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Four Financial Tips for Recent Graduates

fivecentnickel.com -- Given that its now mid-June, and pretty much everyone that will be graduating from college this year has done so, I though Id spend a bit of time putting together a short list of financial tips for the recent graduate. Here goes: 1. Spend less than you earn. This is perhaps the most worn out, overused phrase in the world of personal finance. But guess what? Its also the single most important finan...     2008
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Our Investment Portfolio: Asset Allocation and Location

fivecentnickel.com -- While Ive written a bit about our investment allocation in the past, weve tweaked things a bit recently so I thought Id lay thing our here for all to see. Before we go any further, I should note that we have a number of different accounts, including two Roth IRAs, three different employer-related retirement accounts, a SEP-IRA, and a taxable brokerage account. Because of the complexity of our situ...     2008
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Frugal vs. Cheap: Where Do You Draw the Line?

fivecentnickel.com -- With all the talk about saving money that’s floating around online, I thought it would be worth talking about the distinction between frugal and cheap.According to the Random House Unabridged Dictionary…frugal: 1. economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful. 2. entailing little expense; requiring few resources; meager; scanty.In contrast…cheap: 1. costing very littl...     2008
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Five Frugal Shopping Tips

fivecentnickel.com -- The other day I was watching one of the morning news when I saw an interesting discussion of grocery shopping tips for the budget-minded. Given that there were a number of good tips embedded in that discussion, I thought Id distill it down into five bite-sized chunks for your reading pleasure. 1. Buy store brands. You have nothing to lose. Not only do you avoid paying for the marketing efforts of ...     2008
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Building an Emergency Fund

fivecentnickel.com -- Im sure that youve heard this before, but it bears repeating When youre getting your financial house in order, the first step should be to build up an emergency fund. The purpose of this fund is to allow you to navigate rough patches in your life without completely derailing your finances. Just be sure that you reserve it for true emergencies. How large should your emergency fund be? The ideal siz...     2008
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Save Money by Fixing Things Yourself

fivecentnickel.com -- After a weekend spent working around the house, I was reminded of the value of being able to make simple fixes yourself. I’m a reasonably handy guy, and I take a certain amount of pride in being able to fix simple plumbing, electrical, etc. problems myself.Beyond the satisfaction that comes from maintaining my own house, there are a number of financial rewards associated with doing this. 1. Doing ...     2008
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Ten Tips for Avoiding an Income Tax Audit

fivecentnickel.com -- Having just finished preparing our taxes, my attention has now turned to minimizing our risk of being audited. While we haven’t done anything sketchy, and I also know that the odds of getting audited are quite low overall, I still don’t relish the idea of having to fight an audit. To that end, I thought I’d highlight some tips for avoiding an income tax audit that I recently ran across in Working ...     2008
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