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I Will Teach You To Be Rich

Personal finance blog for college students, recent graduates and everyone else -- including entrepreneurship -- for getting rich. Featured in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.

The first post of 2009 — How to dominate your personal financesYesterday

This year is going to be awesome. I can tell you this for sure, because this year we’re going to:

• Learn how to automate your money — one of the most important parts of making sure you hit your money goals consistently
• Have crystal-clear answers for the most common personal-finance questions: “Should I buy or rent?” “Should I pay off my debt or invest?” “How do I invest?” “How do I save more money each month?” — and be able to explain them to others.
• Learn how to avoid crackpot prognosticators that try to predict which way oil, stocks, and real estate prices will go…and nearly always get it wrong.
• Learn more frugality tips that really work, as well as tactical tips for easier investing, negotiating, and tracking your money

I’ll do this through more detailed blog posts, videos, Money Diaries, interviews, and my new book (coming out in April 2009).

I know first posts of

The point of being richDecember 25 2008

Maybe it’s the holidays, but today instead of ranting and screaming at someone on this site, I decided to dig up one of my favorite posts:

What are we doing on this site?

Yes, I read my own posts sometimes.

Anyway, for those of you who haven’t been around since the early days, I wrote that on the day I graduated college in 2005. Check it out.

And happy holidays.

Tip #29: Stop being a loser and pay money to save moneyDecember 18 2008

This is Tip #29 of of the Save $1,000 in 30 Days Challenge. (See past tips.)

Today’s tip is to spend money on things that will save you money in the long term.

Too many people think that “saving money” is about cutting costs relentlessly until they can cut no more. And then…what? Who wants to live like that? Reading some of the frugality sites, it becomes clear in about 2 minutes that you can’t outfrugal a nutty frugal person. And as they say, if you win the rat race, you’re still a rat.

I’ve been crystal clear that when you buy things you want, you should focus on the value, not the cost. That’s why I bought a new (not used) car. It’s also how I distinguish cheap vs. frugal people.

“Saving money,” as I’ve described in this Challenge, is about cutting costs, earning more, and optimizing your existing spending. Instead of constantly looking for ways to cut your spending, sometim

Tip #28: Use price-protection guarantees to always get the lowest priceDecember 18 2008

This is Tip #28 of of the Save $1,000 in 30 Days Challenge. (See past tips.)

Today’s tip is to use a featured called “price protection” whenever possible, which lets you protect yourself from price drops. In plain terms: If you buy something and the price goes down, the company will refund you the difference.

Price protection is something you hardly ever hear about, but it tends to be applicable to very expensive purchases…meaning you can save a lot. Here’s how it works: When you make a purchase, occasionally the price will drop shortly thereafter. (For example, on flights, or if you bought the original iPhone and the new 3G iPhone came out a few days later.)

The trick is, many times you can often get refunded the difference. If you imagine a flight dropping $200 (which is very possible), or a new computer dropping $100, that can add up quickly. Let’s take a look at some examples.

Purchases on your credit card
Your credit card will often offer price protection guarantees(more about

Announcing the I Will Teach You To Be Rich scholarship for $2,500December 16 2008

Today I’m THRILLED to announce the I Will Teach You To Be Rich Scholarship for Social Innovation.