Evolving Personal Finance » Archive
PhD Stipends Launch
I’m happy to finally be able to show you website #1, the project that Kyle and I have been working on (very intermittently) for the past year: PhD Stipends. If you are a (former) grad student who receives some kind of pay related to that role – you do not have to be PhD student and you do not have to call it a ‘stipend’ – would you please do two things for me? 1) Go to … Read entire article »
Filed under: grad school, income
Missionary Support Transitions
About a year and a half ago, Kyle and I decided to start supporting a missionary with an ongoing monthly contribution of $50. We were a bit nervous as we had never entered into this kind of relationship before; our only ongoing regular giving to that point had been to our church, and with an individual it felt a bit different. We were particularly thinking about how we might go about ending the gift if we … Read entire article »
Filed under: giving
My First Trip on MegaBus
I recently took a MegaBus trip. It went very smoothly and I would do it again, though I’d like to get a lower fare next time. If you aren’t familiar with MegaBus, it is a long-distance bus transit service, serving the US, Canada, and Europe. It advertises that you can buy a fare for as low as $1 and that each bus has outlets and wifi available. The way you get the lowest fare is to … Read entire article »
Filed under: travel
Why Is My Take-Home Pay as a Postdoc Nearly the Same as When I Was a Grad Student?
Despite the fact that Kyle got over a 40% raise when he transitioned from grad student to postdoc, his postdoc take-home pay is depressingly similar to his grad student take-home pay. I had heard rumors of this phenomenon but had never quite believed it. The reasons for it are partially generalizable and partially specific to us, but I hope they are illuminating for other people going through this same transition. Kyle gave me permission to share … Read entire article »
Filed under: grad school, income, taxes
Funemployment Report: September 2014
I definitely didn’t accomplish anywhere near what I wanted to this month, yet I felt it was a very productive month. I just set way too ambitious goals! I’m going to continue to set ambitious goals and mostly fail at them because I’d rather do that than feel like I don’t have much to do or am not sure what to do next. In September, I also started keeping a list of everything I worked on … Read entire article »
Filed under: funemployment
First Job Problems: Payroll Deductions Are Annoying!
Apparently I’m doing a whole series about surprising or confusing things that happen when you get a real job! I mean, Kyle’s job is only like half-real (postdoc so he’s still in training and isn’t paid what he’s worth, but he gets a W-2 so he’s a real employee). I’ve already covered why we chose not to enroll him in his 403(b) and how we muddled through our new health insurance choices. Today’s topic is … Read entire article »
September 2014 Month in Review: Money
Please sign up for EPF’s new newsletter at the top of the right sidebar. I’ll email you about once per month about behind-the-scenes stuff. The purpose is to better connect with you! 🙂 This is going to be my last spending report in this format because we have revamped our money management system starting in October. So look out for some changes in my next spending update! Even though our budget for this month was funded with … Read entire article »
Filed under: month in review
Revamping Our Money Management System
Kyle and I have had a fairly stable money management system for the last few years, which we laid the basis for shortly after we were married. I have trumpeted its benefits in many blog posts over the years and think it worked very well for us for those years, though it was probably more hands-on than most people would like. In brief, our money management system between 2010 and 2014 was to: Practice percentage-based budgeting in … Read entire article »
Filed under: budgeting, targeted savings
Rebooting
On the same day I posted that I was taking some time away from EPF and the PF blogosphere, I had a long talk with one of my good local friends who also reads EPF (hi AM!). She told me that it wasn’t surprising to her that I freaked out about my future with blogging after FinCon14, given that I defended less than two months ago and recently became funemployed and don’t know where I’ll … Read entire article »
Filed under: blogging
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Awesome Comments and Posts 4-17Oct 2014
October 18th, 2014 | 17 Comments
This is the first week of the newly reinstated round-up post! The purpose is to 1) give you some life updates on us that don’t fit into blog posts, 2) highlight great members of the EPF community and 3) point you all to excellent posts by other PF bloggers. In the last two weeks, I interviewed for an internship I was really excited about and also found out that I didn’t get it. 🙁 I was feeling pretty … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update