Evolving Personal Finance » Archive
Rethinking Our Student Loan Repayment
I logged in to my Sallie Mae account recently – I check in on it 2-3 times per year just to make sure nothing has changed. My remaining loans are subsidized and in deferment so their balances should be completely static until I graduate and they come out of deferment. However, when I logged in this most recent time I noticed that the interest rate on three of my loans had dropped from 3.61% to … Read entire article »
My Sister’s Awesome Financial Decisions
I don’t talk about my family of origin a lot on this blog (for privacy reasons) but I want to suspend that policy for today’s post to brag about my sister. My sister is 25 and not a nerd. Like, I’m a nerd, right? I went to a nerd high school and a nerd college and now I’m doing a PhD in engineering and I picked up an interest in PF along the way, which … Read entire article »
Filed under: college, debt, family, goals, investing, retirement, savings, stock market
Favorite Posts, Mentions, and Top Comments Week of 9June2013
Man, I had a great week! I have an undergraduate working with me full-time and his mere presence is really helping me keep on track with my experiments. I was able to replicate my great result from last week so I feel like I’m a giant leap closer to finishing my PhD. Kyle and I attended one of those how-to-get-a-job talks this week and actually got to spend some time in a smaller group with the speaker. She told Kyle she was confident he’ll be able to find a job with his unique training (and she said she doesn’t tell most people that). We got a free meal out of the deal at a nice French restaurant in Durham. She also gave me some advice and a possible interesting contact on the PF front, … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
The Best Things in Life Are Free
These are all things and experiences that I love that are free (or at least can be free)! sunshine reading (books from the library) the Sarah P. Duke Gardens exercise orgasms friendship church/small group cuddling conversation stargazing the Smithsonian Gmail the Bible sleep podcasts Not surprisingly, many of these line up with my top five values. I feel wealthy when I enjoy these things and I didn’t spend a dime doing it! What are some of best things in your life that are free? photo by Amy Goodrich Photography … Read entire article »
Filed under: luxuries
Trying Hard to Not Time the Market
Kyle and I have a decision to make! We have some subsidized and deferred student loan debt (i.e. sitting at 0%) and we also have the full amount of money we need to pay off these loans set aside. Most of that money is invested in mutual funds, but about $6,000 is in a CD that is maturing this month. When we first allocated our savings, we knew we should be conservative because we had a … Read entire article »
Filed under: debt, investing, savings, stock market
Hand in Hand: Lean In and Getting to 50/50
After learning about Sheryl Sandberg’s message to young women from the extensive media coverage of her TED Talk and other speeches, I knew that I should read her book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. I saw myself in her comments about 20something women who tone down striving for advancement in their careers when they start thinking about reproducing. Little did I know that while waiting for her book to arrive, I … Read entire article »
Favorite Posts, Mentions, and Top Comments Week of 2June2013
Last weekend Kyle and I were in northern Virginia to celebrate some family events. We got a lot of quality time with my sister, which you’ll hear a bit more about in the coming weeks. I was hoping to see SWARMS AND SWARMS of cicadas as I remembered another brood from 2004, but we only heard them and saw a few dead ones. Yesterday we served lunch again at a local homeless shelter and then went … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
May 2013 Month in Review: Money
We had a pretty good month! Nothing too out of the ordinary. We overspent our grocery budget but it was made up for by underspending in a few other categories. Our trip to Boston wasn’t very expensive at all and we got a bunch of great experiences out of it so it was high in value. We had more side income than we usually do. Our cash is getting really, really high, people! I wish we … Read entire article »
Filed under: month in review
Early Retirement Isn’t for Us
Before becoming immersed in the PF blogosphere, I never realized there was such a thing as truly early retirement. If you had said “early retirement” to me, I probably would have thought of retiring at 55 instead of 65. Similarly, I heard “financial independence” to mean independence from parents, not independence from work/active income! I just had no idea that anyone would want to stop their primary career/gainful employment in his 30s or 40s. Now I’m … Read entire article »
Filed under: choices
Favorite Posts, Mentions, and Top Comments Week of 26May2013
Phew! We’ve had a busy week! And we’ve hardly had time to recover! Last Sunday and Monday we were in Boston for a wedding. Right when we got into RDU on Monday we drove to a Memorial Day cookout – we were thankful for the hot ready meal! We were back at work Tuesday through Thursday, including attending a 4-hour seminar on negotiation and problem solving, focused on hiring negotiations. On Wednesday night we had small group as usual. On Thursday we went to a young professionals event at our church, where we got a free meal and SQUARE DANCED for about an hour! It was so much fun! Then on Friday we heard the North Carolina Symphony play movie music at a free outdoor concert. On Saturday morning we drove to northern Virginia … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
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