Happy Birthday to Me!

Normally about this time of the month I post a mortgage update giving all the details of how much progress we’ve made, how much longer we’ve got, etc. Since it’s my birthday month, I decided to take a slightly different approach. We recently celebrated my birthday, and as a gift to our entire family, we…

Early Retirement – What does it mean to you?

I think many people fall into two groups when they think of an “early retirement lifestyle”. One group thinks that since you’re not going to save for the same amount of time as everyone else (30-40+ years), you’re likely going to retire with very little. If you retire with very little, you’re going to live a very meager…

Early Retirement? Why Not!

Over the past several months, I’ve been fascinated by the idea of early retirement. Just the term early retirement can bring up a few different questions. What is early? I consider early to be anytime before when most people would retire. A quick search on the internet brought up a US News article where they surveyed…

What are you going to do with your tax refund?

According to the IRS, the average tax refund last year was about $2800. That’s a lot of money. Let’s look at that a couple different ways. $2800 is the same as: $233 a month $116 if you’re paid twice a month $107 if you’re paid bi-weekly $53 if you’re paid weekly That would be a…

Why do you save money?

It’s the new year and I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who made resolutions to lose weight, eat healthy, get in shape, join a gym, or exercise more. How many people do you think vowed to get their finances in shape? If you’re going to stick to your resolutions or goals,…

Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University – Week 7

Week 7, only two more weeks left in class! Everything that has been taught in the classes so far leads up to this one. Some students may not be ready for it, while others may have been waiting for it a while. This lesson is the Retirement and College Planning lesson. There can be a…

Tracking Your Finances, the Easy Way

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably got a variety of checking, savings, retirement, and investment accounts, all at different institutions. On top of that you may have credit cards, a mortgage, or a car loan. It can be overwhelming to get a complete financial picture. That’s where Mint.com comes in. I love using this…

What is a Roth IRA and why do I need one?

I’ve been pretty focused on finding products and services that will save you money in each post. However, this week, I wanted to take a break from the usual and discuss the Roth IRA. I’m sure everyone has heard of them by now, but perhaps you’ve still got some questions. Well hopefully I’ve come up…