Take A Personal Day To Fix Your Finances

October 27, 2010
Take A Personal Day To Fix Your Finances

So often our lives get busy, and it can be hard to stay on top of all the detailed minutia of our financial lives.   Things tend to slide, and we end up not having the optimal setup for anything in our finances because we just don’t want to jump into the details.  Since performing certain [...]

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Retiring Wealthy On An Average Salary: The Story Of The Sensible Social Worker

October 25, 2010
Retiring Wealthy On An Average Salary

This post is part of a continuing series called “Retiring Wealthy On An Average Salary” that looks at the inspiring stories of men and women who earned average salaries during their working years, but in the end retired wealthy, with plenty of money to spend and give. In fact, I’ve found that as I read [...]

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Renting Vs. Buying A Home: Which Is The Best Choice?

October 22, 2010
Should I Rent Or Buy My House?

When my wife and I bought our new home in 2006 we were moving from a neighborhood that was undergoing significant changes.  Not only was the neighborhood starting to have more crime and lack of homeowner pride, we also discovered that there was  a new 4 lane highway going in within throwing distance of where [...]

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Spousal IRA Contribution Rules And Limits

October 20, 2010
Spousal IRA Contribution Rules

Marriage. It is one of the sacred and fulfilling of institutions that we have, but, it can also be a lot of work.  When you get married there is so much to be done in the financial realm including setting up joint bank accounts, bringing together disparate accounting methods, doing your taxes together.   Those things [...]

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Retiring Wealthy On An Average Salary: The Story Of The Altruistic Educator

October 18, 2010
Retiring Wealthy On An Average Salary

Last week I published the first post in a series I’m calling “Retiring Wealthy On An Average Salary”. The series is intended to give us a brief glimpse into the lives of some average people who made average salaries, but still managed to retire with a net worth that we would say makes them wealthy. [...]

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Do The Rich Work Harder? Is The Key To Wealth Hard Work?

October 14, 2010
Do The Wealthy Work Harder?

It is often assumed that because the rich have amassed a fortune, that they really don’t have to work very hard, and that in general that they work less than others who are less well off.   They just have others to do the work for them.  It’s an assumption that is even held by some [...]

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Retiring Wealthy On An Average Salary: The Story Of The Thrifty Engineer

October 13, 2010
Retiring Wealthy On An Average Salary

A couple of times on this site I have profiled millionaires who became rich through hard work and determination, and  I talked about how and why they were able to rise to such success. While those stories can be inspiring, sometimes they can leave us average folk thinking that dreams of becoming balance sheet affluent [...]

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SEP IRA Rules And Contribution Limits: Retirement Plans For Self Employed People

October 11, 2010
Opening A SEP IRA

In the past couple of years I’ve been considering taking a chance and becoming a self employed entrepreneur, and something I’ve had to consider is how I’ll be saving for retirement.  As a self employed person, you won’t have the option of a 401k.  You do have some other options though. Among them: SEP IRA [...]

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$1500 Energy Tax Credit For Energy Efficient Home Improvements Runs Out Soon

October 8, 2010
1500 Energy Tax Credit

As the end of the year approaches, a lot of people are scrambling to try and schedule work on their homes that they had been putting off. The reason?  Most of the tax credits for energy efficient home improvements that were passed a while back will be expiring at the end of the year on [...]

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Don’t Just Blindly Put Money In Your 401k. Get Out Of The Hammock

October 7, 2010
401k On Automatic Pilot?

You can’t just blindly put money in a 401(k) and assume that once you’re retired, it’ll all turn out perfectly. Do you even know what’s in your 401(k), or how to determine what is? It’s okay to admit that you don’t, we’re all friends here and no one will judge you (except possibly me, and [...]

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Should Married Couples Have Joint Bank Accounts?

October 4, 2010
Are Joint Accounts A Good Idea?

One of the most common discussions that I hear from people considering walking down the isle, or those who have already gotten hitched, is the age old topic of whether or not couples should have joint bank accounts – and whether they should share their finances.  It can be a touchy topic to discuss because [...]

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