Evolving Personal Finance » Archive
Weekly Update 26
Thanks for your encouragement last week on starting financial coaching through my church! This week I arranged THREE practice sessions with members of my small group and I was offered my first real clients! I’ll meet with them next week and I hope I’ll be able to help them. The man in charge of the volunteers told me that the vast majority of people just need someone to listen to them, pray with them, and help them set up a budget – I think I can do those things. This week we helped one of our friends move and it was very eye-opening in advance of our move! We had to get all of her and her roommate’s belongings into a UHaul to go across town because she was leaving town … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
When to Start Saving for a Mid-Term Goal
Mid-term goals – what the heck do we do with them? Kyle and I currently have no mid-term goals, but I’ve put some thought into them this week because of some interactions I’ve had with friends and financial clients. Some of our peers in NC are looking forward to buying homes! Mid-term goals take a bit of different thinking than short-term and long-term goals. For example, the long-term goal of retirement is something we expect to … Read entire article »
Filed under: goals
Found Money Creates Wants
Today’s post is not going in the direction of showing you strategies for battling the “wants” that spring up after finding money. Rather, I am just going to share the experiences and struggles that have emerged for us in the wake of receiving some monetary gifts this summer, particularly in terms of our joint money mindset. Kyle and I received a large gift for our second wedding anniversary in May, and this month we received/are expecting … Read entire article »
Filed under: found money, marriage
Why We’re Not Getting the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Even Though It’s a Great Deal
I’ve heard such great things about the Chase Sapphire Preferred card over the last few months – especially the signup bonus! Plenty of bloggers who track this sort of thing have highly recommended it. Top Ten Reviews Daily Markets Nerdwallet Finance Product Reviews The signup bonus for the Chase Freedom card definitely influenced us to get it, but we also knew that we would continue using it for its highlighted rewards categories and it has actually become our primary card. … Read entire article »
Filed under: credit cards, travel
Weekly Update 25
The big news this week is that I am probably going to get involved in a little bit of financial coaching! I contacted the head of counseling services at my church about serving in the financial component of the premarital counseling ministry (which Kyle and I thought was great when we went through it). He suggested one-on-one meetings with engaged couples as a way to start. Then, on Saturday, I attended a 3-hour financial boot camp put on by volunteers at our church, and when I introduced myself to them after the seminar they were excited to add me to their group of counselors. I was concerned about, you know, being a layperson with no training or experience, but they didn’t seem to be. They said that 90% of what … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
Blog Statistics Update June – July 2012
This is my one-month update on how EPF is doing based on our June 16 – July 15 data. Statistics People who listen to us, as of July 15, 2012: RSS subscribers: 69 (+3) Twitter followers: 57 (+6) Facebook fans: 16 (+3) Pretty minimal progress this month! I actually saw our RSS subscriptions as high as 84 at one point – I’m not sure why that number is so volatile. I don’t subscribe to and unsubscribe from other blogs so capriciously; … Read entire article »
Filed under: blogging, month in review
If I Were My Financial Advisor, What Would I Tell Me?
I’ve had a few people ask me for financial advice recently. I really enjoy these conversations (though I start with “I’m not qualified in any way to give advice”) – so much so that I decided to have one with myself. There are plenty of shortfalls in our financial situation, but I’ve become inured to them. We’ve lived with them for so long that we’re blind. So I decided to put on my Objective Hat and … Read entire article »
Filed under: choices
Double Check that Your Meal Plan Isn’t Screwing You
When I finally sat down and did the math before my senior year of college, I realized that I had been wasting money on my meal plan nearly every week for three years. I don’t mean that the meals were overpriced for their quality, though they probably were, but that the meal plans were set up to take advantage of the limited options available to the students. I discovered that the meal plan price was calculated … Read entire article »
Weekly Update 24
We have a place to live starting in August! We signed a lease and paid the security deposit last Sunday. It’s a townhouse, over $100 less per month than what we’re paying now, 1200 square feet (same as our current place), and closer to school and church. It’s in exactly the neighborhood we were hoping for! We have about a week overlap between our two places so we can move as slow as we would like. I had a pretty good week at work – I learned some new things and tweaked a protocol that should get my research moving again. I really enjoyed the workshop I attended and I started feeling positive about pursuing consulting after my PhD again. Now to get more “leadership experience”… This Saturday we participated in our … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
Super-Frugal Chicago Trip
Kyle and I succeeded in taking a very frugal trip to Chicago two weeks ago! We didn’t have a hard ceiling on spending exactly, though we did estimate our costs a couple months in advance to help us decide if we could commit to the trip. As flights were about $300 per person leading up to the RSVP date, we decided that we would drive there, trading time for money. I took the first stab at … Read entire article »
Filed under: travel