I live paycheck to paycheck. There you go, I admit it. However, I am there intentionally. We all make choices in our lives that impact our financial situation. Sometimes those choices have the unintentional affect of making us live paycheck to paycheck. Others give themselves enough financial flexibility that they don’t worry about their bank account balance. I propose something completely different.
Budgeting, the exercise of personal finance, can make a big difference. Going from no budget to watching your expenses can save you a lot of money. However, as some financial bloggers point out, it is important to go for the big kills rather than a nickel here and a dime there. Cutting your rent, insurance, and cable/Internet bills can save big over the course of a year. Even more important, though, is income.
Budgeting to Save Money is Like Excercise to Lose Weight Read More »
For Chanukah, I asked for and received a Roku. Roku is like a cable box for the internet. My box brings in unlimited Netflix streaming videos (20,000 available) and music from Pandora. It can be setup to do much more.
Almost every investment firm offers a 529 account. They talk about how great it is and how everyone should have one. Most people have no idea how a 529 works or what it is. This post will give you a breakdown on the basics of a 529 and what you need to know if you are going to get started with this type of account.
I recently gave in and took the dive into Upromise. Upromise is a program designed to give you cash back from select purchases (namely restaurants, online stores, and grocery) to fund a 529 college savings account, pay for college loans, or go directly to education expenses. Anyone can sign up. An adult can sign up
If you are like me, you have a big stack of US savings bonds that has been accumulating dust in a safe deposit box since you were born. If you are under 30, those are still gaining interest today. But what should we do with our savings bonds? I never thought to cash mine in until I got to grad school, and that promted quite a bit of research into how to deal with finding the value, paying the taxes, and cashing in my bonds. I will take you through the process I went through up to today, the day I take my bonds to the bank.
