In the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen an increasing number of television commercials featuring sleigh bells and fluffy fake snow. The Sunday paper is stuffed with advertising inserts to help us find the perfect gifts. Obviously, it’s that time of year again. Time to...
A recent column, “The Housing Bubble That Wasn’t,” struck a real nerve with readers, who shared some thoughtful comments via email and my weblog. In that column I compared today’s housing prices, adjusted for inflation, to those in 1950. Viewed with that...
Chances are you won’t ever be famous enough to write an autobiography. Still, your life has its own story. That story is shaped by your background and the influences that have formed your beliefs and helped make you the person you are. One facet of your biography that...
In a column in August, I reported that almost every large news magazine and major newspaper was predicting the real estate bubble was about to pop. I concluded that, when the major financial press all agree an event is eminent, that is the best guarantee it probably...
Living within a budget would seem to be a perfectly straightforward proposition. The first part of the task is creating the budget. You list all of your income, then list all your expenses, add them up and compare the two. The second part is following the budget. You...
