Good work Cherleen...it can sometimes feel like an uphill battle, but sticking with it is key. What a great feeling, congratulations on being so close to debt-free!
Hey Dwight - The 6% rate of return refers to retirement accounts or a 401k plan. If it's an employer sponsored plan, people will be limited to what the employer offers in terms of investments.
That being said, there's usually a decent group of items to pick from. Most large scale plans offer large/mid/small cap mutual funds, a selection of international and bond funds, and ETFs. There are also "target retirement funds", mutual funds which balance their portfolio based on retirement age, and they actually tend to perform really well. For example, the Vanguard Retirement 2045 fund (VTIVX) has an average annual return of 12.9% over a 3 year period and 10.64% for a one year period. The most recent rate of inflation was reported at 2.9% in January of 2012. So given the numbers, it's definitely possible to net a 6% return.
Really good point.. And that's why I'm such a proponent of Vanguard's Retirement Funds (there are many more great target funds, too, but that's one I have experience with in my past life at a brokerage house) - they take a lot of the guesswork out of investing but still allow people to earn a return far better than the dismal CD and bond return rates.
Hi Guest - Thanks, glad you liked it. To be brutally honest, there are two reasons I left off "create an emergency fund". The first is that almost every personal finance guru talks about them nonstop, so I assume most readers are savvy enough to know saving up some cash is important. The second is that if I went into detail on everything you should do to prepare financially, I'd end up with a blog post the size of a David Foster Wallace novel.
Basically, what I meant to impart (and hope I did) is how high interest credit card debt can take its toll on your budget years later if you don't pay it off as quickly as possible - or better yet, avoid it all together.
While I believe that getting what you want is a good thing, my wants change if the price triples! I am frugal with my money and therefore spend it very carefully. I've also find that what I want today may be very different tomorrow. So in most cases it is best to sleep on it for a few days and see if I still want it!
Bethy, it really is amazing. I have friends who went to law school or business school that have loan payments higher than their mortgage. I think the last study I saw said the average student loan debt upon graduation has topped $25k. Hopefully the new reform laws can help people out.
I e-filed minw on H&R's site two weeks ago and got my fed refund today! Yay.. I may tap into the money for mortgage refinancing expenses otherwise it's just going to sit in ING and earn interest.
I'm not a woman, but i did find this post useful. In the statement, "Assuming a 6% rate of return, at age 65 you’d have $479,241 " is harder to obtain these days based on historical investments. What's the best way of hedging your investment vs. inflation so that you could earn that 6% return would you say in today's world?
Yes, I filed my taxes a few weeks ago. I prepared them myself, but I am a tax professional :-) The federal refund, which includes the adoption credit, will be used to pay down the HELOC that we used to adopt two children from Ethiopia last year.
I also almost never delete an email. Since I got gmail several years ago (and with it, the ability to easily search through emails), I use my email address basically as a filing system for important documents and information.
We haven't filed yet, in part because we get our bonuses in the next week. (While we believe we have enough socked away for taxes, having the bonus money will ensure that we do). We'll probably go the Turbo Tax route again, but we considered getting an accountant.
