Devil’s Advocate Roundup

Over a year ago I had the crazy idea of trying to justify the other side of every “common sense” or “mainstream” personal finance idea I could think of. The list below is in reverse chronological order, meaning the very first Devil’s Advocate post is listed at the bottom and it tackled one of the cornerstones of our personal finance belief system. Rent Forever, Don’t Buy A Home is a post that I think defined the Devil’s Advocate series and one that still garners comments to this day, nearly a year later. (There have been 161 comments, the latest was April 9th!)

Some of the Devil’s Advocate posts have gone against ideas that aren’t as mainstream and against answers that aren’t necessarily clear cut, such as Don’t Have Kids (which is based on a lot of factors, only one of which is finances), but I’ve had a great time writing them all.

I have a few good ideas in store for future articles but I wanted to do a little roundup, in part for myself to see all the topics we’ve covered, so that you could join in the rock throwing against mainstream ideas.

1. Don’t Invest in the Stock Market
2. Cancel Unused Credit Cards
3. It’s Okay To Ignore Your Problems
4. Ignore Personal Finance Experts
5. Don’t Have Kids
6. Buy More House Than You Need
7. Don’t Move From Job To Job
8. Get A Store-Branded Credit Card
9. You Don’t Need College to Succeed
10. Four Reasons You Should Get A PayDay Loan
11. Don’t Get Married
12. Buy That Home Warranty
13. Adjustable Rate Mortgages Are Awesome!
14. Pay Cash for Everything
15. Don’t Budget to the Penny
16. Invest In Your Company
17. Say No To Credit Card 0% Balance Transfer Arbitrage
18. Why Roth IRAs Are Bad
19. Lease A Car, Don’t Buy It
20. Don’t Just Buy Index Funds
21. Don’t Optimize Payroll Deductions
22. Rent Forever, Don’t Buy A Home
23. Don’t Rollover Your 401(k) - Missed this one!

Have a great weekend!