{
  "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1",
  "title": "Money Scale — Make Money Make Sense",
  "description": "Plain-English personal-finance guides — debt payoff, investing, retirement, home buying, FIRE — paired with free calculators that show you your specific numbers.",
  "home_page_url": "https://moneyscale.app",
  "feed_url": "https://moneyscale.app/feed.json",
  "language": "en-US",
  "icon": "https://moneyscale.app/favicon.svg",
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Money Scale",
      "url": "https://moneyscale.app"
    }
  ],
  "items": [
    {
      "id": "https://moneyscale.app/guides/debt-payoff/avalanche-vs-snowball",
      "url": "https://moneyscale.app/guides/debt-payoff/avalanche-vs-snowball",
      "title": "Avalanche vs Snowball: Which Debt Payoff Method Actually Saves You More?",
      "summary": "A side-by-side comparison of the two most popular debt-payoff strategies, with the math on which one actually saves more money — and which one most people are more likely to stick with.",
      "content_text": "If you've ever Googled \"how to pay off debt,\" you've hit two camps within the first three results: avalanche and snowball. They sound interchangeable. They are not. On the same $32,000 debt load, the choice is worth roughly $3,800 — about…",
      "date_published": "2026-05-19T08:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "debt-payoff"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "https://moneyscale.app/guides/fire/coast-fire-vs-lean-fire-vs-fat-fire",
      "url": "https://moneyscale.app/guides/fire/coast-fire-vs-lean-fire-vs-fat-fire",
      "title": "Coast FIRE vs Lean FIRE vs Fat FIRE: Same Math, Three Lifestyles",
      "summary": "FIRE isn't one number — it's a target you pick based on the lifestyle you want. Here's the math behind the three main flavors, the savings rate each requires, and which one fits your situation.",
      "content_text": "There's no single FIRE number. The \"Financial Independence, Retire Early\" framework has fractured into three main variants over the last decade, each running the same underlying math at a different scale. Picking the right one isn't really…",
      "date_published": "2026-05-17T08:00:00.000Z",
      "date_modified": "2026-05-17T08:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "fire"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "https://moneyscale.app/guides/investing-basics/compound-interest-explained",
      "url": "https://moneyscale.app/guides/investing-basics/compound-interest-explained",
      "title": "Compound Interest, In Plain English: The Math Behind Your Future Self's Net Worth",
      "summary": "Compound interest is the closest thing personal finance has to a cheat code. Here's the formula, the chart that makes it click, and the three numbers that matter more than picking the perfect fund.",
      "content_text": "If you only learn one piece of personal finance math, make it this one. Compound interest is the reason a 22-year-old who saves $200/month ends up with more money at 65 than a 32-year-old who saves $400/month — even though the 32-year-old…",
      "date_published": "2026-05-17T08:00:00.000Z",
      "date_modified": "2026-05-17T08:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "investing-basics"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "https://moneyscale.app/guides/home-buying/how-much-house-can-i-afford",
      "url": "https://moneyscale.app/guides/home-buying/how-much-house-can-i-afford",
      "title": "How Much House Can I Actually Afford? The 28/36 Rule (And Why It's Half the Picture)",
      "summary": "The 28/36 rule is a starting line, not a verdict. Here's the real-payment math, the costs lenders don't include, and the honest answer to 'should I stretch for the bigger house?'",
      "content_text": "The most-Googled question in home buying has the most misleading answer. Lenders will tell you how much they'll lend you. Real-estate agents will tell you how much you \"could stretch for.\" Both numbers are usually 20-30% higher than the…",
      "date_published": "2026-05-17T08:00:00.000Z",
      "date_modified": "2026-05-17T08:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "home-buying"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "https://moneyscale.app/guides/investing-basics/index-funds-vs-etfs",
      "url": "https://moneyscale.app/guides/investing-basics/index-funds-vs-etfs",
      "title": "Index Funds vs ETFs: The Honest Differences That Actually Matter",
      "summary": "Index funds and ETFs do almost the same job. Here's where the differences actually move dollars — tax treatment, trading mechanics, fees, and the case where each one wins.",
      "content_text": "Search \"index fund vs ETF\" and you'll get 50 articles all repeating the same three points: ETFs trade intraday, mutual funds settle at end-of-day, ETFs are slightly more tax-efficient. All true. None of it answers the only useful question:…",
      "date_published": "2026-05-17T08:00:00.000Z",
      "date_modified": "2026-05-17T08:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "investing-basics"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "https://moneyscale.app/guides/retirement/roth-vs-traditional-ira",
      "url": "https://moneyscale.app/guides/retirement/roth-vs-traditional-ira",
      "title": "Roth vs Traditional IRA: The One Rule That Decides For You",
      "summary": "Roth or Traditional IRA isn't a personality test — it's a math question with one variable. Here's the bracket rule that picks the right one in 90% of cases, the edge cases, and the 2026 contribution limits.",
      "content_text": "The Roth-vs-Traditional IRA question is treated like it's a personal-finance Rorschach test — fee-only advisors lean one way, FIRE forums lean the other, and the IRS doesn't help by publishing the rules in IRS-ese. It's actually a math…",
      "date_published": "2026-05-17T08:00:00.000Z",
      "date_modified": "2026-05-17T08:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "retirement"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "https://moneyscale.app/guides/debt-payoff/student-loan-payoff-strategy",
      "url": "https://moneyscale.app/guides/debt-payoff/student-loan-payoff-strategy",
      "title": "Student Loan Payoff Strategy: Federal vs Private, IDR vs Standard, Refi Math",
      "summary": "Student loans aren't one debt — they're a portfolio with different rules depending on type. Here's the order to attack them, when refinancing helps (and hurts), and when forgiveness is a real plan.",
      "content_text": "Student loan debt is rarely treated like the math problem it actually is. People talk about it in moral terms (\"crushing\"), aggregate terms (\"$1.7 trillion in outstanding loans\"), or political terms (forgiveness debates). The actually…",
      "date_published": "2026-05-17T08:00:00.000Z",
      "date_modified": "2026-05-17T08:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "debt-payoff"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "https://moneyscale.app/guides/fire/what-is-fire",
      "url": "https://moneyscale.app/guides/fire/what-is-fire",
      "title": "What Is FIRE? The Movement, The Math, And The Lifestyle Trade-Offs",
      "summary": "FIRE — Financial Independence, Retire Early — is a math problem more than a lifestyle. Here's the 4% rule, the savings-rate-vs-years-to-retire chart, and the four FIRE variants people actually pursue.",
      "content_text": "FIRE is shorthand for Financial Independence, Retire Early. Strip away the lifestyle blogs, the YouTube channels, and the Reddit forum drama, and what's left is a math problem with one variable: your savings rate. The rest of the framework…",
      "date_published": "2026-05-17T08:00:00.000Z",
      "date_modified": "2026-05-17T08:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "fire"
      ]
    }
  ]
}