The difference between investing, speculating, and gambling — Human beings are naturally terrible at gauging risk. Here’s one example: Many people are scared of flying, but not many are scared of driving. Both are relatively safe, but flying comes with fewer fatalities per million miles traveled. …

For most people: Their whole career — I’m reading a fascinating book right now called The Millionaire Fast Lane by MJ DeMarco. In the book, he does the normal personal finance routine of making fun of the average American who is broke as a joke. Then he does something a little more unexpected. He turns his sights…

Or any other preposterous amount — I remember once reading a post on The Simple Dollar where a reader sent in a question about how to invest $50 million. It wasn’t hypothetical either; this reader really had $50 million after taxes. I knew this would be a fantastic post to write on, both because my answer…

And two that don’t matter — The problem with wanting to become rich is that there’s no good definition. If you live in an apartment, you think that homeowners are rich. Us homeowners think that the people who live in mansions are rich. The mansion dwellers think that Oprah is rich. And Oprah…well, I really hope…

In the last post, we talked about why it’s important to have an emergency fund and how big it should be. But there’s a question we didn’t address: Where should you keep it? When it comes to selecting a home for your this stash of cash, there’s a few important…

Sometimes you don’t have time to play the long game — If you had to come up with an extra $2,000 in 30 days, would you be able to do it? The unfortunate reality is that it’s tough to make that much money in such a short period of time. …

Here’s a confession: I’m still not 100% sure exactly how much money I should have in my emergency fund. Sometimes I find myself wanting more, realizing that life can be chaotic and unpredictable and it’s good to have a margin of safety. Other times I’m frustrated with how much cash…

For most people, transportation is one of their biggest expenses, so it’s worth thinking about how to get it under control. One option is to buy a late mode used vehicle instead of buying a new car. …

The big ideas that make it worth reading — All the Money in the World is a hidden gem of a personal finance book. It’s a lesser known book by a lesser known author who is usually known for writing about another topic. I usually associate Laura Vanderkam with productivity advice. Books like 168 Hours or What Most Successful…