Today we have a treat with a post from my wife. I thought it might be interesting for people to see life in the household from my better half’s perspective. I hope you enjoy it, and please do leave feedback and ask questions. Do you find yourself focusing more on the future than living in […]
Spending
Save money: visit the desert in the summer!
My wife and I went to Scottsdale, Arizona, for a nice getaway and a change of pace from staying at home. It had been several months since we had been in the Phoenix area, so we took a short trip to celebrate the July 4th holiday and my wife’s birthday. We found out very quickly […]
26 Different Ways to Buy Stuff
Several years back I had an opportunity for one of those great teachable moments with my daughters. You know, when you can talk about a particular principle using a real life example, without sounding too preachy. I hope they will not only hear what I am saying but actually listen and understand. I believe the original […]
2 Secrets to an Aggressive Savings Strategy
How will you know if you have saved enough to retire by 30, 40, 50, or 67? There are numerous online calculators at TRowe Price, MSN Money, FIREcalc , Personal Capital, Fidelity, and others that can help you calculate what your needs are based on your current holdings, time horizon, and risk tolerance. My bet […]
Celebrating Independence and Personal Freedom July 4th
Every summer, we have the opportunity to celebrate our country’s independence. For me, I am grateful that I was born in the United States, and for the independence we have obtained as a nation. We live in a wonderful time of innovation, technology, and new personal freedoms.Our forefathers spoke for us as a nation when […]
Create Specific Savings Goals with “Funding”
For years, my step-father has talked about the value of “funding” accounts for savings purposes. He would accomplish this by tracking, with a hand written ledger, all the money earmarked for a specific purpose. Growing up, I often heard him talk about the value and importance of practicing this habit. I guess I was lucky […]
We have lived as a one car family for years
I have enjoyed riding a bike from the very first day I learned how to ride one, somewhere around the age of five. It is such a marvelous invention to use human-powered effort to propel a machine down the road, at greater speeds than you could possibly achieve by running. This is almost as exciting […]
Part 2: Is Debt good, bad, or just something we can’t live without? (Like oxygen and water)
About a month ago I discussed “Bad debt” in part #1 of this two part series. If you missed that post, please take a moment to read that first. In Part #1 we defined what debt is and determined that several things could be detrimental to your finances. The basic ideas of incurring debt to […]
The “Reverse Latte Factor”
In his bestselling book, The Automatic Millionaire, David Bach coined the term, “The Latté Factor.” In doing so, he prompted us to take a careful look at the impact of even the smallest purchases on our long-term savings. The latté that so many people enjoy each day on the way to work took a head-on […]
3 Ways to jump start your savings now?
The news over the last few years had focused much on the sorry state of the economy with unemployment that reached 9+% and tremendous turmoil in the housing and mortgage markets. No question, this great recession was one of the worst since the 30’s. There is however a silver lining to this current mess we […]