Weekly Update 50

Kyle and I had a busy week socially on top of our intense work schedule.  My prelim document is due tomorrow and my presentation is two weeks from tomorrow, so there will be a few guest posts on the blog so that I can take a break from generating content.

On Tuesday evening Kyle and I saw Mary Poppins at our local theater.  It was a good show – I liked how they translated the magical elements to the stage – but it was too child-friendly for my taste.  On Wednesday we watched our university play its rivalry basketball game with friends (and were pleased with the outcome!).  On Friday I went to a little seminar on consulting and actually learned some new things even though I’ve been to many of those in the past.  On Saturday night we went out to dinner with a group of friends and then to a dance put on by the graduate student organization at our university and had a great time there.

Lots of goings-on concerning the blog this week – check it out below!

Guest Posts

This week we featured a guest post on EPF and I had a gust post published on another blog – actually, on the same day!  Kylie Ofiu told us about her decision-making process when she needed to replace several of her large household items and I shared what I learned from living on $24k/yr in the DC area right after college at Young Cheap Living.  Thanks to Kylie for volunteering a post to ease my workload as I’m preparing for my preliminary exam and to Kraig for publishing my story!

Interview

This week we were named an “Unbiased Blog” for 2012 by the Future Advisor blog!  As a scientist I super appreciate being perceived as unbiased, though I’m sure it’s not entirely accurate.  Please read the interview they did with us – the questions were really good!

Posts I Liked

Kathleen from Frugal Portland gives us both a list and a story of how to get out of debt!  Congrats on paying off your student loans, Kathleen!

Suba from Wealth Informatics conducts an analysis to definitively show that an executive Costco membership helps her spend less on food.

Joanna from Our Freaking Budget declares that she and her husband will not work for the weekend forever.

Maria LaMagna from Money Under 30 has a plan for keeping her budget in check after her college graduation.

L Bee from L Bee and the Money Tree wrote a fun post about stereotypical PF bloggers and what PF activities we can all agree are objectively wrong.

Catherine from Plunged in Debt shares her biggest money mistake – and it’s not one that you would think.

Both Michelle from Making Sense of Cents and John S from Frugal Rules featured a question from a reader about how to fund his son’s law school degree (possibly with retirement funds) and… well… I got a little riled up.  You can see what I wrote in the comments.

Tie the Money Knot breaks down the options for a woman who doesn’t like her engagement ring.  I say be truthful swiftly!

TeacHer Finance lists four stupid things she used to believe about money.

Mentions

Kristina from DINKs Finances listed Irregular Income: Gravy Edition in her weekly roundup.

John S from Frugal Rules included Is Your Blog on Your Resume? in his blog posts that ruled the week.

Jessica from Mo’ Money Mo’ Houses named in Is Your Blog on Your Resume? her link love.

Carnivals

Irregular Income: Gravy Edition was featured in the Carnival of Money Pros, the Financial Carnival for Young Adults, and the Wealth Builder Carnival #113.

Why We Don’t Do No-Spend Challenges was featured in the Money Mail Carnival 13th Edition.

Grocery Challenge Update for January 2013 was featured in the Yakezie Carnival.

Top Comment

S.B. from Save Invest Give actually implements my idea of including employer benefits (like retirement matches) into gross compensation for budgeting purposes.  I’m including the whole comment here because it’s so informative:

“I actually work all the numbers off my total gross compensation, which includes 401(k) matching, employer health insurance costs, and so forth. Thus, 401(k) matching is part of income, but goes directly into savings, and health insurance paid by my employer counts as income, but also counts as a health insurance expense. I make sure that I have awareness of smaller expenses like company paid life insurance, but I don’t actually put those into the budget just to save work.

There’s certainly no one best way to do this, and so I understand why most people start with net income. It’s certainly a lot simpler. Also, my current employer is the first one I’ve ever had that was transparent about the health care costs, so not everyone is even in a position to track this accurately.

The bottom line is that I wanted to be aware of exactly what my employer is currently providing because if I stopped working or got a different job, this is what I would be losing and would have to come up with through other means.”

Most Frequent Commenters

1. Edward Antrobus
2. John S @ Frugal Rules
3. David W
4. Lucas
5. Kylie Ofiu

Top Blogs Referring to EPF

1. Making Sense of Cents
2. Young Cheap Living
3. 20 Something Finance
4. Punch Debt in the Face
5. Money Under 30
6. One Cent at a Time