Evolving Personal Finance » Archive
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 … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
Is Your Blog on Your Resume?
I’ve been thinking about resumes and CVs a lot recently as Kyle has had me look at his CV about a million times before sending it out to potential advisors. Believe it or not, I used to consult on resumes when I worked in my college’s writing center – not that I super knew what I was doing. Some of the resume advice I have heard a few times is include hobbies and such because it … Read entire article »
Filed under: career
Should You Count Your Employer’s Contribution into Your Retirement Savings Percentage?
The question of whether or not to count an employer’s match or contribution into your own savings percentage is a perennial PF debate – but I swear I have a new twist! (At least, it’s new to me. I have never read this advice anywhere, but it’s so simple that I’m sure I can’t be the first to suggest it.) I had this brain wave while reading a Money Under 30 post on how to … Read entire article »
Filed under: retirement
Weekly Update 49
Busy busy week for both of us again – that will be the story through the beginning of March for me (for my preliminary exam) and until Kyle gets a job for him. This week I got the first draft of my preliminary exam document to my advisor for comment and Kyle inquired about his first postdoctoral position. We also attended an alumni networking event on Saturday but didn’t meet anyone who would be immediately useful for making connections as we aren’t going into industry in the next year or so. In awesome news this week, my advisor was elected to the National Academy of Engineering! That is an enormous honor befitting his long career and many contributions to his field. Another professor told me about it in the hallway … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
Grocery Challenge Update for January 2013
Late last fall we realized that our grocery spending had really gotten out of hand, even though we increased our budget from $360 to $400 per month. In November we spent $484 and set ourselves a grocery challenge – several goals that we thought would help us reduce our grocery spending to under our budget. The first month of our challenge, December 2012, was not successful – we spent $502 – but I was feeling … Read entire article »
Irregular Income: Gravy Edition
Kyle has been working at an extra position around 10 hours per month for a few months now, so we have had some time to adjust to having this additional income stream. He wasn’t looking for more income, but rather volunteered for a position (that we later found out was paid) so that he could learn a new skill. While I still stand by the method of handling irregular income I outlined earlier, that strategy … Read entire article »
Filed under: income, targeted savings
Why We Don’t Do No-Spend Challenges
I see the topic of no-spend challenges brought up repeatedly in the PF blogosphere – and I always dismiss them as not being for me. I feel we have a no-spend lifestyle! We don’t have a classic “latte factor” – a daily drip of single “want” purchases that add up substantially – and I think that undertaking spending fasts would only result in spending binges because we would delay necessary spending. But I had never gathered … Read entire article »
Filed under: spending
Weekly Update 48
Looking back at my calendar, I can see we had a very quiet week! I’ve been keeping my nose to the grindstone writing my preliminary exam document and finishing up collecting some data. Kyle has been trying to turn his focus to applying for jobs, and this week he heard a seminar from a PI he’s really interested in. The guy is at UCSF so I’ve let my imagination run away with me (as I am wont to do) and have been looking up housing options in San Francisco. I’m being ridiculous because Kyle is in such an early stage of the application process that I should be getting my hopes up – but the lab would be a really good fit and we’d be one giant step closer to … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
January 2013 Month in Review: Money
January was a fun month for us! We went skiing with some friends, got a lot accomplished at work, started watching basketball socially again, went out for Restaurant Week, had a picnic, and had the excitement of two snowfalls. We went over our grocery budget again (again, again… what kind of budgeter am I?) and you’ll have scroll down to see our bottom line. The Everyday Budget Our non-discretionary categories aren’t changing at all now – INCOME, … Read entire article »
Filed under: month in review
The Marriage Penalty and Itemizing Taxes
One of the lovely conversations about money I had over winter break was with my mother-in-law one morning while we were cooking breakfast. I had probably brought up the fiscal cliff or something similar, and the conversation wound up with me blurting out “Do you know how little money we make?” Oops! She was surprised to learn some details about our tax situation, but it makes sense that we have different impressions of the tax code … Read entire article »
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