Do you hate leaving a large amount of cash in a savings account earning nothing? Would you rather invest a portion of that money? Is that even a good idea? I came across an article the other day from a reputable site suggesting that you should invest a portion of your emergency fund so that it can do double duty – keep you safe and
Pay Off Your House By Age 55
One of the financial goals we’ve made is to have our house paid off before age 55, or at least have the capability to pay it off if we want to. I know that as I get older, I’ll struggle to find a job if I lose the one I have now. I anticipate that sooner or later I will lose my job, so much
I Attended my First Financial Event
Last week I was invited to attend a financial event at the local baseball stadium. A friend of mine has been a client of a major investment/insurance company for years and was encouraged to bring a couple friends to this small event. (There were about 70 people total) I’m normally not very interested to attend speaking engagements like this but because it was at the
Thinking About Retirement
Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time going over my spreadsheets and playing with various scenarios for our retirement. I often wonder how long I need to work before I can walk away and have enough to last the rest of my life. In reality, I think my wife will live much longer than I will so most of my scenarios ensure that she
Financial Milestones
I’ve recently found myself surpassing some financial milestones that I never thought I’d see. Our retirement accounts are at levels that I used to just dream about when I was first starting out. Never underestimate the power of consistent contributions and compound interest, that’s for sure. As I was sitting here looking over the numbers I started to wonder why I’d always thought these milestones
Tiny Houses–Tiny Costs
Lately I’ve been somewhat obsessed with the idea of tiny houses. I stumbled on to a Youtube channel that shows lots of different examples of people living in a smaller footprint. In this day and age, we are living in much larger houses than ever. During the economic downturn, I started to read about how builders were starting to build smaller houses to keep costs
Importance of an Emergency Fund
They’re starting to talk about layoffs at work again, but this time it’s going to be BIG. I’ve been told I’m very safe from getting laid off but there are a lot of people around me that are going to lose their jobs and it’s going to impact those of us that are left by increasing our workloads a ton. With all this uncertainty at
A Missed Opportunity on Investment Properties
I have spent the better part of the last year looking for a rental house to purchase. At one point I got really excited and put an offer in on a house a few blocks from me that the bank was dumping for 50% of it’s value because it was missing all the windows. I was really bummed when I got beat out. (There were
How I Saved Myself $2500
Appliances are some of the best inventions in the world. They’ve made household chores so much easier and have drastically sped up the time it takes to make dinner (that’s how we cook at my house a lot). The only drawback to appliances is that sometimes they break. We have one of those “in wall” microwave/oven combos. It’s a Jenn-air model that came with the
Tool Lending Libraries Can Save You Money!
Have you ever needed a tool that you didn’t own to complete a job around the house? Have you ever worked on your car and had to run to the store to buy a tool to get the job done? Do you have limited space and don’t want to fill it with tools you’ll hardly ever use? Are you on a limited income and don’t