Sharing insights since 2007 on carefully saving money, investing, frugal living, coupons, promo codes because the little things matter in achieving financial freedom!
More often than not, persistence and the will to keep plugging away pays off. This is Travis’s debt story…
After having accumulated $109,000 in credit card debt, our finances finally reached a boiling point a few years ago. No longer able to meet all of our financial commitments, my wife and I enrolled in a debt management plan. This lowered the interest rates on our lines of credit, allowing us to finally make progress on the balances.
But that wasn’t good enough.
We needed to reduce our expenses. Each month, my wife and I examined every expense and cut everything we could to create more breathing room in our budget. But there was one thing that I promised my wife I would fight tooth and nail to keep.
“As a rule of thumb, you probably shouldn’t be taking a nap now since it’s a workday,” my daughter told me the other day. And she’s right. She told me on a Monday too. Plus, I was being lazy all morning. All in all, it’s been a fantastic start to the week. Don’t Rely Too Much on Financial Rules of Thumb If You Care About Your Sanity But what good would it do for me to just sit in front of the computer staring at my computer screen? Wouldn’t it be better for me to take a nap, feel energized afterward and be more productive? “I’ll take a nap now and figure out a way to make money off of this” and off I went. [ continue reading… ]
When Social Security was established in 1935, the average US life expectancy was 60 for men and 64 for women. Now, it is 75 for men and 81 for women even accounting for a one-year drop across the board due to the pandemic.
This means that women and men were pretty much expected to work when the Social Security system was created ‘till they dropped. Today, men can expect to live about ten years beyond retirement age, while women can expect to live 15 years after they stop working.
This is a significant development.
This positive development explains why the Social Security system is heading towards an eventual restructure. Unless early retirement is eliminated and the normal retirement age keeps getting raised, Social Security is going to run out of money sooner rather than later. [ continue reading… ]
One of the many hallmarks of adulthood in America is buying a home of your own. After all, having a white picket fence and all that comes with it is the American dream. And if you listen to experts (or even your know-it-all aunt), you’ll never find a better time to buy than right now – while the real estate market is still in recovery and interest rates remain low.
But just because buying a house makes perfect sense on paper doesn’t mean it’s the right decision for you. Here are four excellent reasons to continue to rent – and to ignore the experts who tell you you’re wasting your money:
1. Location, Location, Location
There’s a reason why these are the three most important factors in real estate. Generally, the closer a home is to attractive amenities, the more expensive it will be. In many cities, that means the affordable homes are either in the suburbs or require extensive renovation.
So, if living in the heart of the city and being able to walk to local shops is important to you, then you’re probably going to prefer to rent. Considering the fact that you have to be happy in your neighborhood, as well as your dwelling, this is an excellent reason to forgo homeownership for the time being. [ continue reading… ]
When it comes to car insurance, we all know that lowering our rates depends on raising our deductible, dropping unnecessary coverage, and keeping our driving records clean. However, there are other ways to save on car insurance—methods that might not occur to the average driver. Here are five surprising ways to lower your car insurance costs. How many do you know?
1. Switch the drivers around. This doesn’t work in every state, but there could be a big price difference by switching which driver drives which car. For example, I had a ding on my driving history from too many tickets in 2009. This negatively affected the cost of my husband and my insurance even three years after the tickets. One thing that helped save us about $15 per month was to simply switch which driver drove what car with the insurance company. Since I was considered the “bad driver,” sticking me with the older car that was paid off ended up costing a little less. This small change saved us about $150 a year.
The other day, one of my good friends was telling me about his money situation. To put it simply, he was waiting on his next paycheck to be able to pay for his son’s baseball pictures.
I felt kind of bad for him, and my initial reaction was to start dishing out financial advice. You know: Tell him how he can stop living paycheck to paycheck, and that kind of thing.
But I bit my tongue.
My friend wasn’t looking for my sympathy or my advice. In fact, he’s one of the most frugal people I know. He already knows what to do. What he needed was somebody who would just listen; listen without judging; listen without telling him how he should be living his life.
While driving home, I was extremely grateful I’d kept my mouth shut and been a good friend. I haven’t always done this, though, so I started to think about how often I dish out and receive unsolicited advice.
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