Evolving Personal Finance » Archive
3… 2… 1… WE’RE STILL IN DEBT!
My official graduation from my PhD program is this month, which means that my subsidized student loans from undergrad are coming out of deferment. Kyle and I at long last had to come to a decision about what to do with the loans. We have had the money set aside to pay them off since we got married in 2010, and our original plan was to pay them off right before they came out of … Read entire article »
Awesome Comments and Posts 6-19Dec 2014
Winter break started early for us this year – we have already been in California for a few days! It’s been a working vacation so far as Kyle had to negotiate a few remote work days to be able to leave town so early, and of course my funemployment ‘work’ follows me everywhere (and I enjoy it!). The last two weeks have consisted of holiday parties, basketball games, discussions about my PhD PF talks, some volunteering, and … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
Living on Time with Your Credit Cards
We all know that the proper use of a credit card is to pay it in full every month to avoid paying interest, but even people who have that habit may be abusing their access to credit by slipping into a ‘buy now, pay later’ attitude. Even if you pay your credit cards off in full each pay period, if you are making purchases with money you expect to come in but haven’t received yet, … Read entire article »
Filed under: credit cards
Big Wins, Small Wins, and the Payoff-to-Energy Ratio
What matters more for your net worth, big wins or (lots of) small wins? Big wins are those singular decisions or actions we can take that have a large impact on our net worth. They can even be the reason that we have a positive net worth at all! Big wins can come on the income side of the net worth equation for sure, like consistently negotiating raises and changing jobs for better opportunities. They can come … Read entire article »
Make Hay While the Sun Shines
In my funemployment, I have two desired approaches to my work, which have been in conflict in the last few weeks. Approach 1: I work best in slow and steady increments. (I learned this while writing my preliminary exam document and confirmed it while writing my dissertation.) When I have a big project that feels overwhelming, it’s best for me to work on it a bit every day and get small pieces finished at a time. … Read entire article »
How I Developed an Interest in Personal Finance
I’ve received a bunch of awesome emails from readers in response to the introductory email that I’ve sent to everyone who signs up for EPF’s mailing list (top right sidebar! do it!). There are a LOT of awesome people in EPF’s readership who don’t even comment (and many who do)! Anyway, these emails have given me many new post ideas for EPF and for Grad Student Finances. The reader question that I’d like to address … Read entire article »
Filed under: income
Awesome Comments and Posts 15Nov – 5Dec 2014
It’s been three weeks since my last update but not a whole lot has gone on for us. Thanksgiving travel kind of dominated the period. Financial Peace University ended so I’m currently without a volunteering gig. Basketball season has been heating up – I’ve been to several games and we hosted one watch party. Kyle and I have had two meetings with a Personal Capital representative – more on that soon. 😉 Oh, and I … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
November 2014 Money Puddle and Spending Report
This was an INCREDIBLE month in terms of spending. I think it might be our highest spending month ever (post-wedding/honeymoon), or at least in the last couple years. The big big spending outlay was that we finally bought a DSLR. We have desired this type of camera for a couple years and started saving for it 16 months ago. We no longer have targeted savings accounts, but the last balance on our camera account was more … Read entire article »
Filed under: funemployment, month in review
Funemployment Report: November 2014
I finally feel like I accomplished something this month! I finished a deliverable: my personal finance for grad students presentation, which I gave on November 13. I said earlier that I thought Grad Student Finances was my passion project for the fall, but it turned out that this presentation was. I’m noticing that my priorities at the end of a month don’t match well my priorities at the beginning of the month. That’s a major component … Read entire article »
Filed under: funemployment
We’re Evolving!: Our Next Transition
When we founded EPF in 2011, a major component of is purpose was to keep us financially honest during our several anticipated life transitions. Well, it took until 2014 for the first one to occur, but now we seem to be on a roll. Transition #1: Kyle defended and became a postdoc in the same lab he did his PhD in. Essentially the only change was a salary bump. Transition #2: I defended and became funemployed. The major change … Read entire article »
Filed under: budgeting, career, funemployment, housing, income
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