-
Debt Free
$25,691.32 in student loans, paid off as of today. That’s $30,100 (give or take $100) of debt paid off total over the last 3.5 years of financial consciousness. I think I’m supposed to throw a party or something. I’m still kinda in shock.
-
Bogleheads’ Retirement Planning: Self-Employment Account Options
A 401(k) for MacGregor? Muy awesome. I had no idea that there were traditional or Roth 401(k) options for the self-employed. I figured that Greg was due to be stuck with only IRAs, as well as a tangle of alphabet soup even I didn’t want to swim in: SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, Keoghs, spousal IRAs. This totally changes our game plan, even though we won’t hop to a 401(k) immediately.
-
Bogleheads’ Retirement Planning: Tax Games
Why didn’t I ever look at 401(k) contributions as a tax game? Probably because I didn’t really understand how taxes worked.
-
Bogleheads’ Retirement Planning: Investment Policy Statement
This is the second of my Bogleheads’ Retirement Planning series. “Investment Policy Statement” a hoity-toity term for “make a contract with yourself on how you’ll invest”. What’s your risk tolerance? What allocation of investments do you want to maintain? How often will you rebalance? What’s your goal? How often will you reassess your goal? I’ve had these things in my head, shuffling them around as I researched and toyed with percentages and numbers. What they weren’t was written down.
-
It’s Okay to Breathe
I just finished The Money Book for Freelancers, Part-Timers, and the Self-Employed yesterday, although the book was eye opening and (fer skerious) life changing throughout–I’m leaving it under Greg’s pillow, on his keyboard, and in his underpants drawer–one paragraph near the end caught my eye: Return calls promptly. How many times has someone explained away a long delay in response with that lame excuse “I’ve been swamped”? Expunge this phrase from your lexicon. It’s horse hockey. Newsflash: it’s the twenty-first century, and we’re all swamped. If someone leaves a voice mail message for you, log it in and get back to them within twenty-four hours. E-mail etiquette is slightly different,…