We’ve all made mistakes in our life. You could probably see my biggest financial mistake coming a mile away if you were paying attention. My biggest financial mistake is a common story – lots of credit card debt early in my career – mixed up with some tax debts and a new-to-me car. Background Info […]
Create Your Own Personal Record Retention Policy
Have you ever looked around your home office and asked yourself why are you keeping all this paper? Now is the time to create your very own personal record retention policy. A personal record retention policy will let you quickly decide what to keep and what to get rid of. A record retention policy will […]
Why You Need A Home Maintenance Budget
Do you own your home? Or at least have a mortgage and the bank owns your home? If so, you need a home maintenance budget! A special home maintenance budget (or line in your budget) will let you take care of repairs when they happen and even get into preventative mode to keep disasters from […]
Why I Decided Not to Payoff My Student Loans Early
Student loans seem to be the bane of every personal finance blogger. The personal finance community hates student loans. And it is easy to see why. But here I am, with a different perspective. I am in no hurry to payoff my student loans. In fact, I probably won’t payoff my student loans early at […]
Why and How to Avoid or Get Rid of PMI
Private mortgage insurance, or PMI, is a nasty little drain on your personal finances. If you are paying for it, you need to get rid of PMI now! Even though “insurance” is in the name, this monthly fee is not there to protect you if something bad happens. It is only there to protect the […]
Should You Rent or Buy Your Home?
Rent or own? That is the million dollar question. Conventional wisdom is that you should own a home. For many families, it is the primary method of wealth building. You pay your mortgage every month and after 30 years, barring any re-financing, you own it outright. No more monthly housing payments! Each month along the […]
Go Big! Go Home! Tips to Reduce Housing Costs
Probably the largest expense that you face is housing. Your primary residence is often the largest single purchase for most people. If we can change the largest cost, how quick can you reach your personal financial goals? A lot faster than if we saved the daily latte, right? So working from the 80/20 rule, we […]
80/20 Guide to Getting a Raise At Your Current Job
The goal: Ask for and receive a raise, to increase your hourly rate or your annual salary. In the study “Who Ask and Who Receives in Salary Negotiations,” researchers found that employees who asked for more salary increased their starting salary on average by $5,000. Over a 40 year career, a starting salary of $55,000 […]
Get More Money From Your Job
We all want more money. It’s why you are here on this website after all. Some people will tell you to go get a second job or to hustle. Or you know, start a blog. That’s not my advice, not yet. Remember, we are working on the 80/20 – Pareto Principle here. We want the […]