My situation was a bit unorthodox, but here's a situation you should never get into. My brother-in-law was a customer service manager for a major auction house. I was getting tired of my current job at that time, and he said he might be able to get me in the door at his job making a lot more money than I was. So I filled out the application, went to the interview and took an aptitude test. Now, I thought I did good in the interview, but later was told I did terrible. Still don't know if that was just my brother-in-law being a prick or not, but he told me that he "was the only reason" I got the job. I also found out that I scored higher on the aptitude test than anyone had ever scored before, up to a genius level intellect. Some of my co-workers knew this (almost everyone was related to the boss in some way, and gossip spread to every crack of the company), and I think it was a little intimidating for some, especially given that I was the youngest employee in my department and division. The person who was the supervisor was only just promoted, but she was actually never really promoted. She was only filling in until someone was officially promoted to "department supervisor". The previous supervisor was promoted to a different department as a manager, much higher up. He was also dating/living with/had a child with the boss (whom everyone was related to). The person filling in as supervisor was his sister-in-law. Her husband was a clerk in a department across the hall. Her mother was some kind of supervisor, too (I think, she rarely showed up and I never really knew what her position was). I was basically an outsider, but I tried my hardest to fit in and be friendly. However, the temporary supervisor was constantly on my case for little nit-picking things, no matter what I did. Every day it was some new thing. There were several cases where I did something, she told me it was wrong and to do it a different way, and then the next day when I did it the exact way she had told me to, she told me that was wrong and to do it the other way. I brought this up in a written/oral-counseling session I had (which had things on its list like: slouches in chair, bad posture, clothes not nice enough, not friendly with co-workers, bad attitude), but it was ignored. My personal nail in the coffin, the final event that got me fired, was when my wife was hospitalized at 6 1/2 months pregnant because she was dilated and going into labor. I was out 2 days and when I came back, I was fired within a week. My manager (the one who was bedding the boss) told me that I missed too much work. I told him my wife was in the hospital and they were trying to keep my child from being born way too early. It didn't matter. They had a paper trail of bogus things and all they needed was one last fake excuse. Here's the moral of the story: never, ever get involved with a company where everyone is related, if you aren't one of them.
TAP WATER!!! While I realize that this fallback position may seem logical it is in no way Intuitive. Even in your article you allude that chemicals (sweeteners, etc.) are leached back into the water supply and are not mitigated by municipal water systems... and that is just the "sweet end" of all that's in tap water. Sorry but the ONLY water to drink now is purified (not filtered), alkaline water. Is there an expense, yes. But with all due gravity, along with oxygen, water is THE most important thing to learn to adapt to consuming more of: not coffee, not Sobe water, not ANYTHING but pure, purified, alkalized water.
Don't like this concept? Thus is the nature of free will... and the idiocy of the mind. But then karma is karma with the choices we make only adding to the amplitude of the great pendulum of our reincarnations.
Drink purified, alkaline water (see me for a unit!).
Solid advice. This definitely gets you both thinking as a partnership, personally and financially. Two people working for the same goals doubles your efforts and can really enhance your results. Just remember not to jump ship at the first threat of a storm! Lol
My experience shows that the dryer vs. laundry line is true. My family does approx 5 loads of laundry a week. If all of it goes into the dryer, our electric bill is noticeably higher. When we line-dry, not only is the bill lower but our clothes do remain in good shape much longer.
I'm fortunate to have a laundry line in my basement to use in fall, winter & early spring. (Basically, whenever the heating system is on.) We only use the dryer during rainy stretches in warm weather.
I still find it expensive.. I traveled full time 10 months last year (over 9 countries) and it cost me around $5500 (including visas and flight tickets)
I checked my bank account all day my account had a positive $18.00 in it. I used my card to get $10.00 in gas at 8:00 p.m. at night. I then checked my account when i had got home that evening and it had $8.00 in it everything was fine. I got up the next morning and I was negative in the bank because a $480.00 check went through sometime that same night when it said I was positive for the whole day????????? I know i should keep track better but come on.
Like you, I almost never delete an email unless it's spam. I have email labels I call "z2011 archive", "z2012 archive", etc. which are automatically applied to anything that comes into my inbox with my address in the "To:" or "CC:" fields. This is also a good way of immediately telling spam from genuine emails, as many spam emails won't have my email address in them and thus won't be labelled.
When I am finished with an email, I don't delete it, I just archive it. That way I don't even have to think about which labels to apply to it (I have labels "Home issues", "Mortgage", "Social organising" and so on) if it's not immediately obvious, but I also don't just delete it. One click, and it's safe but out of sight until I need it.
Great post, and so very true. Filters are a godsend when it comes to e-mail organization.
Good work Cherleen...it can sometimes feel like an uphill battle, but sticking with it is key. What a great feeling, congratulations on being so close to debt-free!
Hey Dwight - The 6% rate of return refers to retirement accounts or a 401k plan. If it's an employer sponsored plan, people will be limited to what the employer offers in terms of investments.
