Spending
Where a household’s money actually goes, and why three categories dominate
Housing, transport and food usually claim most of what a household spends, which is why savings attempted…
· 4 min read
Pranav Kulkarni
Features writer, Dollars & Decisions
Pranav joined to cover spending, saving, debt and stayed for the awkward questions and is happiest when a piece answers the question completely.
16 articles
Saving
Inflation is the reason cash needs a job description
A cash balance does not change, but what it buys does, so the useful question is not how much it earns but…
· 4 min read
Investing Basics
Charges are deducted whether or not anything was earned
A percentage taken every year is a certainty in a process made of estimates, and over a long horizon it…
· 4 min read
Money & Mind
A price only means anything next to another number
Anchoring makes the first figure a person sees do most of the work of judging every figure that follows…
· 4 min read
Money & Mind
The future self keeps losing arguments it was never present for
Present bias makes an immediate reward outweigh a larger later one, and the reversal it produces explains…
· 3 min read
Spending
Convenience is a service with an hourly rate, and it is rarely quoted
Paying to avoid an errand is buying back time, which becomes a decision you can actually assess once you…
· 4 min read
Saving
A predictable irregular cost is a monthly cost that has not been divided yet
Bills that arrive once or twice a year are not unexpected, and treating them as monthly amounts held aside…
· 3 min read
Debt
The cost of borrowing is quoted in several ways that do not compare directly
Two loans advertised with similar-looking numbers can cost very different amounts, because the numbers are…
· 3 min read
Money & Mind
Children learn money from what they watch, not from what they are told
Household financial habits are transmitted mostly by observation, which means the explaining matters far…
· 3 min read
Debt
A credit file records behaviour, not character or income
The record lenders consult contains a specific and fairly narrow set of facts, and most of the things…
· 4 min read
Investing Basics
When your job and your savings depend on the same thing, you own it twice
Concentration is not only about holding too few investments; it is about holding investments that would…
· 4 min read
Money & Mind
Not looking at the balance is a decision with compounding consequences
Avoiding financial information is a predictable response to expecting bad news, and it reliably makes the…
· 3 min read
Spending
A service plan mostly prepays work you were going to need anyway
Bundled maintenance contracts are usually a smoothing arrangement rather than insurance, and understanding…
· 4 min read
Debt
A debt that changes hands is still the same debt
When a balance is sold or passed to a collection firm, what is owed does not change, but who is asking…
· 4 min read
Investing Basics
Lending money to an institution behaves nothing like owning part of one
A bond is a loan with a schedule attached, and because its payments are fixed in advance its price moves…
· 4 min read
Money & Mind
A bargain delivers a pleasure of its own, quite separate from the thing bought
The satisfaction of paying less than expected is a distinct reward, and because it is felt at the moment of…
· 4 min read