The Finance Buff

The Finance Buff avatar.

The Finance Buff a.k.a. TFB is a pseudonym used by a blogger who writes a blog by the same name at thefinancebuff.com. He has been sharing his thoughts and experience about personal finance with online readers since 2006. Today, more than 50,000 people visit his blog in any month.

TFB joined the Bogleheads Forum in 2007 as its 5th registered user. He is the author of the chapter on defined benefit pension plans in Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning (John Wiley & Sons, 2009). He also regularly contributes to the Bogleheads.org forum and wiki.

TFB holds an MBA degree in Finance. He has a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS) designation from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans and the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.

Books

• Explore TIPS: A Practical Guide to Investing in Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities ISBN 978-1449975906
• Chapter Five: Defined Benefit Employer Retirement Account in The Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning ISBN 978047045557-9

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Blog

TFB - The Finance Buff

• Friday Reading: How Many Bank Accounts? (24 May 2013)

Does Having Multiple Bank Accounts Encourage Overspending? by Matthew Amster-Burton at MintLife Matthew and his wife have 15 checking and savings accounts, not counting CDs, retirement accounts, or college savings plans. I have 14. That’s after I closed 2 accounts in the last two months. Banks offer the best deals these days. For example where [...]

• 401k Plan: From Bundled Fee To Explicit Fee (22 May 2013)

I received a notice from my employer about our 401k plan. The plan will soon start charging an administrative fee to employees’ accounts, estimated to be about $20 per quarter. Until now our plan didn’t charge any administrative fee explicitly. I was able to confirm that on my 401k plan statement. See previous post Find [...]

• Stable Value Fund vs Bond Fund vs CDs (20 May 2013)

CDs are better than bond funds these days even though financial advisors rarely recommend CDs. Many 401k or 403b plans include a stable value fund. How do those compare to CDs and regular bond funds? CDs are appealing for several reasons: higher yield, principal stability, and FDIC-insurance. Stable value funds share some of the same [...]

• Friday Reading: Pluralistic Ignorance (17 May 2013)

Frakt on Medicaid and the Oregon Medicaid Study by Russ Roberts at EconTalk What a surprise to hear my former co-blogger Austin Frakt interviewed on the popular economics podcast EconTalk. Well done, Austin! *** What is Behavioral Economics? by Dan Ariely on Vimeo Duke University behavioral economics professor Dan Ariely explains pluralistic ignorance. Be ready [...]

• Pay a Fee For Better Value (13 May 2013)

The word "fee" has a negative connotation. I’m not sure why when a fee is just a price tag on a service. Brokerage firms have to advertise "no fee IRAs." Credit card companies say "no annual fee." Is a no-fee product necessarily better than a product with a fee? I see heirloom tomatoes selling for [...]

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External Links

• The Finance Buff
• Explore Bonds

 

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Wiki article link: [url=http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/The_Finance_Buff]The Finance Buff[/url]