Every night, I listen to audiobooks all night long. They lull me to sleep.

If I tried to listen to new books, of course, that'd be a problem. I wouldn't hear 90% of the story. But I've learned to listen to books I know and love -- books like True Grit and The Lord of the Rings -- because then it doesn't matter when I miss large chunks of the story. I already know what happens. If I wake up for five minutes at 2 a.m., I can listen as Frodo and Sam tramp through the Dead Marshes then drift back to sleep again.

This week, I've been listening to one of my favorites: Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (read by Sissy Spacek). It's terrific.

I believe that each of us possesses a money blueprint, a mental map that defines our behaviors and attitudes toward money. Our basic blueprints come from our parents. They're altered through our interactions with friends and co-workers. And, of course, our own experiences lead us to modify and add to our money blueprints.

A couple of months ago, I had lunch with my friend Michael. We talked a bit about my money blueprint, then we talked a bit about his. Because our backgrounds are similar, our money blueprints are similar.

"You know what would be interesting," Michael suggested. "You should write your financial autobiography."

Last week, I drove out to the box factory to see my brother Jeff and my cousin Nick. Ostensibly, I made the trip to check up on Mom's financial situation. Really, though, it was an excuse to spend three hours chatting about nothing and everything all at once.

As I was looking through Mom's Social Security info, I decided to check my own account online.

"Look," I said. "I'll get $1125 per month if I start Social Security in thirteen years. If I wait eighteen years, I'll get $1598 per month. That's as if I had another half-million dollars saved for retirement." [I based this very rough estimate on the math for the four-percent rule.]

If you've been reading my stuff in recent years, you know that I'm a vocal advocate for finding your purpose in life.

I believe purpose is the foundation on which all plans — financial and otherwise — ought to be built. Purpose is a compass. It helps you set big goals, sure, but it also acts as a guide when times get tough. Your mother died? Your wife left? Your husband lost his job? If you know what your primary purpose is in life, these stressful events are much easier to deal with.

To that end, I encourage readers to take the time to craft a personal mission statement. Anecdata from the folks who have actually followed through on this exercise confirms my suspicion: Doing this can be life-changing. I'm not joking.

While I've made plenty of money mistakes in my life, I've also done some things right. One of those things is the way in which I've handled money in my romantic relationships. I've managed to navigate nearly thirty years of adulthood without ever having a fight about money. (I've had disagreements, sure, but never a fight.)

Contrast this with my parents. My parents fought about money all of the time. It's one of my most vivid memories from my childhood, actually: Mom or Dad (they took turns) brandishing the checkbook and yelling about the near-zero balance. In retrospect, it's probably because my parents fought about money that I've so steadfastly avoided doing so in my own life.

It's not just my parents, though. Many couples fight about money. It's one of the most common sources of friction in relationships.

As January fades and February blooms, we're going to turn our attention from basic money management to something much more complicated: how money affects our relationships.

In December 2016, Bloomberg published a piece that profiled seven different couples from around the United States. The article -- which was essentially a series of short interviews -- offered a quick glimpse at how other people handle money in their relationships.

Here, for example, are Rebecca and Ari discussing what it was like to move in together:

To conclude "back to basics" month at Get Rich Slowly, today we're going to explore an important concept, one that's new to most people. Today, I want to talk about building a wealth snowball.

After nearly twelve years of writing about money, I've gone from not knowing anything to having some very strong opinions.

I now believe know, for instance, that the single most important thing you can do to improve your financial situation is also the most elementary: Increase the gap between your earning and spending.

When I told readers that January would be "back to basics" month at Get Rich Slowly, the number-one request I received was to write about how to invest.

Rather than scatter investing info throughout the month, I decided to collect the essentials into one mammoth article. Here it is: all you need to know about how to invest -- even if you're a beginner.

In writing this article, I tried not to bog it down with jargon and definitions. (I'm sure I let some of that slip through the cracks, though. I apologize.) Nor did I dive deep. Instead, I aimed to share the basic info you need to get started with investing.

There's a consensus among money writers that one of the most important first steps on the road to financial freedom is establishing an emergency fund. Your emergency fund is like self-insurance to protect you from all the small, surprise disasters we each encounter in daily life.

But not every unexpected event is unwelcome. Sometimes life brings us lucky breaks — but these opportunities can still cost money. That's why I believe it makes sense to also keep a chunk of cash in an "opportunity fund".

The Opportunity Fund

I first learned about opportunity funds from reading about billionaires and business owners. These savvy savers often set aside money specifically to take advantage of unexpected opportunities. Continue reading...

Most personal finance experts agree: The first thing you should do — after meeting basic needs — is to establish an emergency fund.

Life is full of unexpected surprises, many of which cost money — a thief smashes the windshield of your car, your son gets sick, your water heater overflows. When people live paycheck to paycheck without any savings, they’re at the mercy of these small crises. Sometimes a tiny problem becomes a huge one because the victim wasn't prepared for possible trouble.