I just got back from a week long trip to see my son living in Europe and I wrote about my expenditures here but I didn’t go into detail about a significant challenge I had while traveling from city to city there and how I overcame some of my issues. Payment With Credit & Debit…
Category: Money Management
The Whopping Costs of Vacationing In Europe!
I just got back from spending Easter in Europe and I am shocked at how much inflation has grown there and the whopping costs of living there. Airfare I was lucky enough to find “cheap” airfare to Europe for $760 but it was only because I have an alert on flash sales setup on my…
Inflation At Home 2024
Inflation is like a boa constrictor that slowly squeezes every nickel and dime out of you but lately it feels like a Titanoboa and we must battle it everyday. I got a bit of a shock early this year with the cost of utilities. Both electricity and water went up far beyond what I was…
Cancun, Timeshare Salesman, and the Diver
I wrote this story in my original blog but since I rebooted it, the archives got zapped so I’m writing it again because it was an experience that changed my life. Cancun In early 2000’s, as I recall, my wife and I took our kids down to Cancun, Mexico for a family vacation. We stayed…
How I’m Investing My Buckets of Money: Tax FREE Bucket
This is part 3 of my buckets of money and how I plan on investing the funds in them. Although the funds are already invested, it’s become clear that I need to re-think how I’m investing funds in each account. Tax FREE Bucket My third bucket is the “tax FREE” bucket. This is a bucket…
How I’m Investing My Buckets of Money: Tax Deferred Bucket
Part 1 here was all about investing my Taxable bucket. This is part 2 of my buckets of money and how I plan on investing the funds in them. My Tax Deferred Bucket, although the funds are already invested, it’s become clear that I need to re-think how I’m investing funds in this account. Tax…
How I’m Investing My Buckets of Money: Taxable Bucket
I have separated my money into three buckets as I wrote about here and after some research, I’m coming close to determining the best way to invest the money in these buckets. Keep in mind that the money in all of these buckets is already invested but after doing some serious planning for retirement, I’ve…
My 10 Year Anniversary With Kiva.org
One of the ways I like to give back to the community and help others is through Kiva.org. If you don’t know what Kiva is, here is a blurb from their About page: More than 1.7 billion people around the world are unbanked and can’t access the financial services they need. Kiva is an international…
Retirement Planning: Step 5 – Putting It All Together
Let’s review my five retirement planning steps in case you missed any…click on the Steps to go to the appropriate Step. Step 1 – Total all retirement accounts. Step 2 – Estimate how much social security might provide. Step 3 – Estimate what the IRS standard deduction might be during my retirement years. Step 4 – Estimate…
Retirement Planning: Step 4 – IRS Tax Brackets
It’s 2:00 a.m. on a cold February morning, do you know which tax bracket you’re in right now? If you don’t, you’re in luck because I put this table together from the IRS that shows the tax brackets for 2023. I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that tax brackets are…