I received a sobering comment the other day… “Joel, thanks for the nice stories and happy emails but please give us some content that’s actually worthwhile in terms of making and saving money.” Ooops … I guess I’ve been a little sidetracked with random stories on the blog. I figured that most regular Budgets readers already know the basic “how to” stuff. But now that I
Investing
Wanna Win $1,000? Apply for the 401k Champion Award!
Attention 401k lovers!!! Want to win 1000 bucks!? It’s time to enter the 3rd annual 401(k) Champion Award competition! Three $1,000 prizes will be awarded to 401(k) participants who complete an application and essay about their 401(k) experiences by Oct 28. Now I know you might be thinking… “I never win anything and my chances are pretty low.”… Well, first of all,
Net Worth Report #13 “Unlucky for Some” (Down $22,730) 😭
Maybe you’ve noticed … I’ve been naming all of these net worth reports according to bingo sayings for the last year... (2 = One little duck, 3 = Cup of tea, 4 = Knock at the door, etc…) Well, last month was #13 of public net worth tracking… And the bingo call for number 13 is “unlucky for some”... Which is kind of fitting because September was the worst month we’ve
3 FinTech Innovations I Want You to Know About
October 14, 2021 update: After this post was published, Joel made a personal investment in LifeGoal Investments. Just got back from FinCon in Austin last week! For those of you who don’t know, FinCon began in 2011 as the Financial Blogger Conference, but now it’s a place for all types of digital content creators, money nerds and brands to get together and geek out on
My Solo 401(k) Is a $exy, Tax-Advantaged Retirement Account
Hey guys! I’ve got some nerdy news … I just set up a Solo 401(k) plan with TD Ameritrade. And it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be! In fact, I did most of the 57-page paperwork at 1 a.m while I was half-drunk and watching Beethoven on TV. (BTW - That movie is still just as good today as it was when I first saw it 30 years ago.) Anyway, I discovered some cool stuff
12 Months of Net Worth Tracking! – “One Dozen”
Last year I began sharing my net worth reports. And today marks the 12th consecutive month of tracking. Woohoo! Happy…. “net-worth-iversary”? It’s been a wild year. Here’s a chart of the 12 monthly report totals... Assets as of 9/1/2021: $733,858 A few interesting notes and realizations when I look at this chart... Total growth since Oct 2020 was +$245k. But,
Robinhood’s “Free Stock” Offer Isn’t Really That Great
Mornin’, mornin’! There’s a bunch of hype around Robinhood these days and I’ve always been curious about their “free stock” sign-up incentive ... So, this month I signed up to see what the fuss is about. Spoiler alert: It’s a bit of a letdown. 😔 The app itself does what it’s supposed to do -- trade stocks and crypto in a quick/easy/free way -- but the “free stock”
Selling our rental properties… 2 down, 2 to go!
Happy Friday, happy people! About 6 months ago, I wrote a blog post about plans to downsize my real estate assets. Specifically, the plan was to sell some physical rental properties and move that cash into more passive investments. Well, the mission is now half complete! We’ve sold 2 rental properties so far and have 2 left to go. Woohoo!
Lowering my emergency fund… to…. $0.00?
For most of my life I’ve had about 6 - 12 months of living expenses sitting in cash in my checking account. This cash is my “emergency fund”. I’ve always felt fine about this because of these old-school popular money beliefs: Cash is king Cash solves problems quickly Holding cash allows me to jump on opportunities if they arise. Financial gurus say it’s
What Is Socially Responsible Investing and How to Start
Hey money friends! Are any of you nerds into socially responsible investing? (A.k.a. sustainable investing, ESG investing, or impact investing?) I got this question from a reader recently… “I want to start investing in more sustainable, equitable and ethical ways. I have it invested in TD's E-series funds and bonds right now (60% stocks/index funds; 40% bonds), but I
