Getting Organized In The Google Era (Book Summary)

I ran across in an airport bookstore last month, and while I wasn’t about to pay the $23 retail hardcover price, I did add it to my library want list. The author Douglas Merrill was formerly the Chief Information Officer at Google, so I figured he might know something on the topic of organizing data in the digital age. Here are my notes.

First of all, this is not a detailed organizational framework like that of the best-seller by David Allen. It’s actually more like a series of blog posts that ended up being stretched into a book. Merrill uses a very casual, storytelling style of writing with lots of (sometimes awkward) personal stories and song lyrics mixed in. It

Read more…

Frugality and Decision Making Poll of The Week

Here’s another poll to test your frugality behaviors and decision-making processes. There is no right or wrong answer, I promise. Just answer the poll honestly before reading further. It’ll just take a second.

(Due to some technical hurdles, please click on the “Read the rest of this entry…” link below to vote. Thanks!)

You’re buying a nice pen. At the first store you visit, the pen costs $25. But you f

Read more…

Catching Up on Investing Posts

Getting your finances to the point where you’re regularly investing income in an IRA or 401(k) is the last 15% of dominating your finances. Over the past 11 months I’vewritten a handful of posts about investing, and year 2 of FF will dive in to this topic even more.

In the meantime, here’s some of the most popular and helpful FF posts on investing.

Savings? Check. But, Now What? -  Investing is the final frontier of managing your money and this post helps ease your investing tensions by answering questions about how much you should invest and where it should go.

The 5 Minute Guide to Roth IRAs (Video) – Everything you’ve ever wondered about investing through Roth IRAs is answered in this post. This will h

Read more…

Auto Insurance Rate Averages by State

Here is a chart of average auto insurance rates by state, via AARP.com, shaded by overage ranges. Click for an interactive map with more details and a ranking.

I wonder why rates in Louisiana are so high. $2,500 per year? Is it fear of flooding? Laws that encourage suing other drivers?

From the site: “Rates were calculated for more than 2,400 vehicles for model year 2010; based on a 40-year-old single male driver who commutes 12 miles to work; includes $500 deductible on collision and comprehensive coverage.” I wish they also shared how much liability coverage they chose, as that is the largest component of my premium.

You can use different types of mortgages, for example fixed rate mortgages and variable rate mortgages. As you understand from their names, fixed rate mortgages are those where the amount of the monthly mortgage payment remains the same throughout the term of the mortgage until the end of this period. On the other hand variable rate mortgages change throughout the life of the home mortgage.

Well, the people’s opinions seems divide about better type of mortgage and is mainly based on the preferences of the person who receives the mortgage. However, the general rule is that you must choose a variable rate mortgage if you plan to live in the house for a shorter period. Read more…