That being said, there's usually a decent group of items to pick from. Most large scale plans offer large/mid/small cap mutual funds, a selection of international and bond funds, and ETFs. There are also "target retirement funds", mutual funds which balance their portfolio based on retirement age, and they actually tend to perform really well. For example, the Vanguard Retirement 2045 fund (VTIVX) has an average annual return of 12.9% over a 3 year period and 10.64% for a one year period. The most recent rate of inflation was reported at 2.9% in January of 2012. So given the numbers, it's definitely possible to net a 6% return.
Really good point.. And that's why I'm such a proponent of Vanguard's Retirement Funds (there are many more great target funds, too, but that's one I have experience with in my past life at a brokerage house) - they take a lot of the guesswork out of investing but still allow people to earn a return far better than the dismal CD and bond return rates.
Hi Guest - Thanks, glad you liked it. To be brutally honest, there are two reasons I left off "create an emergency fund". The first is that almost every personal finance guru talks about them nonstop, so I assume most readers are savvy enough to know saving up some cash is important. The second is that if I went into detail on everything you should do to prepare financially, I'd end up with a blog post the size of a David Foster Wallace novel.
Basically, what I meant to impart (and hope I did) is how high interest credit card debt can take its toll on your budget years later if you don't pay it off as quickly as possible - or better yet, avoid it all together.
While I believe that getting what you want is a good thing, my wants change if the price triples! I am frugal with my money and therefore spend it very carefully. I've also find that what I want today may be very different tomorrow. So in most cases it is best to sleep on it for a few days and see if I still want it!
Bethy, it really is amazing. I have friends who went to law school or business school that have loan payments higher than their mortgage. I think the last study I saw said the average student loan debt upon graduation has topped $25k. Hopefully the new reform laws can help people out.
That's awesome Shevonne, way to go...
Thanks for the organizational tip. I do apply labels but hadn't thought of the date label.
I e-filed minw on H&R's site two weeks ago and got my fed refund today! Yay.. I may tap into the money for mortgage refinancing expenses otherwise it's just going to sit in ING and earn interest.
We use rubber bands to keep our pictures from breaking when they fall off the wall
you just wrap a rubber band around the outside the frame
I'm not a woman, but i did find this post useful. In the statement, "Assuming a 6% rate of return, at age 65 you’d have $479,241 " is harder to obtain these days based on historical investments. What's the best way of hedging your investment vs. inflation so that you could earn that 6% return would you say in today's world?
Dwight Anthony
Financially Elite Blog dot Com
Yes, I filed my taxes a few weeks ago. I prepared them myself, but I am a tax professional :-) The federal refund, which includes the adoption credit, will be used to pay down the HELOC that we used to adopt two children from Ethiopia last year.
I also almost never delete an email. Since I got gmail several years ago (and with it, the ability to easily search through emails), I use my email address basically as a filing system for important documents and information.
We haven't filed yet, in part because we get our bonuses in the next week. (While we believe we have enough socked away for taxes, having the bonus money will ensure that we do). We'll probably go the Turbo Tax route again, but we considered getting an accountant.
