All The Simple Dollar

The key to sticking with good financial habits – and not sliding back into bad ones – is to find a way to hold yourself accountable, Hamm writes.

Amusement parks are fun, but can sometimes break the bank. Here are a handful of ways to enjoy the carnival without the excessive costs. 

Money is best used as a tool to live a fulfilled, happy life. The trick is figuring out how to use that tool without letting it use you. 

With CD interest rates barely above regular savings account averages, Trent Hamm cautions that certificate of deposit savings programs may not be worth the incentives. 

The online gift-card resale market is thriving. Trent Hamm explores the market and how it can save you money. 

To save money in the long-term, choose reasonable tactics that you can maintain. Trent Hamm explains that the most successful money management tactics are those that are repeatable.   

If liking and disliking things is a conscious choice, learning to like things that save you money can make finance management enjoyable, Trent Hamm explains.

The real path to sustained financial success is about trying lots and lots of new things and, frankly, discarding most of them, Hamm writes.

If you're in a marriage or a long-term relationship, financial improvement won't happen unless both partners are committed to it. 

It seems early, but stores have started clearing away their back-to-school displays and making room for Halloween. Save money on Halloween and other holidays by buying offseason, making your own decorations, and shopping for Christmas gifts all year. 

Simple Dollar blogger Trent Hamm discusses important internet-related terms and useful resources to help readers best choose an internet provider. 

A mutual fund is a big collection of different investments, and it can be a good way to diversify your holdings. But there are some drawbacks.

It's a question that many stay-at-home parents and people that try different career paths eventually ask themselves: How do I maintain my skills and connections throughout my time away so that I’m competitive when I return? Keeping those job skills sharp is possible in many different forms. 

It's easy to plop down on the couch after a long day's work, Hamm writes, but that's not exactly a productive or financially-rewarding habit. It's better to set a positive pattern with the use of that first hour or two after work is done.

Signing up for a big mortgage and the best house the bank will let you afford can be tempting, but having some additional square footage or a granite countertop isn't worth the loss of financial freedom. 

There are many factors in the equation as to whether or not a parent should offer financial support to a child in adulthood, Hamm writes, and they’re going to have different answers based on the experiences and beliefs of both the parent and the child.

Technically, your net worth is what you would have in cash if you sold every significant possession and paid off all of your debts. But for the author, a net worth is mostly useful as a way to gauge many different kinds of personal finance progress all at once.

A Roth IRA is a valuable tool for retirement savings, Hamm writes, so it’s well worth spelling out what it is in the clearest terms possible.

How do people stand out among the crowd in job interviews? Three things mattered more than anything else when hiring employees, Hamm writes.

Urgent tasks can pop up and take attention away from the genuinely important things, Hamm writes. There are a few ways to avoid the needless distractions.