Imagine you’re on vacation. The weather is perfect. The resort is beautiful. Someone offers you complimentary breakfast, a free excursion, … More

Money scams are everywhere right now, and they don’t always look like scams at first. If you’re trying to figure out whether… The post 21 Money Scams to Watch for in 2026 (and How to Avoid Them) appeared first on MoneyPantry.com.

Nan Ransohoff (Head of Public Goods at Stripe) recently published a sharp piece on what she calls the third wave of American philanthropy: the tidal change coming as AI wealth becomes liquid and a generation of founders gives it away. It’s a generous, clear-eyed essay about a real institutional mismatch: an enormous new pool of capital is forming, but the systems built to turn that capital into lasting public good have not caught up. Nan’s […]

It’s no secret that individuals with college degrees tend to earn more than their peers without college degrees. But sometimes you don’t even need a…

Save, invest, prosper with My Own Advisor. Should I transfer stocks into my TFSA? Thanks to a reader question, I’m going to tackle this question today in this updated post and offer some perspectives including what I’ve done in the past and what we intend to do in the future! I’ve also updated how I manage our dividend reinvestment plans (DRIPs) across… Early retiree thanks to DIY investing in stocks and ETFs. The article Should […]

A reader recently shared something with me that I think a lot of people can relate to: “I’ve been contemplating a career change and starting my own business. Would love if you write about courage to take a risk, succeeding, pivoting when needed, financial freedom.” Right? It’s really overwhelming if you think about all the areas of our life that need our attention. Career, family, finances, relationships, health, friendships, hobbies, and most importantly, your mental […]

A reader writes in, asking: “I have question about your VT + TIPS choice. Will you maintain that two fund portfolio throughout your life? Was wondering if your choice reflects a personal judgement about holding BND in a portfolio. BND has certainly not been a stellar performer for several years. Makes me wonder if going with TIPS only for the non-stock portion of our portfolio is also the right choice for us. Currently looking at […]

Don’t miss an episode of our podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors. Available on all podcast players. Here’s the latest episode: We’ve all spent money in dumb ways. But why? “You just didn’t think through your purchase.” Right. Thanks. I get that. …but what do I learn for next time? That I should…think more? I want to provide a better answer. So I dug into it. I recently appeared on Chris Hill’s Money Unplugged podcast, and I shared my story about purchasing a hot tub. The story, in short… In 2017, I went on an awesome trip with close friends. We went to a snowy house in the mountains. The house had a hot tub that acted as the social mecca for the weekend. I returned from the mountains to suburban Rochester and concluded, “I need a hot tub.” I followed through… spent way too much… and regretted the purchase quite quickly. I needed better answers. Why did I regret it? Where did my failure occur? What didn’t I think through that purchase? I needed to understand the faulty mental models that lead normal people to make regrettable purchases. The “Full Price” of a Product It’s important we start with the “full price” of a product. One of economist Gary Becker’s lasting ideas is that the “full price” for anything combines the direct monetary price and the indirect opportunity cost of the time required to consume it or produce it. That’s economics? In the business world, they call this “asset utilization.” It’s not just about how much that new assembly line costs. It’s about how efficiently the company uses it going forward. A new tennis racket might cost $200. But that racket only has value if you then use your time to play tennis. I wasn’t just buying an $11,000 hot tub. I was pre-allocating my future time. The full price of my hot tub involved hours and hours of sitting in it. Which, of course, is the point of owning a hot tub. But if you spend those hours in the hot tub, you’re not writing blog posts or recording podcasts or working with clients. You’re not doing chores around the house. You’re not putting the kids to bed. You’re eliminating other opportunities. When I bought that hot tub, I wasn’t thinking about full price. I was only thinking about sticker price. I bet most people are similar in many of their purchases. The Diderot Effect and Maintenance Burden The hot tub required a new, concrete pad to sit on. I built one. Then I had to run special electricity to it for extra power. It needed chemicals and water testing strips and weekly maintenance. The Diderot effect describes where buying one item triggers a chain reaction of further (sometimes unnecessary) purchases. Yes, the Diderot effect exists for daily items. Your new, sleek smartphone “needs” an equally protectice and attractive case. But the Diderot effect really