Here’s 8 personal finance tips Damon Darlin distilled from two years worth of his Your Money columns in the NYT:

• Postpone buying high-tech products like PCs, digital cameras and high-definition TVs for as long as possible. And then buy after the selling season or buy older technology just as a new technology comes along.
• Never pay a real estate agent a 6 percent commission.
• Buy used things, except maybe used tires.
• Consolidate your cable, phone and Internet service to get the best deal.
• Lose weight. Carrying extra pounds costs tens of thousands of dollars over a lifetime.
• Do not use your home as a piggy bank if home prices are flat or going down or if interest rates are rising.
• Enroll in a 401(k) at work immediately.
• And, I’m sorry, I’m really serious about this last one: make your own coffee.

Each of the tips has a link to its spawning article. The piece’s title gears it towards graduates, but we know there’s people at every stage of their life who could stand to read it. — BEN POPKEN

More Advice Graduates Don’t Want to Hear [NYT]
(Photo: Johnny Vulcan)

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