denizens of rich countries, to the point where you have to purchase a product specifically for the purpose? Why must the first impulse we have to solve any problem, no matter how trivial, be to purchase a product? Why bother having a fire in the first place in your central-heated home, if starting one is such a hassle?

I know, I know. A fire is nice and cozy in a way that furnace heat isn’t. There’s just something deep and primal about it. I am also embarrassed to confess that I have even tried those store-bought firelogs once or twice when I was feeling lazy, or had run out of firewood — and it’s true, they make it pretty easy to get a decent fire going. It just feels unmanly to rely on such things rather than start a proper fire yourself. It robs the fire of its primal nature, at least for me. Besides, the things cost $3-$5 a pop.

If you’ve ever been so frustrated trying to get a fire going in your fireplace or stove that you’ve been tempted to break down and buy a case of firelogs, I have a surefire (see what I did there?) method for you to get a great fire going using real wood, with just one match. [Click to continue…]

When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me, “Did you sleep well?” I said “No, I made a few mistakes.”
— Stephen Wright

In the ’90s I spent a couple of years working in consulting. These were the high-flying days of the first Internet boom, so I got flown all over the country on software development gigs for clients with more money than sense. I stayed on expense accounts in a lot of the fanciest hotels — the Ritz, the W, the Four Seasons, the Palomar, the Fairmont, the Omni — I sampled them all ¹. The beds were usually pretty nice, but nowhere have I found one more luxurious and comfortable than the one I have at home. [Click to continue…]

We all admire the wisdom of people who come to us for advice.
— Arthur Helps

Let’s say you have a friend who mentions that he is considering taking out a loan from his 401(k), and wants your advice on the idea. What do you think of this? Good idea? Bad?

The conventional wisdom among grand financial sages like Suze Orman is that this is a spectacularly bad idea, and you should never ever ever do it. Ever. So naturally you should caution your friend against it, right?

Well, not so fast. After all, if you’ve read this blog for a while, you might have some notion of my general opinion of conventional wisdom. You might also imagine that I look on any statement the includes the word “never” with great suspicion. So you may be predicting that this article ends with me saying 401(k) loans aren’t so terrible after all.

And it’s true — while Miss Orman offers some reasonable advice from time to time, she’s way off the mark on this one. 401(k) loans are generally ill-advised, but there are without a doubt some circumstances where they can be perfectly good tool.

But that’s not what this post is about. [Click to continue…]

Image by Félix Vallotton

Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.
— Wayne Dyer

I had a minor crisis at work today, and had to work later than usual. Frankly, I am exhausted, and while I enjoy writing this site, if I am to be completely honest, I must confess that tonight I’d prefer to have another glass of wine, catch up on Downton Abbey, and go to sleep. Yet here I am, writing another post. I can also say with complete confidence that, had I not publicly committed to my thirty-day posting challenge, I more than likely would have given myself a break tonight.

Human nature is a funny thing. We have a hard time staying motivated to do things that don’t have an immediate benefit, even if we know intellectually that they will have an enormous benefit long-term. In fact, this little quirk is at the heart of most people’s struggles with money, and of course it’s well documented that those who are able to overcome it have much better prospects in life. [Click to continue…]

The lack of money is the root of all evil.
— Mark Twain

As you get older, there comes a time in your life when you begin to switch roles with your parents. It may happen overnight for some people — with the onset of an illness, for example — but for me it has been a gradual sort of thing.

My mother is a dear lady, and highly educated and intelligent, but is absolutely disastrous when it comes to managing money. She made a perfectly fine salary over the course of her long career as a teacher, yet she and my step-father struggled financially pretty much continuously for my entire life, and still do, despite the fact that she has a generous pension and lives in a very inexpensive small town in Tennessee. The pension, which includes health care, has been their salvation — I can’t even begin to imagine where they’d be, otherwise. (Teaching in public schools is tough without question, but it has some advantages, depending on which state you’re in.) [Click to continue…]