Outstanding Financial Advice or Half Your Money Back

“About this month’s rent, Mrs. Jones. I’m a little short. “ | Photo by Mathieu Stern / Unsplash

I often receive letters from readers asking questions about personal finance. This is partly due to my reputation as an expert in the field of passing familiarity with money matters and partly due to there being a personal finance guru across the street with a confusingly similar mailing address. But even when the letter is not addressed to me, if I sense that the letter writer has a particular problem, I feel it is my duty as a busybody to deliver any information that may be useful, especially if they’ve enclosed a check. “He who helps others may help himself” is one of my guiding financial principles.

To wit: I received this optimistic plea for help from a hopeless case named Jim.

And my reply:

As you can see, I like to help people, even if some critics would say that my advice is “irresponsible” or “uninformed” or “a telltale sign of sociopathy.” So if you would like to share your own financial problem with me and you don’t mind having your embarrassment magnified when I share your story with millions of readers whose addresses I may or may not have procured on the dark web, you can write me at ask@matthewdelight.com. And of course there is no need to send me a check. You will have already done me a great service in writing half my column.

Originally published at https://www.matthewdelight.com on January 20, 2022.

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