Money Talk
Ten Years- Reflecting back and looking into the future
On September 15, 2008, the fourth largest investment bank in the United States declared bankruptcy. Lehman Brothers, founded in 1850, was en route to its demise. Due to its risky investments in subprime mortgages, the company could no longer sustain itself. This behemoth firm, which had over $600 billion in assets AND over $600 billion…
Read MoreActive Versus Passive Investing: Which Style Is Right For You?
After understanding why investments can be scary, hopefully you’ll come to the conclusion that you are comfortable with the concept of investing. I’ll go over two types of strategies related to investing in the stock and bond markets: active and passive. There are people that are very passionate about one strategy versus the other, and…
Read MorePaying Off Student Loan Debt: A Case Study
(Edited to add: The Student Loan Planner is now a featured resource on this blog! Find out more on my Student Loan Advice page!) It’s hard enough figuring out our own personal finances. Adding another person into the mix can make it much more difficult. Especially when that person has six-figure debt. In my case,…
Read MoreGoing Into Disney Mode
Five years ago, we decided to do what millions of people do every year. We decided to take a magical trip to Disneyland. My oldest was obsessed with the Pixar movie Cars. What better way to feed into this obsession than by visiting a theme park that had an entire section dedicated to this movie?…
Read MoreInvesting- Why is it so scary? Part 2
In Part 1, I discussed the “why” behind investing and addressed some of the fears that come with investing. I will continue this discussion by going into the basics of the stock market. “WHAT’S A STOCK?” Here is a conversation I overheard recently: Boy 1: What would you do with a million dollars? Boy 2:…
Read MoreAVMA Webinar Review- Refresher On Adulting: Personal Finances
I recently attended a webinar hosted by the AVMA. With a title like “Refresher on Adulting: Personal Finances,” how could I not jump at the chance? (By the way, that was not meant to be said with a hint of sarcasm. I really, truly jumped at the chance to see what this webinar was all…
Read MoreInvesting- Why Is It So Scary? (PART 1)
Investing. It can be daunting for those that have no idea what investing is all about. For me personally, money and investing were not subjects that were discussed while I was growing up. I did not hang out with people that talked about money. I attained a degree that did not require any knowledge about…
Read MoreWhat is lighting your FIRE?
So why did I use the acronym FIRE in my title? This was a new term for me up until recently. But once I found out what it was, it resonated very deeply with me. FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. You have enough accumulated in your investments that you can live off of…
Read MoreThe 20% Budget Rule: Part 3
Here we go: part 3 in the trilogy of the 20% budget rule. Catch Part 1 and Part 2 here if you haven’t done so already. By the way, I have no idea how I stretched this idea out to 3 posts. I guess it’s because I had a lot to say about it. If…
Read MoreThe 20% Budget Rule: Part 2
Did you calculate your savings rate from Part 1? How close are you to a 20% savings rate? Part 2 will include a basic comparison between two veterinarians so that you can see what the numbers will look like. To keep this focused on just savings, we’re looking at after-tax income, and we’re not accounting…
Read More