I love Capital One’s "What’s in your wallet?" ad campaing; they’re consistantly funny. While I’m not going to sign up for their credit card just because I enjoy the commercials, they do ask a good question. So, here’s what’s in my wallet:Driver’s license – Of course.Picture of wife – Gotta have it.$10.00 bill – I prefer to pay using my cash back credit card, so I don’t carry much cash.Post-it note with Travelocity vocher code – Vocher code was given to me when Travelocity Read more [...]
1MansMoney now has an RSS feed! I just learned about RSS feeds and love the convenience they provide. Inside of visiting your favorite blogs each day to see if there is new content, you can subscribe (for free) to your favorite blogs and visit one website to see updated content from all of them.To subscribe to 1MansMoney’s RSS feed, click on the icon in the upper right hand corner of this webpage. You will be prompted to choose a reader (I use Google Reader) and create a user id and password. Read more [...]
I think it’s great to have an emergency fund for unexpected events, such as sickness or job loss. However, if there were ever an emergency that took out the power for a long period of time, such as a major earthquake, it is likely that we would be unable to access our saving accounts or use our credit cards. My wife and I rarely have more than $20 in cash on us, because we try to charge most of our expenses to our cash back credit cards. This puts us in a tough position if we needed to buy water Read more [...]
I just received confirmation from HBSC that our $25 cash back redemption request has been received, and our check will arrive within 15 business days. Not a big sum of money, but the only thing I had to do to earn it was charge my business trip expenses to my HBSC rewards Mastercard (which my company immediately reimburses me for). My wife and I also have a Citi Dividend Platinum Select MasterCard that we use for most of our household expenses. The card is paid off monthly and earns us up to 5% cash Read more [...]
I really enjoy searching the web for high quality financial websites that I can learn from. It's amazing how much information is available online. Below is a list of sites that I visit frequently.Early Retirement ForumFinding this site started it all for me2millionMy favorite personal finance blogMorningstarMore finance information that you can ever readBloomberg CalculatorsMany useful financial calculatorsVanguardOffers a wealth of resources and low expense Roth IRA choices Read more [...]
Other than my family, I only have a couple of friends that I talk with about money. Even then, our conversations are usually limited to vague references, and not actual numbers. I can see pros and cons to keeping money matters private. ProsLess chance of jealousy if your financial situation is better than another person's Less possibility of embarrassment if your financial situation is worse off than another person's Less likelihood that someone will hit you up for a loan / try to steal from youConsLack Read more [...]
To achieve our net worth goal of $1.5M in 20 years, we need a plan. Below are our net worth goals for each year (click on spreadsheet to enlarge). This plan assumes an average annual return of 8%, and our ability to increase our investments as our careers develop.As you can see, if we are able to hit our targets, we are still almost $300K short of our $1.5M goal. I guess that’s why they call them "stretch" goals. Read more [...]
We currently have $12,688.05 invested in my company's 401(k) plan and $630.00 saved up to begin funding Roth IRA’s for my wife (minimum required to open a Vanguard Roth IRA is $3,000).The 401(k) money was accumulated (no company match) over the past 5 years of off and on investing without a plan or a goal. Now that we do have a plan and a goal, we have decided to focus on fully funding our Roth IRA’s this year, while still contributing a small amount (2% of my salary) to my company's 401(k) plan. Read more [...]
We just returned last night from a friend’s wedding in Northern California. It was a great time, but we spent almost $400 for the 2-1/2 day trip. Our portion of the cabin was $160, our share of the gasoline (we drove) was $115, and meals totaled roughly $100. The Northern California coast is absolutely beautiful – lush green countryside, quaint cabins, and dramatic ocean views. The small town they had the wedding in was so remote that our cell phones did not work, internet access was via Read more [...]
My wife just got word today that the commission she is expecting on 4/20 will be more than we thought. She’s getting $1,599.68 ($1,147.24 after taxes)!We have earmarked the money for the following:$656 to pay off American Express$200 to Emigrant Direct emergency fund$171 to church$120 to buy wife new jeans (she earned it)What a blessing! Read more [...]
Our path to financial independence and retiring early.
