Author Archive

• Don’t Be an Ostrich***
  Barrie Abalard, Die Broke Blog | January 21st, 2010 at 9:40 am

  

  In the past couple of weeks the media had a small hoo-hah over whether or not people who are underwater in their mortgages can walk away with a clear conscience. Both the New York Times and Howard Lindzon ofStockTwits, among others, have penned articles about the question. The Times noted that businesses often do stop paying; “Morgan Stanley recently decided to stop making payments on five San Francisco office buildings.” They also noted that, in business, such an action is not as unusual as we might think.

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• The Face of Unemployment/Frugal Holidays Links
  Barrie Abalard, Die Broke Blog | November 12th, 2009 at 8:30 am

  

  I hope you’ll read this short “thinking piece” instead of skipping directly to the frugal holiday links.

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• The 12 Ideas of Christmas
  Barrie Abalard, Die Broke Blog | November 5th, 2009 at 8:28 am

  

  Oh, no, it’s almost time to buy gifts again! Have you thought about what you want to spend this holiday season? The reason you want to spend less doesn’t matter—only the impulse to be more frugal does. And you do not have to imitate Scrooge to save money this year.

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• Budget is Not a Four-Letter Word, or, Cutting Back Creatively
  Barrie Abalard, Die Broke Blog | October 29th, 2009 at 8:35 am

  

  This post appears on the Die Broke Blog

  Budget. For a lot of us, it’s a difficult, joyless word that means deprivation and pain. It’s human nature to avoid things that bring us pain, so we often don’t take a hard look at our finances when the money is plentiful.

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• Buying Your Own Health Insurance, Part Three
  Barrie Abalard, Die Broke Blog | October 22nd, 2009 at 8:17 am

  

  In part one of this series, I provided some definitions and basic information you’ll need to buy your own health insurance. In part two, we tackled the complicated legislation behind HIPAA and COBRA. In this final part, I’ll cover what a state risk pool is and does, and where all of this leaves you if you need health insurance.

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• Buying Your Own Health Insurance, Part Two
  Barrie Abalard, Die Broke Blog | October 8th, 2009 at 8:44 am

  

  In part one of this series, I provided some definitions and basic information you’ll need to buy your own health insurance. Today we’ll tackle HIPAA and COBRA, which are more complicated than you might suspect.

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• When Do You Replace Your Old Car?
  Barrie Abalard, Die Broke Blog | September 24th, 2009 at 8:34 am

  

  Before we get into the meat of our subject, hello! I’m so pleased to help kick off StockTwits’s new personal finance blog community. I’ll be blogging weekly about various subjects, and I hope you’ll make our new blog community part of your regular routine.

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• Stand Back! Stand Back!
  Barrie Abalard, Die Broke Blog | August 24th, 2009 at 8:31 am

  

  Sometimes it’s better to stand back from the market. All traders need vacations to keep from burning themselves out and making bad trades. But sometimes you need to stand back because you feel uncertain, and trading isn’t working as well as it was. You don’t have a clue what the market is doing, and you don’t trade with the confidence you’ve had in the past. Taking a break feels wrong, I know. But it’s smart. And the next week or two before Labor Day is a great time to do so.

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