Living for today - Planning for Tomorrow
I was going to take the time to put up a post about what it takes to change banks but Nickel over @ Fivecentnickel.com did a great job! He takes you through, step by step. It’s really not hard at all. You can get your new accounts set up with a new institution (I highly recommend a credit union), and then slowly transition everything over.
I hate spending money on basic necessities like toiletries. It’s just one of those things that you have to do though. As I’m getting older, I’m finding the list of “basic necessities” is getting longer. I have a few different medical conditions that have developed over the last 10 years or so that require specialized “necessities”. I struggle with a very large number of allergies.
Leroy Fick from Saginaw Michigan won a $2 million lottery in 2010. While this sounds great, somehow Leroy is still receiving food stamps to help put food on his table. Why? Well, Leroy took the lump sump payout, bought a new house and a car and then invested the rest. Since his income is based on the amount of investment income he’s receiving from the
I took a quick look at the CNN net worth calculator and pulled out some examples of the median net worth of various ages. I’ll list the averages for a couple different scenarios but you can certainly go use the tool and see how your specific numbers stack up. I’m going to use some pretty standard age ranges for this comparison. Under 25, 25-34, 35-44,
CNNMoney has an article up right now where a reader asks Walter Updegrave whether he’s saving enough to amass $2 million by retirement. The guy is a savings machine putting away $4000 a month and I wonder if he really wants to know the answer or whether he is showboating just a bit. I mean, if you’re saving that kind of money, I’m guessing you
It used to be that people would compare themselves with their family, friends and neighbors. It makes sense, if you think about it. People are most likely to compare themselves to what and who they see on a daily basis. If your neighbor buys a new car, you might be more inclined to feel the need to get yourself a new car. I mean, if
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately peering in to my personal finance spreadsheet. This is the spreadsheet that shows all of our major assets, our income, our expenses and our liabilities. The assets and liabilities really haven’t changed much. Here’s a quick rundown of the major stuff: House: $340K Lake House: $155K Toyota Truck: $9K Honda CRV: $24K Boat: $8K Yamaha Quad: $4.5K
Karl Rabeder has decided that all of his money is making him miserable. Here is an excerpt from the article: The tipping point came while he was on a three-week holiday with his wife to islands of Hawaii. "It was the biggest shock in my life, when I realised how horrible, soulless and without feeling the five star lifestyle is," he said. "In those three
With all of the attention on Haiti the last few days and the powerful destructive capabilities of an earthquake, it’s probably worth asking the question whether you should buy earthquake insurance. For years I questioned whether we should have the insurance and I felt as if I was living on the edge a bit. For those of you that haven’t spent much time reading through
Over the last couple of years we’ve developed a friendship with an older man that owns a number of homes out near our lake house. He is retired and lives off of rental income from approximately 15-20 rental homes he owns. Fred still owns every house he’s ever purchased. The majority of these rentals are in Seattle and most are in lower income neighborhoods where