Financial independence
-
Financial Health Matters for Higher Education and Beyond
When I was living in the Philippines, my mom had set up a college plan for me, which dismayed and annoyed my dad because he did not believe in financial planning. Sure enough, he did not live to see the day that I will enter university. Because of an illness, he passed away before I even made it to high school. If it was not for that prepaid college plan, and my mom helping out, I may not have been able to go to the university I liked. When Peter was going to university, he never got a full scholarship (only a partial one) to an in-state school in Florida.…
-
The Mega Backdoor Roth 401k Retirement Strategy
I attended a seminar hosted by my employer on the new benefit they are rolling out. They are now allowing Roth 401k contributions as part of our 401k plan. Happy days, right? More options for people who want to have more options. But little did I know that this will open up an entire new retirement strategy for us and will mean more tax-deferred or even tax-free growth on earnings on our money! The Mega Backdoor Roth 401k Retirement Strategy Most people will probably not consider putting more money in an after-tax 401k. There’s so many reasons why: Can’t max out pre-tax, so why even put in after-tax money? Living…
-
Why You Shouldn’t Care About Other’s Finances
It’s Black Friday as I type this, and most of the USA is out shopping, including me. A few others are opting not to shop at all, and that’s fine, I totally respect that. However, I just got to thinking… in this personal finance world, have we become too voyeuristic? Why do People Care About Other’s Finances? As personal finance gets more mainstream and other people start retiring early, we become fascinated with certain people (bloggers, vloggers, or PF ‘celebrities’). Some publicly show how much they are earning online or through their various businesses, some posted how they managed to retire early and how they’re doing it. Have we become…
-
2017 Budget Year In Review
It’s that time of year again. No, I don’t mean Christmas. I mean dusting off the transaction history for this past year from Personal Capital (link) and sifting through…(checking total amount of transactions)…2,097 transactions! Boy, what fun it is to calculate net income…yeah. It has certainly been an interesting year. The first half of the year was largely focused on travel, and mid-way through the year, Peter changed jobs and work locations. Let’s take a look at the numbers and then we’ll provide a summary of the good, bad, and ugly. Please note that we will publish only the percentages of our expenses compared to our after-tax income (or disposable…
-
Help! My Partner Is A Spender!
It’s the typical human story: you grow up, interact with the opposite (or same) sex, have little crushes, and you decide to pursue the other person in a more romantic way. You date a few people, you feel that you have met The One, and you decide to get serious and settle down with The One. You get to know the other person a bit more, you are chugging along with your life goals and then all of a sudden you discover financial independence through blogs, reading books, podcasts, and whatnot. The Discovery You want to get aboard the gravy train, you want to stop spending, you want to get…
