I read many blog posts each day. They mostly focus on personal finance, but also on minimalism and travel . Here are some of my favorite posts I read this month.
Over at Monevator, the Investor wrote a long but readable post about How to waste money. Of course, one person’s wasted money is another person’s well-spent entertainment.
I love finding a bargain, especially for travel. But sometimes I wonder if spending hours looking at flights is really worth all that time. It probably is if I can save $400. But what about to save $3 on a doohickey? Jim at Route to Retire writes more eloquently about this question in Hunting for the Great Deal vs Just Working a Little More.
With the drop in the stock market, people with money could get a good deal on investments. Somehow, though, it doesn’t feel awesome to see your nest egg shrink. Jesse Cramer at The Best Interest reminds us that is the price of admission (with some help from Russell Crowe) in Are You Not Entertained?
Speaking of entertainment, many Americans love to watch sports. Like, really love it. I am not always sure that paying athletes multi-million dollar salaries is a great idea–I can see both sides of the argument–but I will absolutely support equal financial support for male and female athletes in the same sport. Women’s basketball is finally getting that support and, who knew!? (*sarcasm alert*) when the money and exposure is there, people will watch it. From Pop Sugar: Why Are Women’s Teams Just Now Getting Paid For March Madness?
Doctors, especially plastic surgeons, are paid very well, if not as well as professional athletes. Enough that some people may not feel quite right about them qualifying for PSLF to pay off their student loans. Again, I can see both sides of the argument. However, I have tons of sympathy for people whose plans are getting changed at the last minute on them. The Prudent Plastic Surgeon apparently only has 1 more payment (of 120!) until he qualifies for loan forgiveness, but he is stuck in student loan purgatory.
Many people think about how happy they will be… when. When they finish training, when they pay off their loans, when they can retire. In the personal finance space, there’s lots of yearning for the freedom of retirement. BudgetLifeList reminds us we should also live in the now, with Start Embracing Joy Today, Not After Retirement.
Our house is full of items from Mr. PiN’s parents’ house; these are not necessarily treasured mementos. Mostly this stuff ended up with us as Mr. PiN had to clear an assisted living abode, and then the main house, in a hurry. He isn’t quite ready to clear out the unnecessary stuff, but I think this post from No Sidebar would be very helpful to pass on (if he is willing to read it): The One-Box Rule for Keeping Your Home Uncluttered.
I saved this map to show Mr. PiN, and had enough fun with it that I wanted to share it with you all: a map of the most searched flight info by state (in 2025 so far). I love how people in New York want to go to Miami, and people in Florida want to go to New York.
When Mr. PiN and I travel outside the USA, one of our favorite things is exploring a city, or country, without renting a car. In theory, we can use Amtrak in the US, but it never really works out well. I found this article from Bloomberg’s City Lab interesting reading: Why Public Transportation Works Better Outside the U.S.
Do you have any favorite posts from March?
I made it to the March fav list! Winning! 🙂 Thank you for including me.
Absolutely–thanks for writing such winning posts!