Every other Sunday, The Simple Dollar reviews a personal development, personal growth, or career book. Over the past several months, I’ve reviewed a lot of books about entrepreneurship, building relationships with others, and climbing the career ladder. All of these techniques have one thing in common: they require you to stand up for yourself and… Read More Review: The Assertiveness Workbook

More than 373,000 Americans had retired abroad by 2013, according to the Social Security Administration, and for various reasons. For some, the decision to retire overseas could be based on a desire to experience different cultures and surroundings. Others may want to be closer to relatives or friends. But for a certain percentage of would-be… Read More Eight Best Places to Retire Abroad (and Enjoy the Good Life for Less)

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to five word summaries. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question. 1. Comparing income levels 2. Driving for cheap gas 3. Finding a mentor 4. Bread or all-purpose flour? 5. Breathing room in budget 6. Week of work… Read More Reader Mailbag: Confusing Foods

Every other Sunday, The Simple Dollar reviews a personal finance book. Every once in a while, I stumble upon a personal finance book that makes me really wish someone had put it in my hands earlier in my life. Sure, it might not have made a difference in terms of the financial mistakes I made… Read More Review: The Wall Street Journal Guide to Starting Your Financial Life

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, gift cards continue to be one of the most popular presents to give and receive. According to a study by CEB Tower Group, Americans loaded over $124 billion onto gift cards in 2014, much of which was gifted in the form of “e-gift cards” or mobile gift cards. But gift… Read More Guide to the Gift Card Economy

I’ve always loved the writings of William Shakespeare, ever since I first read Hamlet in eighth grade. Since then, I’ve read almost everything by The Bard, excepting some of the sonnets, and I’ve enjoyed both the famous and the obscure. The breadth of topics tackled by Shakespeare is large, so I recently wondered what thoughts… Read More Shakespeare Has Insights On Everything – Why Not Money?

I am absolutely honored to feature a guest post today by Vicki Robin, someone who I’ve had the privilege to get to know a little over the last year or so. Vicki is co-author of Your Money or Your Life, one of the books that changed my life. Currently, Vicki is teaching tele-classes about money… Read More Having Enough for Life

Planning a vacation can be overwhelming if you don’t know exactly where you want to go. After all, the world is a big place with an infinite amount of beauty and culture to explore. When you can basically go anywhere, whittling down your choices can become an arduous task. Fortunately, the Internet has more than… Read More Three Things to Watch Out for When Booking a Vacation Online

Two weeks ago, I was hanging out with a large group of people when one of them made the comment, “Well, you know how it goes… the money comes in, the money goes out … and maybe a little bit more!” This comment was met with laughs by several people. I just kind of half-smiled,… Read More That’s Just the Way It Is?

For me, Father’s Day has always been much easier to understand than Mother’s Day, perhaps because I saw my father as a role model growing up and now I have become a father myself. I also find that most fathers I know like “open-ended” gifts – ones that they can continually get enjoyment out of… Read More Eight Frugal Father’s Day Gift Ideas