Personal finance strategies for managing your money. Learn more about the best ways to manage, save, invest, grow and preserve your wealth.
It seems like everyone in the personal finance space is talking about I-bonds lately… and for good reason. Inflation is soaring and I-bonds are currently paying interest at an APR of 7.12%! Plus, that interest rate is projected to increase to 9.6%+ in May 2022! I-bonds are a type of government savings bond that pays…
If you read our January financial update (and as you’ll read in our February financial update), we recently received a big cash lump sum from Mr. RFL’s annual bonus and vesting of stock compensation. This money propelled us past our financial independence goal, yay! Now we now need to decide what to do with it….
There was a time when I thought buying designer things would make me happy. Today my designer purchases are just a sunk cost… but the lesson learned was real. Looking for happiness in the wrong places A few years ago, I worked long hours at a stressful job and made a six-figure salary. I owned…
If you’re lucky enough to have it, stock compensation is an awesome benefit! As pension plans fall away, more employees are finding themselves eligible to receive some form of company equity as part of their overall compensation package. Generally this equity comes in the form of company stock or stock options, which are subject to…
“There’s no nuance on Personal Finance Twitter.” That’s the reply I received after responding to a personal finance question posed by someone on Twitter a while back. It’s been bugging me ever since. Why? Because it’s mostly true. There is a significant lack of nuance in advice provided by self-proclaimed experts on social media. In…
It’s a good practice to have a budget. How detailed and how strict you are with it is a personal decision which should be based on your financial situation and goals. We treat our budget the way we treat most of plans in life… as a “loose plan.” Our 2022 budget will serve as a…
The year is coming to an end, and you know what that means? It’s time to review your finances and do some year-end financial and tax planning! Yay! [Sarcasm] Our year-end tax planning and financial review process Every November (or early December if we’re slacking off), we perform our year-end financial and tax review. Being…
I’ve heard rumblings around the personal finance and FIRE community that the “4 percent rule,” a popular early retirement withdrawal strategy, might be outdated for a while now. But has the day finally come? Is the 4 percent rule officially dead!? With Inflation at levels we haven’t seen since the 1990’s, and future market returns…
If you want to build wealth, you have to be able to control your debt and maximize cash flow. And while I’m not of the mindset that all debt is bad, the truth is that many types are. If debt is holding you back from achieving your financial goals, it’s time to come up with…
Once you reach adulthood, you begin to hear about how expensive children are. Better start saving up! But how much do kids really cost? Our daughter recently turned five. Everyone who says that they days are long, but the years fly by is absolutely correct. After being inspired by a post on the Modern FImily’s…