In my writing and in my personal finance classes, probably the least loved topic is budgets. A budget is kind of like a diet, or a new year’s resolution. It’s something we tell ourselves we should do but we don’t want to. And then like the diet and the resolution, we don’t. Making Budgets Fun!! […]
Budget is Not a 4 Letter Word Read More »
Today’s good news! Trump’s ‘big beautiful’ bill expands access to this ‘powerful, yet underutilized’ financial tool. Here’s the spoiler. A Health Savings Accounts, also known as an HSA, will be more readily available to us. I won’t go through the details – read the article, but more of us can get access to an HSA.
Stop Spending Your HSA Read More »
Everybody’s angry. Whether it’s the latest round of tariffs, the rising national debt, or the Bezos wedding, the news and social media are filled with outrage. I’m not active on social media, but I’ve heard stories. If we’re into politics, there are unlimited stories on both left and right leaning media sites to get our
Pick one. Which would you choose? Let me back up and explain how I arrived at this question. Allergies My 9 year old Blue Heeler Rosco, has skin allergies. Several times a year, he breaks out with a hot spot and starts licking to beat the band. Next thing we know he’s swollen and bleeding.
My wife and I are financially independent. We live in an average home, in an average town, and we take an occasional vacation. Last winter we spent a week in Key Largo. The prior year, we spent 3 days in the Red Roof Inn (near) Newport, RI off of a highway with a striking view
The Importance of Financial Independence Read More »
My earlier post this week was about adding more solar panels and a couple of batteries to my system. I initially installed solar in 2023, and it was so effective, that I decided to expand my system. Why Solar? Even with the 30% tax credit, solar is expensive. My original system cost $29,000 out of
Risk Mitigation – aka “I Told You So” Read More »
Americans love credit cards, loans and buy-now-pay-later. Don’t believe me? Check this out. Housing debt makes sense to me. We need a place to live and houses are expensive. But the non-housing debt is worrisome. It’s increasing pretty rapidly. Let’s take a look at some household debt numbers from the Motley Fool. And some trend
A year or so ago, I wrote a couple of posts about solar. In the first, I described my experience in adding roof-top solar panels. In the 2nd, I reviewed my experience investing in some solar businesses. I continue to be quite interested in solar. To me, it makes sense to be able to generate
Let’s Talk About Solar Again Read More »
I was surprised by an article I read today. I’m hoping to get some feedback because I’d like to understand how others react. The article from mactrast is titled: 50% of Survey Respondents Say They’re Willing to Pay at Least $10 per Month for Apple Intelligence. Subscriptions I don’t like subscriptions. I understand I need
What Are You Paying For Subscriptions? Read More »
I’ve spent quite a bit of time searching for credit card rewards. A few years back, I was getting a new credit card every few months in order to get airline miles, hotel points or other rewards. It was fun. I felt like I was traveling for free. One Big Caveat Here’s the warning…This only
Cash Is King (for me) – A Look At Credit Card Rewards Read More »