I read a number of financial blogs. And most, if not all of them, will tell you the secret to wealth is to spend less than you make. Pretty much common sense. If your’re single, it’s up to you to make the decisions that will help you financially. Or if you are part of a “couple”, [...]
In the May issue of Readers Digest they describe a fictional typical American Famiy. Some of the things shared:
James and Mary (parents)Â are the most popular male and female names in the US
John and Patricia are the second most common names
James shoots a 96 in golf, Mary a 108
The daughter watches 2.5 hours of TV a day
The [...]
We have had a lot of wind storms in our area this winter. During one of them, our roof TV antenna was blown down and is hanging by a thread on our roof. We now only receive about half the TV stations we used too. So my wife and I discussed our options:
Pay someone to [...]
Sigh. It looks like I am stuck for now with my Home Equity Loan. I had hoped to switch to a new lender for several reasons:
My current lender rate is a fixed 6.9%. I was able to find a fixed rate at 4.9% (for a limited time locally)
My current lender only allows for a direct [...]
One of the opportunities I have as a Pastor is to do counseling. Being part of a multiple pastor staff, my counseling tends to fall into two areas: Premarital counseling (which I do with my lovely wife), and financial counseling. Over the years, I have noticed a trend. When counseling couples who are having [...]
I have been busy doing my year end financial routine:
Reviewing my net worth compared to previous years. Up 5% this year despite lawyer bills and an uneasy stock market. I had hoped for more, but not bad.
Rebalancing my retirement portfolio to keep it in line with my goals. Didn’t have to do much rebalancing [...]
On Monday night my wife and I took our three children ages 7, 6, and 5 to shop for a gift for each of us. First my wife took the three girls and shopped for me, then I took the three girls and shopped for her. It was a great time, filled with laughter and [...]
The medical expenses have added up recently. Our family has over $700 in medical costs right now. All on eye glasses and dentists - wow! Good thing we have a Flexible Spending Account program at work, and that I still have enough to cover all this! For those of you who may not be familiar [...]
In a previous post I mentioned that my family had some big bills coming. I also mentioned that we have approximately $14,000 in a Home Equity Loan. Both of these are connected to the biggest investment of our life.
For over 14 years, our family consisted of my wife and I. Then a friend of [...]
It looks like I will be getting a pay raise beginning in January! Our Church budgets are set in October/November, but they do not go into effect until the beginning of the year. Since I know what the raise will be, I have started playing with my budgets. Here is what I think they will [...]
