The other day, I asked about the difference between “frugal” and “cheap”. There were a number of great answers, but one in particular stood out to me…
According to Kyle of Amateur Asset Allocator:
“My definition is simple: if I do it, it’s frugal. If somebody else does it, it’s cheap.”
Hmmm… I’m not so sure that [...]

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A few weeks back, a reader named Randy sent me a tip about an article dealing with money and (in)fidelity. While the concept of infidelity is typically used in the context of adultery, infidelity is more generally defined as disloyalty. The article then goes on to discuss the concept of financial infidelity — that is, [...]

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Don’t get me wrong — it’s still cheap by traditional brokerage standards, but it’s considerably more expensive than free…. Don’t get me wrong — it’s still cheap by traditional brokerage standards, but it’s considerably more expensive than free.

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This past week I finally gave in and joined all the cool kids who have a Twitter account. In case you’re not aware, Twitter is a “micro-blogging” service where you can make short (140 character max) text-based posts using a variety of methods (web, 3rd party app, IM, or text message). This is an interesting [...]

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FiveCentNickel participated in five carnivals this week. Here they are along with links to my articles that were included in each.
The Carnival of Personal Finance included “Ten Things to Do With Your Tax Refund.” Also included was “Beware the Promise of Interest Free Purchases” from creditaddict.com.
The Festival of Frugality included “Five Frugal Shopping Tips.”
The Best [...]

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If you’re expecting a tax stimulus rebate payment, your wait just got shorter. While the original tax rebate payment schedule called for payments to begin on May 2nd, a new computer system has allowed the feds to accelerate the schedule. Payments are now supposed to commence this coming Monday, four days early.
According to the new [...]

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I just ran across an interesting article about renewable energy over at the Green Tech weblog. In it, they break down the type of investment that would be required to replace the energy provided by a cubic mile of oil (CMO).
In case you’re not aware (as I wasn’t), a CMO is a measure of energy [...]

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While we haven’t officially in a recession, we’re still standing on pretty shaky economic ground. As such, I thought I’d post a recent list of the best careers to have in a recession from Money Magazine. In general terms, this list reflects the careers with the best combination of pay and expected growth rate over [...]

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A reader named Elizabeth recently left a comment about Kroger’s tax rebate promotion.
For those of you that are unaware, Kroger (KR) is a large grocery chain based out of Cincinnati, with nearly 2,500 stores spread across multiple states.
Starting May 2nd, Kroger will allow customers to exchange their “economic stimulus” rebate check for store gift cards [...]

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As many of you know, we renovated our house this past fall. The work that we had done included an addition, replacement of our deck, conversion of our old laundry room into a powder room, and the construction of a small outbuilding.
Over this past weekend, our property tax re-assessment showed up in our mailbox. While [...]

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