Sharing insights since 2007 on carefully saving money, investing, frugal living, coupons, promo codes because the little things matter in achieving financial freedom!
Few of us get married thinking it will end in divorce. In fact, most of us expect to remain married for life. Unfortunately, though, there are times when it doesn’t work out and divorce becomes the most viable option.
The emotional aspects of divorce are well-known, and there are a number of relationship issues that need to be worked through, especially if children are involved. What isn’t planned for, in many cases, is the financial toll a legal separation can take.
When you’re going through a divorce, there are a few things that seem self-evident. You know you might have to divide your assets and debt, and you should look into getting rid of your joint accounts. You may even have thought about the cost related to hiring lawyers to help represent you.
However, there are some other financial issues you could be forgetting about. It seems unfair to need to think of these money issues when your life is already turned upside down, but they are important issues to consider.
Here are seven financial issues that you might be neglecting as you go through the divorce process. [ continue reading… ]
You can’t always control how much money you make, or how big of a year end bonus you’ll get. But when it comes to your everyday finances, there’s actually a lot you can do to save more.
One of the most frequent questions we hear is, “How much should I be saving every month?” And while there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, you know that you’re saving enough when it hurts a little bit. Maybe you have to skip out on that end-of-the-year trip with your friends, or maybe you decide you’re not going to buy drinks for strangers every weekend at the bars like you used to.
Whatever solution you come up with, keep in mind that the little things will eventually start to add up. Saving money is tough — and when you have established spending routines, it’s hard to break those cycles. But know that while you can’t always control how much money you make, you can control how much money you spend.
Most people tend to think of millionaires as people that spend a ton of money, live lavishly, and drive nice cars. But more often than not, the true millionaires — the ones with assets greater than a million dollars — are the guys living next door to you who drive 15-year-old cars. Or the small business owner down the street, who’s lived in the same house for 20 years.
If your goal is to become a “true millionaire” someday, then you should make it a priority to emulate the spending habits of these people.
With that as our goal, we’ve come up with 50 ways to save money on things you thought you could never save money on. [ continue reading… ]
The deadline for filing estimated tax payments passed a month ago, but one of my readers still doesn’t know if she made the correct payment yet. Why? The government.
Oh the government… When I made my estimated payment online through their system, it says that the submission went through just fine. As it’s my first time doing it electronically, I even called their hotline and spoke to a representative who told me not to worry as everything looked good.
A week later, I got a letter saying the payment was dishonored with no reason why. It even said that there may be penalties accessed. It did give me a way to rectify the problem by sending another check though. I called the hotline again, but the person on the other line wasn’t able to tell me why the payment did not go through. She just told me “to send a check”.
I sent payment according to instructions on the letter and called again after I saw the check cashed. All the representative told me was that it takes up to 45 days for the payment to be processed and recorded and for me to sit tight. When I asked her what happens if it was someone else who cashed the check instead, she asked me not to stop payment and to sit tight. Her final advice was to “keep checking back”.
One month later, I’m still waiting. I hope I don’t get penalties for what’s not my fault.
It may be hard to believe but she is actually LUCKY because she managed to get someone on the phone. I’ve heard countless tearful stories of those who couldn’t get ahold of anybody on the other line because everything is shutdown.
The number 1 reason why you shouldn’t file taxes last minute – you just cannot trust the government’s efficiency.
It wasn’t long ago when the nearby plaza’s parking lot spent most days of the last few months being empty. That’s why I was so surprised to see people and cars everywhere when I went there last Sunday. Aside from the obvious potential problem of people getting sick, I’m not sure if I want this to become a trend for people’s finances.
Our economy probably needs us to shop irresponsibly again, but the thought that we might be back to “living beyond our means” is scary. I never understood why, but America is one of the only developed countries where the average resident consumes more than his/her income.
Some people blame the educational system for not having personal finance classes, but there are ways to learn outside of school too. It’s not like my teacher taught me how to use the toilet. I don’t know about you, but I learned because:
I had to (out of necessity) and was told about this fact.
It never occurred to me that there was an alternative.
I did it enough times so I could do it without thinking.
Maybe the reason why I save while most people don’t is simple. I thought I had to save, I didn’t think borrowing was a lasting alternative and once I got used to saving, I just didn’t think about it anymore. [ continue reading… ]
We are a few days from closing escrow on our old home, which means that our house would be sold by the time this article is published.
YES! Finally!
Selling the house during a pandemic took way longer than we thought. Aside from the ordeal being financially painful, I had quite a bit of anxiety while the house was sitting on the market. I was extremely nervous even after we accepted the buyer’s offer because he was self employed and he was trying to qualify for a loan on top of carrying a mortgage on his old place.
Luckily, the buyer must be making quite a bit of money because the lender approved them for this additional loan too and he’s about to sign the loan documents shortly.
I didn’t think much about this problem before, but how do most people move from house to house without moving to an apartment first? My buyer is making enough money to cover two houses, so he can just take his time while he moves. How does he do it though? I did some research and here are five ways people come up with the money. [ continue reading… ]
For years, I tried to stretch my money to its maximum potential. Moving money across different online savings accounts for better rates, taking money out of my checking account as soon as it’s there, paying bills on the last possible day to get more interest,…, the list goes on. Basically, whatever you can think of to earn a few extra dollars or two of interests, chances are good that I’m doing it. My motto was simple – a dollar is better than no dollar.
It was fun at the beginning, but as the number of accounts and bills I needed to keep track of began to pile up, managing the cash flows became a mini part-time job. At times, it was even a little stressful because inter-bank transfers take time, and you don’t want to miss a payment because you mistakenly transferred too much out of the checking account.
Many of you know about my recommendation of investing in low-cost index funds. Again, I’m not in the camp that believes stock picking isn’t a better investment. It’s just that when I weigh the burden of the part time investment analyst job that comes with active investing, it’s not worth the time. [ continue reading… ]
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