I don’t set goals. But I do get set in my ways. Since I’m so charming, it all works out. Right? Riiiiight. For more than the past year, we have implemented the exact same approach to paying down debt and investing–do both as well as we can. And it’s working. But I also wonder if … [Read more…]
Every holiday, my nana and I had the exact same fight. She would give me more money than I knew she could afford, and I would spend the rest of the time she was visiting us trying to strategically hide it in her purse. If she happened to write a check, it was much simpler. … [Read more…]
This isn’t about economics. This isn’t about politics. This is me letting you know what it feels like when you tell me not to be scared. Last night, much of the world got a lesson in stock market futures. Now that I’ve had this personal finance thing under my belt for a while, I actually … [Read more…]
I’ve made more money mistakes than I can count. There were $700 wedding shoes and a $26,000 new car. Then, there was the actual wedding that I still haven’t blogged about because I don’t even know what it cost. A lot. It cost a lot. But these mistakes actually don’t bother me. In fact, unlike … [Read more…]
Where are all my bi-weekly paycheck people at? If you pick up a paycheck every other week–or every week–then you know that there are months where you’ll land an “extra” paycheck. For me, one of those months happens to be September this year. While my monthly budget is structured based on two of my husband’s … [Read more…]
Letter grades are one of the hallmarks of the American education system. Whether it’s an A or an F or something in between, letter grades define our academic abilities as students for nearly two decades of life. And then what? People still talk about succeeding and fret at the notion of failing. What would happen if … [Read more…]
Since this is a post on investments, let’s get the platitudes out of the way: You’re in it for the long-haul. Look at the market’s performance over time. It’s just a bump in the road. That many Bogleheads can’t be wrong. This also isn’t going to be a post about how my dividends are now … [Read more…]
I thought I had goals. But it turns out, I have mostly hopes and dreams when it comes to personal finance. Paying off our mortgage in the next 10 years isn’t a good goal. Staying out of debt isn’t a good goal. Increasing my net worth isn’t a good goal. They’re undoubtedly important aspirations, but … [Read more…]
Given the choice between perfection and courage, choose courage. Perfection is easy because there is often a measure of safety involved. There’s no great unknown, no proverbial leap. No net needed. As someone who has strived for perfection for nearly three decades, I haven’t only mastered the art of playing it safe, I’ve relied upon … [Read more…]
When my grandma was alive, one of her favorite things to do was to marvel at the cost of everything in the grocery store. We’d scoot up and down the aisles, and she’d rattle off the cost of a loaf of bread, a sack of sugar, or a pound of butter from her Depression-era childhood. … [Read more…]