My situation was a bit unorthodox, but here's a situation you should never get into. My brother-in-law was a customer service manager for a major auction house. I was getting tired of my current job at that time, and he said he might be able to get me in the door at his job making a lot more money than I was. So I filled out the application, went to the interview and took an aptitude test. Now, I thought I did good in the interview, but later was told I did terrible. Still don't know if that was just my brother-in-law being a prick or not, but he told me that he "was the only reason" I got the job. I also found out that I scored higher on the aptitude test than anyone had ever scored before, up to a genius level intellect. Some of my co-workers knew this (almost everyone was related to the boss in some way, and gossip spread to every crack of the company), and I think it was a little intimidating for some, especially given that I was the youngest employee in my department and division. The person who was the supervisor was only just promoted, but she was actually never really promoted. She was only filling in until someone was officially promoted to "department supervisor". The previous supervisor was promoted to a different department as a manager, much higher up. He was also dating/living with/had a child with the boss (whom everyone was related to). The person filling in as supervisor was his sister-in-law. Her husband was a clerk in a department across the hall. Her mother was some kind of supervisor, too (I think, she rarely showed up and I never really knew what her position was). I was basically an outsider, but I tried my hardest to fit in and be friendly. However, the temporary supervisor was constantly on my case for little nit-picking things, no matter what I did. Every day it was some new thing. There were several cases where I did something, she told me it was wrong and to do it a different way, and then the next day when I did it the exact way she had told me to, she told me that was wrong and to do it the other way. I brought this up in a written/oral-counseling session I had (which had things on its list like: slouches in chair, bad posture, clothes not nice enough, not friendly with co-workers, bad attitude), but it was ignored. My personal nail in the coffin, the final event that got me fired, was when my wife was hospitalized at 6 1/2 months pregnant because she was dilated and going into labor. I was out 2 days and when I came back, I was fired within a week. My manager (the one who was bedding the boss) told me that I missed too much work. I told him my wife was in the hospital and they were trying to keep my child from being born way too early. It didn't matter. They had a paper trail of bogus things and all they needed was one last fake excuse. Here's the moral of the story: never, ever get involved with a company where everyone is related, if you aren't one of them.
Whether you delete them or not, you still get pestered.
Nice round list for top money tips. Thanks
Dwight Anthony
Financially Elite Blog dot com
Filed taxes with turbotax a few weeks ago; got a small refund that went to savings.
TAP WATER!!! While I realize that this fallback position may seem logical it is in no way Intuitive. Even in your article you allude that chemicals (sweeteners, etc.) are leached back into the water supply and are not mitigated by municipal water systems... and that is just the "sweet end" of all that's in tap water. Sorry but the ONLY water to drink now is purified (not filtered), alkaline water. Is there an expense, yes. But with all due gravity, along with oxygen, water is THE most important thing to learn to adapt to consuming more of: not coffee, not Sobe water, not ANYTHING but pure, purified, alkalized water.
Don't like this concept? Thus is the nature of free will... and the idiocy of the mind. But then karma is karma with the choices we make only adding to the amplitude of the great pendulum of our reincarnations.
Drink purified, alkaline water (see me for a unit!).
Solid advice. This definitely gets you both thinking as a partnership, personally and financially. Two people working for the same goals doubles your efforts and can really enhance your results. Just remember not to jump ship at the first threat of a storm! Lol
My experience shows that the dryer vs. laundry line is true. My family does approx 5 loads of laundry a week. If all of it goes into the dryer, our electric bill is noticeably higher. When we line-dry, not only is the bill lower but our clothes do remain in good shape much longer.
I'm fortunate to have a laundry line in my basement to use in fall, winter & early spring. (Basically, whenever the heating system is on.) We only use the dryer during rainy stretches in warm weather.
I love using restaurant.com gift certificates. You can get a great deal on a nice meal and find new restaurants in your area!
I still find it expensive.. I traveled full time 10 months last year (over 9 countries) and it cost me around $5500 (including visas and flight tickets)
I checked my bank account all day my account had a positive $18.00 in it. I used my card to get $10.00 in gas at 8:00 p.m. at night. I then checked my account when i had got home that evening and it had $8.00 in it everything was fine. I got up the next morning and I was negative in the bank because a $480.00 check went through sometime that same night when it said I was positive for the whole day????????? I know i should keep track better but come on.
Like you, I almost never delete an email unless it's spam. I have email labels I call "z2011 archive", "z2012 archive", etc. which are automatically applied to anything that comes into my inbox with my address in the "To:" or "CC:" fields. This is also a good way of immediately telling spam from genuine emails, as many spam emails won't have my email address in them and thus won't be labelled.
When I am finished with an email, I don't delete it, I just archive it. That way I don't even have to think about which labels to apply to it (I have labels "Home issues", "Mortgage", "Social organising" and so on) if it's not immediately obvious, but I also don't just delete it. One click, and it's safe but out of sight until I need it.