“Retirement” seems to have a much different connotation than “financial independence” within the world of personal finance. In my opinion, a true “retirement” seems a long ways off, however, the goal of ”financial independence” seems to be within reach for most (especially the frugal among us) - but even after all of the debt is paid off and savings has […]
I don’t typically write reviews of other people’s articles, but I came across this New York Times piece by Ron Lieber today, and I feel that some of his points should be discussed. Mr. Lieber offers the five following basic financial principles:
1. Investing is Simple
The best way to score big points with me is to […]
If you’re nearing retirement age and panicking about the fact that you don’t have enough saved to enjoy a comfortable retirement, you’re not alone. Generally, those between the ages of 50 and 65 are in denial about how much they’ll really need to have saved to maintain their current lifestyle after they retire, and much […]
Here are the “answers” to the acronym quiz.
If you want to sound like a banker or financial services professional, get to know these well. The trick is being able to use them without sounding like a complete jackass. I was actually in a meeting the other day and said, “I want to see the CBA […]
A recent post by JD at Get Rich Slowly and some of the comments of my last post got me thinking about what it means to be “poor”.
On Feb 11, JD linked to this list on Whatever, a blog by John Scalzi. When I was young, my family didn’t have a ton of money, but […]
-9.89% is the “Personal Rate of Return” on my 401(k) since the first of the year. Here is how that number was calculated according to my plan sponsor:
The basic formula used to calculate personalized rate of return is called the Modified Dietz method. Modified Dietz is a common way to evaluate a portfolio’s return using time-weighted […]
One of the responsibilities included in my full-time job is to set deposit rates for my financial institution. On days like today, I wish I managed pricing on the asset side of the balance sheet. As I type, HELOC owners everywhere are rejoicing in the Fed’s 0.75% rate cut. Individuals with certificates of deposit (CDs) maturing in the next […]
Logo Contest Winner
The winner of BankerGirl’s logo contest is… Mary! I am still trying to figure out how to get it formatted correctly on the site - but this will give you an idea of what it will look like:
Thanks Mary for the great concept! And thanks to all of you who submitted logos and […]
On Fridays I will post links to some of my online favorite articles of the week. This week’s entries are a real mixed bag:
A few fellow bloggers out there are wrapping up 2007 in very good financical shape. After livng with debt for 20 years, JD at Get Rich Slowly is debt-free. I can’t imagine […]
One of the reasons my debt is so out of control is that I got in a cycle of paying off debt with other loans. My favorite way to play this game was to pay off credit card debt with student loan proceeds. It was my justification for always taking the maximum student loan amount allowed - I figured […]