Evolving Personal Finance » Archive
Favorite Posts, Mentions, and Top Comments Week of 3Mar2013
I am currently in the DC area to visit friends and family and attend a pre-wedding event for one of my high school friends! Kyle decided to stay home to get some serious work done. I think it’s nice to have a break from one another every so often since we do spend so much time together in our normal routine. I’m happy I live close enough to be able to drive back for these types of events and to see my parents and siblings. The BIG NEWS of the week is that I passed my preliminary exam and it was way less scary than I thought it would be! My committee really took it easy on me. I think I overprepared, which I guess is okay, and I’m glad I … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
Grocery Challenge Update for February 2013
I was considering not posting about our grocery challenge this week because I don’t have a complete report, but then I decided that this blog is supposed to reflect real life and sometimes real life just doesn’t leave room for tracking receipts! I know how much money we spent on groceries last month thanks to Mint – $458.50 – but at some point in the month we lost track of our receipts for the mega pie … Read entire article »
Filed under: food
What Is a Courtesy Letter and Does It Mean I Don’t Have to Pay Taxes?
I think that one of the most confusing points regarding grad student taxes is the nature of the “courtesy letter.” I have personally never received one from my university or funding agency but I know many students in my lab, department, and university who have. You may not even be sure what you have received is a “courtesy letter” at all, but I’ll let you in on a few of it likely characteristics: It’s confusingly worded. It … Read entire article »
Filed under: grad school, taxes
Favorite Posts, Mentions, and Top Comments Week of 24Feb2013
I gave THREE practice prelim presentations this week – once for my lab, one for my peers, and one for my advisor. I wanted to work far in advance so we could go see Les Miserables on Friday night and watch a basketball game and go to a game night on Saturday without feeling too stressed. Kyle also gave two presentations this week so he was working hard as well. My prelim is TOMORROW! Oh, and in PF news, the grad student tax workshop I helped prepare was last Wednesday and it went really well! The audience was very diverse – from people who had never seen a 1040 to people who were trying to argue that grad students should be paid with W-2s instead of 1099-MISCs. I think our speaker … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
February 2013 Month in Review: Money
This has been a stressful month for us. As I’ve mentioned about a hundred times on here, I’m preparing for my preliminary exam. This stress and busy-ness has translated to doing and spending less, though we still socialized with our friends in free settings quite a bit. The Everyday Budget Our non-discretionary categories aren’t changing at all now – INCOME, SAVINGS, GIVING, rent, and internet – which you can find in our last budget iteration. Kyle also … Read entire article »
Filed under: month in review
Grad Student Income Tax Site Up!
Hi there! This isn’t a normal posting day for EPF but I am just so excited to share this info with you I had to break the routine! The grad student income tax website that I’ve been working on for the past few months is now live! My partner, who works in the student loan office and is a CPA, did most of the writing and compiling and I helped in the research and editing to ensure that it addresses the particular tax challenges that grad students face. I think this is a great resource for students at our university and across the US. I hope fellowship recipients find it useful as they are preparing their taxes. If you have any comments or constructive criticism regarding the information or presentation, please email me … Read entire article »
Filed under: grad school, taxes
Contributing to Last Year’s Roth IRA
Kyle and I have deviated from our normal Roth IRA contribution setup. Our normal routine is to each make bimonthly contributions (working out to about once per week between the two of us) to our Roth IRAs and make additional contributions when we receive extra paychecks. Despite my intense desire to max out both our Roth IRAs, we were several hundred dollars short of maxing out our 2012 contribution at year’s end. In previous years … Read entire article »
Filed under: retirement
Favorite Posts, Mentions, and Top Comments Week of 18Feb2013
Kyle and I are busy/stressed about work! Kyle is giving a departmental seminar on Monday and I am practicing my preliminary exam presentation in lab meeting. Too bad this busy work-week corresponds with Kyle’s programs recruitment weekend, so Kyle has some responsibilities for one of the applicants and we are attending some of the dinners and parties together. This week I attended the first session of a 6-part workshop on writing. It’s being put on for an engineering audience but the content is almost entirely general writing so I hope to improve my blogging as well as scientific writing. Guest Post Andrea from So Over This provided a wonderful guest post on how to help a loved one who is overspending from the perspective of the one who needs the help. I really … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
Blog Statistics Update January – February 2013
EPF is now a Google Page Rank 3!!! We were a 2 for what felt like forever. This month we also saw a big increase in traffic and we are finally dipping our toes into guest posting and advertisements. Kyle told me we have made $10 all-time so far and when I responded with a dismissive tone he said, “Are you not happy with that??” I think we are going to pursue mainly affiliate links. Award … Read entire article »
Filed under: blogging, month in review
What’s an Impulse Purchase?
I like to think that I have quite a bit of self-control and the ability to delay gratification – I bet I would have aced the marshmallow test! So when I see the term “impulse purchase” I think that it can’t apply to my spending habits. I mean, I don’t add candy at the grocery store checkout aisle, and what else could an impulse purchase be? The more I thought about that question, the less I … Read entire article »
Filed under: spending
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