Happy Birthday to Me! + MORE

Well the last 30 days have been anything but normal  for the Ninja household. I don’t know if you keep up with MANteresting at all, but the media gods had favor on us last week. It started with this BuzzFeed article, which snowballed in to a few dozen more articles being written about us and a buttload of traffic…

How many times have you skipped a doctor visit you needed because you didn’t have health care coverage?
After all, your shoulder hurts, but you can live with it, right? There’s no point in going to the doctor just so he can tell you about x-rays, meds, and therapy that’ll likely cost a few grand…

Apparently everyone in the world is constantly changing credit cards to get better bonuses, more rewards, 0% interest on balance transfers and signing bonuses.  There is an exciting world of free stuff out there and I have been letting it pass me by because keeping the cards I have had for years is easy and comfortable and fits my slightly slothlike lifestyle…

Developed and even developing nations have a pretty good laugh at North Korea’s expense.
The country has been under economic sanctions from the West since the 1950s. Not even China has much sympathy for the odd society that used to be its strategic and philosophical neighbor.
Recently, Dennis Rodman did a meet and greet with North Korea’s newest leader, Kim Jong Un, who follows the dynastic line of leaders that have run the country since the end of the Korean War…

At the core of the Federal form Schedule A is the chance to keep more of your hard-earned money. These are commonly referred to as “itemized deductions.” There are more than a dozen to choose from, but not all of them are the same.
Here are five deductions you want and three you don’t…

If you want to enjoy spring break, it is time to implement the best hints. Spring is here and you don’t want to miss out this grandiose time. Fresh aromas and fun times are in the air and you should be already shaking off your winter blues. As you may know, few days before Spring break, prices start to increase…

Whether it’s your physical health or your financial health, it’s important to watch for signs of potential trouble ahead.Feeling blue more often than you should? You could be suffering from depression. Nose running? Could be allergies.  Is that cut on your arm turning red and puffy? That’s a sign of infection…

This post is from staff writer Lisa Aberle. Common personal finance advice recommends building an emergency fund. In fact, how and why to have an emergency fund has been covered here before. But like so much common advice, it doesn’t apply to everyone — and it certainly doesn’t apply to each stage of personal finance…

It would be nice to think that you could receive desirable investment returns like clockwork. Just make the right investment, with the right advisor, and you could see regular returns on your investment.
Unfortunately, investing doesn’t work like that. In fact, orderly and consistent investment returns are a sign of a Ponzi scheme…

Each life insurance provider has different requirements and different ways of evaluating the insurability of its applicants. While some providers will require medical and blood tests, others will just ask a series of questions over the phone to determine whether they will insure you or not.
When you apply for life insurance, the insurer will look at a number of factors to decide if you are insurable, and how much to charge in premiums if they decide to insure you…

Via Credit.com. By Todd Tresidder
Everyone knows how to solve debt and credit problems — make more and spend less.
However, knowing what to do is one thing; actually getting it done is another matter.
If you are in debt, then those results prove that something is standing between you and the solution you already fully understand…

I’ve been meaning to blog about this for quite some time, and then over the weekend a fellow reader got it out of me in an email exchange 🙂 Which is copied & pasted below for your pleasure/learning/entertainment. Nothing incredibly Earth shattering or anything, but nonetheless something to keep in mind if you’re debating between some serious decisions…

A new study by George Mason University’s Mercatus Center ranks each of the 50 U.S. States’ performance in providing residents a free environment to live, to make self-determining choices, to seek justice under the law and to prosper.
The “Freedom in the 50 States” study ranks each State’s “overall” freedom through an examination of several metrics that affect how individuals live…

Are all conferences worth attending? I think the answer depends on the conference and what each individual wants to get out of attending the conference. If you are a company that is pitching products to people attending, it will depend on your product and the audience that will be attending the conference…

Karen writes in:
My brother has argued with me that I shouldn’t make any extra payments on our mortgage because we’re losing money over the long term by making early payments. He says that with inflation at 3% and our money able to earn 1% at minimum in a savings account and more if we do other things, we’re losing money by making early payments on our 3…

Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey March 2013 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the time I’m 35 years old (end of 2014)…

Today is the 8th anniversary of Free Money Finance! Yes, eight short years ago I began this blog with one simple post — on how to contact me. 🙂 I followed that one up with a short piece noting what the site would be about. I summarized it as follows:

This site is about one simple thing: growing your net worth…

Do you have 15 minutes to spare?
You can’t tackle a long-term project or a complicated problem that requires deep concentration and uninterrupted thinking in the busyness of a typical day. But there are many things you can accomplish in 15 minutes or less…

One of the biggest differences between my husband and me is the way we like to spend our money. I prefer experiences, and he likes things. While my husband does enjoy some experiences, like eating out and going to sporting events, he enjoys collecting things quite a bit. For my husband, being able to have something tangible to show for his money — something he can pull out and look at — is a Big Deal…

For those looking for a place to save for your child’s future or find a place to park gifts from others, we’ve covered a number of options, from 529 plans, to custodial IRA’s, and UGMA/UTMA accounts.
There is yet one more option out there – the Coverdell Education Savings Account (ESA)…

Ignorance is bliss.
When you don’t know your boss is getting a huge bonus for saving the firm money by screwing your bonus, you’re happy. When you don’t know the reason why you didn’t get into the fellowship program is because the managing director is a woman who hates men with different political ideals, you’re happy…

Wow, we just had 3 gloriously warm and sunny days in Portland. On Saturday, the temperature hit 77 degrees in the Rose City, breaking the record by 6 degrees. The average high temperature won’t get this high until July so you can imagine how unusual this is. We went out for a walk and a picnic lunch to make the best of a beautiful Saturday…