How much do you spend each year? Most people don’t know this number, and I would argue that it’s a more important number than your salary, your expected social security benefit, and maybe even your 401k balance. That’s crazy talk – right? Let’s look at why. How much do I spend? I won’t give you […]
How Much Do You Spend? Read More »
After years of debating, I finally decided to go with roof-top solar. I’m almost year in. Let’s talk about what worked, what didn’t and what the savings might look like. Why Panels? In 2019, my wife and I bought a hot tub. It sits outside on our deck. It’s a delight. Prior to buying, I
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Buying a car is a big expense. The average new car price is $50,000, and used car prices aren’t much lower. In my days as a car salesman, I often saw folks who over-spent on a vehicle and returned to assess their options to lower payments or trade-down. After the sale, your options are severely
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We all need to save some of our income. It’s not as hard as you may think. We’ll talk about experiences my wife and I have had and some easy ways we’ve found to save money and use those savings to fund our investments. Read on for some ideas that may help. Why Save For
A Health Savings Account (HSA) is becoming a popular but frequently misunderstood employee benefit. An HSA provides huge tax advantages so let’s dig in. What it’s Not I’m sure I’m breaking every literary rule by starting off with what an HSA is not, but for those of us who began our employment with Flexible Spending
Health Savings Account Read More »
Time is the secret weapon in building wealth. For those who only read the 1st paragraph of an article, I wanted to get this out there first. So there you have it. Let’s talk about why. Sylvia In preparing for a personal finance class I was teaching a few years back, I came across an
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Unless you end each month with more money than you know what to do with, you need a budget. If that sounds like an exaggeration, it’s not. Why Budget? Before we talk about the mechanics of creating and managing a budget, let’s talk a little about why you need one. Most of us work
I read an article about pets this morning. The highlight was that the typical pet owner spends $4,800 per year on their pet. Of that, $1,200 is spent on visits to the vet. If you’re like me, you’re saying “no kidding”. Our dog Rosco has had 2 ACL surgeries, a broken toe-nail that needed surgery,
Do I Need Pet Insurance? Read More »
If you read only 1 article on this site, please choose this one. Compounding is the magic that will enable you to grow your wealth over time. Understanding how compounding works will help you to envision how your wealth can grow over time. Knowing this will help you stick with a regular saving and investing
Learning to save, and making saving part of our DNA is crucial to building wealth. Saving is going to be the catalyst that allows us to build an emergency fund, make our budget work for you, and enable us to invest. What’s an Emergency Fund and Why Do I Need One? Everyone needs an emergency