Fearless Money

A few days ago I posted that I made a 21% after-tax profit from my investment/speculation account. I pay a lot of attention to that account, of course, and deliberately do not pay as much attention to my Roth IRA. I prefer a “buy-and-hold” approach in that account. Interestingly, that strategy paid […]

[Read more →]

The first Carnival of Personal Finance with one of my articles is up!

[Read more →]

This year, like last year, I honestly look forward to filing my income taxes. December before last, we completed adopting a child from China.

[Read more →]

If we want to save Social Security for future retirees, we as a society should do what we can to encourage saving now. I hadn’t thought of it that way before, that my personal saving and getting out of debt will help fuel the economy which will enable retirees in 2020 and beyond to […]

[Read more →]

Did you know that starting a Roth IRA for your ten-year-old will pay off 240:1? It is true. At 7% interest, a $100 investment in a simple mutual fund such as Dow Diamonds or QQQQQ, which average 7-8% will pay off incredibly for your child.I just made a quick calculator to help explore the numbers.

[Read more →]

When I started formal budgeting & tracking of my finances last June, I never considered that it would make me feel less guilty about spending money.

[Read more →]

It is an odd thing, but repeatedly proven to be true, that setting constraints often sparks creativity.The way we did it this year was by budgeting “gift money” every month. The money, $50 each for Dustin and me, goes in envelopes marked “Dustin Gift Money” and “Bruce Gift Money” in the safe…. We use it to fund all gift giving throughout the year, supplemented by whatever we feel like kicking in from our personal “mad money” allowances. Since we started the formal budget in June last year, there were a total of $800 maximum dollars in the envelopes…. $500 really is not a lot to buy presents for the five people in the family, relatives, and close friends…. We did this by setting our limits up front, and by not really buying any “impulse gifts”…. I found myself thinking things like “that is a nice shirt, Dustin would love it, but if I buy it, I wont have enough left to get that bracelet I came here to buy.”… Temptation is just easier to avoid when you are using cash.Another big help was something I read on another personal finance blog (sorry I can’t recall which). It pointed out that young children really don’t have the attention to enjoy more than three or four presents.

[Read more →]

This time of year, we are all considering adjusting our retirement contributions for next year. Did you max out your Roth IRA? I did not, sadly, but that is now one of my top financial resolutions for the new year. If you have been maxing it out, then you may want to […]

[Read more →]