All solid advice.  I bought more house than I need, but with current interest rates and prices my mortgage is still reasonable, and now my fiance and I won't outgrow our home when we have a family.  Love the car advice too, I've been driving my paid-off Civic about 4 years and plan on keeping it at least another decade...more

23% seems low, but they say "23% of taxpayers who filed", not 23% of homeowners.  Taxpayers include high school and college students, those that live in apartments, parents that live with grown children, etc.  I'd be interested to see what percentage of homeowners use it.  I know I do- just itemizing that and my state ...more

If you can avoid a mortgage in retirement 40k is more than modest.  My mother just retired this year with a much lower retirement income by downsizing to a small single story home in the suburbs of Las Vegas (she is in a 55+ community, it is far from ghetto).  Her housing costs are under 500/mo for taxes, insurance, ho...more

Couldn't agree more!  We get king crab legs from the grocery store butcher since they're already cooked (I only have to steam them to reheat).  Melt butter, add a side and some wine for a great at-home celebration for WAY less, and I think it's less work than fighting the crowds!

Pay off debt if it's credit card since you can use that as an emergency fund once you free up that line of credit if you need it.  If it's just a mortgage though it depends on your rate and comfort level.  I'm comfortable betting that long term mutual funds will outperform the 3.375% interest rate on my mortgage.

Berecca:  I agree that the first guys story is crazy lucky and not applicable.  And you're right on steps 1 and 2, but the degree doesn't need to be something most people can't accomplish.  People need to get degrees and skills in fields that are actually hiring.  I noticed the girl works in health care (Kaiser) and th...more

thisisdumb, certainly 1 of those 2 scheduled employees never calls in sick, misses the bus/has their car break down, or just flat out doesn't show up?  The assistant manager can schedule compliant with policy but having worked some minimum wage jobs in my high school years I can assure you not everyone decides to show ...more

The article didn't say they were eating in classrooms, but even in that case there has to be some common sense applied.  When I was in school if you were assigned the later lunch you had 5 hours and 15 minutes from first bell to lunch bell- that's a long time for a growing teen not to eat anything, plus some kids are d...more

My generation will be lucky to retire at all, let alone at 50.  While I managed to get an engineering degree and good job without student loans, and am saving in a 401k and roth IRA, retirement calculators tell me that without a pension, not being able to count on social security, and assuming modest inflation a 20-som...more