The Roth IRA is a pretty awesome way to save money for retirement. I've written about it before. I've made a video explaining it. I even composed and performed a love song to Roth IRAs. But even as a self-professed lover of Roth IRAs, I got stumped from a twitter question I got last night from Michael Zook: @kevin_is_money can we max out my wife's roth ira if her income is less than $5,000? Your Roth IRA video was amazing My first instinct was to say no. Roth IRA contributions (up to a max of $5,000 for people under 50 years old and $6,000 for those who are 50+) must be equal to or less t

I've been told that travel tips are often rigid and impersonal. I give tips all the time and I don't think I'm rigid or impersonal, so I'll give this a shot. Here are four fluid and personal travel tips for your enjoyment: Roommates Aren't So Bad Remember when you were younger (maybe high school or college) and you used to sleep anywhere from 2-45 people in one bedroom just to save some cash. You might also remember that living in very close proximity to your travel partners is actually somewhat of a bonding experience. My favorite vacation ever was spending 5 weeks in Europe sleeping

Today's post goes out to all the single guys and couples out there. My single female readers are welcome to read along today, but while this post is ABOUT you, it is not FOR you. Dating is hard. There are two things that make dating difficult. First, you have to find something that's actually fun. You're not going to impress a girl with your creativity and spontaneity if your first date is dinner and a movie. And for couples out there, it's nice to spice it up every now and then and try something new. The same restaurant over and over and over and over and over again is getting old. T

I apologize to everyone who submitted great article suggestions last night. There were some really great ones and I do hope to use some of them in the future. However, I don't have a lot of time to write this post because for some reason Wordpress hates me. I can't access the visual editor so I'm stuck with writing this whole post in HTML. Sorry for the lack of obnoxious text coloring I usually do. I've done a lot of personal finance posts in the last two or three weeks, so I wanted to do a personal one today. Luckily I got a great question from Jeff: Why don't I drink? Why I Don't Dr

Think about how much you pay for electricity right now. Now think about paying 1.25 times that much. Or maybe 2 times that much. Heck, maybe five times that much. I don't know how much more expensive power will become, but you can bet your patootie it's gonna go up soon thanks to the EPA. Coal is responsible for 54% of our nation's electricity today and is the cheapest way to produce electricity, but unfortunately coal is too "dirty" according to the EPA. The EPA announced new environmental standards yesterday that will essentially make it too cost prohibitive for anyone to build a new c

When I was in high school and college, the topic of marijuana legalization was a popular one. And for a long time I disregarded the people arguing for legalization. I really didn't even listen to their argument, because everyone I knew who would take the pro-marijuana stance was someone who used the stuff. I always saw a conflict of interest and felt like that clouded their judgement. Well I'm here to take the pro-legalization stance, and I want to point out that I've never used drugs in my life. I've never smoked anything and have never been drunk (although my girlfriend argues it has h

If I could pick one single thing I've done in the last four years to improve my life, it would be taking Tag out on our first date. If I could pick a second thing, it would be starting this blog. I mainly consider this blog a hobby, but it has turned into a side business as well over the last few months. I've actually pulled in over $6,000 of revenue in the last eight or nine months, which has been really helpful in paying off student loans and increasing my net worth. If you don't have a side business (whether it's a blog, lawn mowing service, tech support for old people or a lemonade s

Some people love their tax returns. They feel like they are getting a bunch of free money from the government. Unfortunately it's not free money; it's your money! And if you're getting a big tax return, that means you've been missing out on your money for as much as 16 months. This is especially harmful for people who are living paycheck to paycheck. I've known people who have been slammed with huge late fees and interest payments because they didn't have enough money, and then they get a $3,000 refund check the next year. If you're getting a $3,000 refund, that means you could have had

Today is February 29th. Once every four years we get an extra day. This means a few things. It's great for people who get paid by the hour. There's 24 extra hours in the year for you to earn more money. At the same time, it kinda sucks for the people who get paid a salary. I'm getting my 365 day salary in a year with 366 days! Not fair!!! I'm kidding. I don't care about the extra day in the year for my day job. But one of my twitter followers Jackie Walters really made me think: with an extra day in the year, how can we use it to accomplish our goals? I bet there's something yo

I love my Android phone and tablet. If you don't have a smartphone or tablet, today's post isn't for you (at least not the beginning). Today I want to talk about some of my favorite personal finance Android apps. This was one of the many suggestions I received from readers yesterday. Keep sending in those requests on Tuesday nights to my twitter and facebook; you guys never disappoint me! 4 Cool Personal Finance Android Apps I can't really give a "Best Android Apps" list because I haven't tried them all. I'm just going to tell you about the ones I use and how I like them. Please note t