What are some of your financial habits you stopped? I am guilty of many of the common financial habits listed in this post. I have used the word “try” so many times in my 20s and even up until I started this personal finance blog back in May (2018). I was inspired by posts made by Cash Money Life, Money Crashers, and The Balance. Here are my 8 biggest financial habits to stop now Not holding…
If you have not yet retired, what are some money secrets you follow to strive for your goal of retiring early? If you retired early, what are some of your favorite money secrets to retire early? Early retirement is not something I ever, ever considered before this year. As I started to create this personal finance blog and posting more, I inevitably started to write down goals. One of those posts was completing my first…
This post is inspired by my day job and also a blog post I came across. By day I am a full time digital marketer and one of the market analysis that I have completed is a SWOT analysis. Investopedia has a good overview of what this is in the context of why a company would complete such an analysis. I also know of entrepreneurs who want to start a business and end up completing…
What are some of the biggest debt traps? The word debt is about as cringe worthy as it gets. I am certainly caught in some of these debt traps. This post is inspired by this 2 Cents Lifehacker article.I hope many of you are in the process of getting out any of these 11 debt traps. Here are the 11 biggest money debt traps Student loans (government/federal loans or private loans) – I know all…
What are your favorite top money rules that you (try to) follow? I referenced blog posts from NerdWallet, The Simple Dollar, and The Practical Saver to create my top money rules. My 9 top money rules Pay yourself first – a lot of the financial gurus, ninjas, influencers really preach this. Whether you work a traditional 9-5 like I do or work for yourself through your own business, set aside a percentage of your income and…
What side hustles do you do currently to make extra income? Please share. I have been looking into a few other side hustles to make extra income. Despite making a 6 figure income and having no family to support, I feel like I should be using my idle time more wisely. Here are 5 side hustles I am taking more seriously for extra income Buy and resell – currently my hobby passion is buying and…
My first post listed out the first 5 financial milestones to achieve while in your 20s and 30s. This post lists the remaining 5 financial milestones. The inspiration behind this post was when I came across a post by the Investor Junkie. Here are 5 more financial milestones to achieve in your 20s and 30s Buying your first car – Major financial fail on my part to this day. Ever since graduating from college, I have…
Mid-30s age life crisis that made me start googling financial milestones? Perhaps. Whether you are in your 20s or 60s, what are some financial milestones not included in this list that you think are important to call out to others? Here is the financial milestones post that I came across on Investor Junkie that triggered this blog post based on my own experience. Here are the 5 financial milestones to achieve in your 20s and…
Everyone has guilty pleasures. Whether you are struggling financially and living off paycheck to paycheck or a self professed financial guru, ninja, influencer. What are your biggest guilty pleasures? Here are my top 4 guilty pleasures Funding my side hustle – the problem here is I was attempting to fund my side hustle through my side hustle fund, but I am not selling enough of the inventory so part of my paycheck goes towards funding…
If you are a parent, what are some money lessons you have shared to help improve your child’s financial literacy? In college terms, let’s say I was entering “Financial Literacy 101” in my mid to late 20’s. I feel like I then graduated to Financial Literacy 201 in my early 30’s and now in my mid 30’s. I hope for the sake of your children that you start Financial Literacy 101 before your child enters…
Cue Usher’s “Confessions” melody….these are my confessions….for being a money moron to this day. I live in a city that is extremely public transportation friendly meaning if you live or travel into the city (even as far out as 1-1.5 hours away in the suburbs), then the majority of the public will take the train. I have this thing against public transportation (buses, trains). I think this started when I had to take the bus…
As I have been listening to my list of recommended personal finance and investing podcasts, a few episodes of The Dave Ramsey Show podcast stood out. Listeners ask whether they should pay off debt or contribute to the listener’s company employer 401K match. Here is one example of Dave Ramsey’s answer to whether one should take the 401K match or not. I took Dave Ramsey’s advice and skipped contributing to my company’s employer 401K match of…
Very interested to know what is on your bucket list. Here are mine: Financial Bucket List Get promoted by 2019 to a higher VP level. I currently make 6 figures at my full time job as a VP, Digital Marketing and I am motivated to eventually become SVP within 5 years Pay off my $34K student loan debt by June 2019 Contribute 20% of my income to my company’s 401K/Roth consistently after I pay off my…
What percent of your budget is allocated towards housing expenses (rent or mortgage, electricity, gas, water), transportation (car payment, bus pass, insurance, maintenance, and gas), food (groceries, restaurants), and the rest (debt, savings)? I use a free, simple iPhone mobile app called EveryDollar to manage my monthly budget. I do not like using Mint or any app that needs to connect to my actual financial accounts. I feel like mobile apps are intrusive enough. Every…
What is your ideal number of different savings or checkings accounts to have? How did you come up with that number? Based on my experience I have found that I needed multiple savings and checkings accounts to keep funds organized. 4 REASONS TO HAVE MULTIPLE SAVINGS AND CHECKINGS ACCOUNTS Have 1 checkings account. This is a convenience factor because a checkings account is one of the easiest ways to get cash quickly. Compared to a…
Is there an ideal number of savings or checkings accounts a person should have? How many do you have? Why? I currently have 3 savings accounts and 1 checkings account. I have 1 savings and 1 checkings account through a college credit union that I have kept all these years. This gives me access to co-op credit union branches when I want to deposit or withdraw cash in person. Separately I have 2 different online…
What are your favorite side hustling gigs? I would love to explore new side hustle ideas outside of ebay or similar resell ideas. I have a side gig of buying and selling sports trading cards. Well, it is not so much a gig as it is a hobby. Here too is another money moron mistake I am making to this day. I get attached to my sports cards because it reminds me of the 90’s…
As a self professed money moron (I was and partially still am), attending an out of state college was one of my biggest financial regrets. It would not be a blog without the flipside, right? I try not to be such a negative person and when it comes to finance, you have to think beyond what happened in the past. The financial mistakes I have made in the past are sunk costs so I can…
In my 20’s I ignored my massive student loan debt and eventually went into default. One of the worst possible things financially you can do. I went into default only a few years out of college. This is the reason I started this personal finance blog. For cringeworthy money moron moments, give the post a look for a quick rundown of my financial mistakes. I experienced credit cards getting cancelled, paying a crazy interest rate on car…
This post lists some of my podcast recommendations on: Real Estate Real Estate Investing Unlike the personal investing or personal finance podcast recommendations, I have not found as many well respected real estate podcasts. Let me know if you have suggestions. I spend a lot of time passive listening and active listening to podcasts, so expect my recommendations to be updated. Real estate is something that I am just getting into so I expect to…
