Last August, Nora and Pippa were in Maine, visiting Nora’s college roommate Fiona. She lives in South Paris, which has beaucoup French-speaking residents, but that’s where the similarities to its eponymous sister city end. No complaints though. Maine is truly “The Way Life Should Be,” as its state motto affirms. Even for non-coastal cities like […]
Archives for January 2018
A Really Old Babysitting Check And a Missed Opportunity
My teenage daughter the other day: “Dad, just out of curiosity, how long is a check typically good for?” I groan. “How old is it?” “Ummmm, like, over a year.” “What?!? How much is it for?” “Thirty bucks, it’s no big deal,” she says. No big deal? Who is this daughter of mine? When I […]
What Is the Return on Investment of Personal Finance Blogging?
In February 2016, I read an article in the New Yorker about how Mr. Money Mustache retired at 30 and makes $400,000 a year from his blog. It made me sit up and take notice. And actually snicker a little, because he can’t spend any of it (as it would destroy his frugal reputation). But […]
When Is a Safe Deposit Box Worth the Expense?
When I told Dad I wanted to do a blog post on his attempt to hoard Liberty gold coins in his teens, I asked if I could take photos of the coins to accompany the story. “Sure, no problem,” he said. “I just need to find them. I think they’re at the bank.” So he […]
For My 16-Year-Old Daughter, 8 Lessons on Finding That First Real Job
Pippa is a junior in high school so naturally she is thinking about colleges…and majors…and jobs. She’s a confident girl, but utterly lost about what jobs or career to pursue. That’s not unusual at her age, but I think she thinks it is. The girl in her class who has always known she wants to […]