Written By Paula Pant
Guess what magazine I’m always reading?
If you guessed something targeted at 20-somethings or 30-somethings, you’re wrong. I love AARP magazine — the bimonthly publication of the American Association of Retired Persons.
It shows up in the mailbox at my 70-year-old parents suburban home, but I steal it away to my city apartment and devour […]
Written By Paula Pant
I was reading through the January/February 2011 edition of AARP Magazine* which featured an interview with George W. Bush. Regardless of how you feel about his Presidency, one comment he made that rang true: retirement is an “old-fashioned” term.
You never retire.
More people are beginning to recognize that retirement – the notion that one […]
Written By Paula Pant
When you buy a home, you will learn that there are two kinds of mortgages: fixed-rate and adjustable-rate.
What’s the difference?
A fixed-rate mortgage gives you an interest rate that never changes. An adjustable-rate mortgage gives you a volatile interest rate: in times of slow economic growth and low inflation, the interest rate will be […]
Written By Paula Pant
Welcome to the anti-frugality blog.
You CAN afford anything you want, if you learn to take the right steps.
This is a blog for people who are tired of the extreme-frugality blogs. This is a blog for people who are tired of reading that you should skip that trip to Aruba, enroll at your second-choice […]
Written By Paula Pant
Money management can get really complicated — if you let it.
People ask me all kinds of nuanced, nitty-gritty questions:
“Should I invest in Company XYZ, given that their price-to-book ratio is not up to recommended standards?” “Which of these five developed-market small-cap value funds do you recommend?” “Should I pay an early-withdrawal penalty […]
Written By Paula Pant
Retirement is such a part of our cultural fabric that it’s viewed as a basic human right.
It’s the final chapter in the American Dream: a home, a family, a secure retirement.
But it hasn’t always been this way.
For much of American history, people worked until they were too sick to work anymore. […]
Written By Paula Pant
The traditional American Dream is home ownership, but everyone who lived through 2008 – 2010 knows that home ownership, for many, became the American Nightmare.
What went wrong? (Aside from subprime mortgages and other things outside of our control):
1. Many people bought a home because it’s the “adult” thing to do … […]
Written By Paula Pant
Here’s the truth about houses: Unless you’re a landlord, your house will probably be the lousiest investment you ever make.
The myth about home ownership is that it’s a great investment — a way to “build equity” rather than “throwing your money away on rent.”
Hogwash.
Here’s the truth: When you rent, you pay […]
