Do you know how easy it is to blow $10,000 in 1 year on useless crap? Easy! Just do $27.40 of mindless impulse spending each day for a year. Everyone falls victim to some type of impulse buying. For me, it’s usually at the brewery right before I pay the bill and leave. I see those fancy branded pint glasses with the brewery logo on it... Suddenly I convince myself that it’s
Kids and Money: “It All Starts With the Allowance”
[Since last month’s post about teaching kids financial independence, I’ve received a TON of awesome comments and stories from parents sharing how they teach their kids about money at home. Today’s post is from a longtime Budgets reader, Shane H, who has implemented a weekly allowance for his kids and is teaching them how to budget, save, and give to charity!] **** Money
You Don’t Have to Be Good at Math to Be Good at Personal Finance
Happy Friday! Who’s looking forward to an awesome weekend!? 🙋♂️🙋♀️ Today I’m gonna share something a little embarrassing… It’s the final report card from my graduating year at high school. Check this out: As you can see, Math was my worst subject. 29 out of 100... I’ve never scored lower than 29% on anything
The 1% Rule Explained, Using Malibu Mansions!
Do we really need another blog post explaining the 1% rule for real estate investing? Yes! Because I’m gonna explain it using examples with ridiculously expensive, multimillion-dollar beach houses that famous people live in. The 1 percent rule can be used in any city or state you are planning to invest in. It’s a general guide to quickly identify whether a potential
Is Health Insurance Worth the Cost? Because Daaaaaang, It’s Expensive!
When I mentioned a few months back that my wife and I haven't had health insurance for the past couple years, some of you thought I had lost my marbles. Thank you to everyone who emailed me their thoughts and were concerned about my family’s well-being. Some good news -- starting October 1, I am now eligible for employer sponsored health insurance. As a new employee, I don’t
Rental Property vs Stocks – Tracking Experiment Continued …
A couple months ago I talked about comparing rental property vs stocks, using 2 of my personal assets as examples we can track over time. One is a personal IRA account (backstory here) which is invested in a total stock market index fund. The other is a duplex rental property located in Texas (backstory here). On July 1st of this year, both of these assets were worth almost
A Dog’s Guide to Personal Finance 🐕
Happy Friday, you stunningly beautiful and handsome people! (I don't know what you actually look like in real life, but when I close my eyes and imagine, you're all gorgeous!) Today's guest poster -- Jesse from the Best Interest blog -- learned all his personal finance knowledge from his dog! Just kidding -- Jesse has a natural gift for breaking down complex personal finance
6 Ways My Parents Taught Me Financial Independence
Want to teach your kids financial independence? Here's how mine did! “Hey Mum, this is my friend Daniel from school.” “Nice to meet you, Daniel, and welcome to our home! Joel, do you want to wash the dishes, hang the laundry, or vacuum the house?” “Ah, Mum... Daniel came over to play. Can I pleeeeease skip my chores today?” “Nope. If you live in this house, you must do
Good Personal Finance Reads From Around the Interweb!
Happy Friday, y’all! Here are a handful of good reads and fun stuff for personal finance nerds from around the web recently … ***** How to sell feet pics online via Make Save Spend Give --- “Yes, people will pay you for feet pics. I know you have questions, maybe you don’t even believe that it’s possible. Trust me I just spent 10+ hours researching this stuff, it’s
Should I Refinance My Rental Property?
With interest rates so low right now, a question on every homeowner’s mind is, “should I refinance my mortgage?” And what about doing a refinance on a rental property? It takes a fair amount of effort to refi -- it’s just like qualifying for a brand new loan. There’s also hefty closing costs and fees... Is all that money and time worth it for a lower interest
