investing Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Evolving Personal Finance

Why We’re Holding on to My Student Loans

March 12th, 2014 | 26 Comments

While reading a blog this week (can’t remember which, sorry!), saw a paraphrase of some advice from Suze Orman wherein she called student loans the most dangerous type of loan you can have and advised paying them off before paying off any other type of debt. Even though I’m not a Suze Orman consumer (the way I am with Dave Ramsey and Ric Edelman) and so I’m not familiar with her philosophy, I could hardly believe that this was an accurate portrayal. But it was. Check out this short clip of her telling a questioner to pay off student loans first, regardless of interest rate. I understand that it’s noteworthy that student loans aren’t bankruptable, but is the possibility of bankruptcy so immediate for so many borrowers that it becomes worthwhile to … Read entire article »

Filed under: debt, investing

When to Pass Up a Company Retirement Match

December 30th, 2013 | 35 Comments

I know this is practically heresy around the personal finance community, but I don’t think everyone should contribute to his 401(k) or equivalent, even when a company retirement match is available. I didn’t think that I held that opinion until I advised a coaching client to pass up his unlimited 100% company 401(k) match. I am supposed to advise my coaching clients according to the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps, perhaps with some reasonable modifications. Starting Baby … Read entire article »

Filed under: budgeting, choices, investing, retirement, savings

The Thinking Person’s Guide to Dave Ramsey: Realistic Wealth Building

December 25th, 2013 | 25 Comments

You commonly hear, “Dave Ramsey is great on debt, not so much on investing.” To his credit, he does advocate that everyone who is debt-free saves 15% toward retirement, which is a great start. But listening to his specific investing advice sets the expectations of the portfolio growth too high and will likely cause the investor to take on too much risk. Unconventional Strategy Dave Ramsey’s investment advice for everyone is to invest in four types of … Read entire article »

Filed under: investing

Important But Uninteresting PF Topics

October 28th, 2013 | 41 Comments

I have read broadly on personal finance so I have a passing familiarity with a bunch of subjects, yet here on EPF I stick to writing in the areas of budgeting, finances in marriage, frugality, grad student finances, etc. I don’t often write about debt because we’re not (really) in debt and don’t plan on getting into it again except for a mortgage. I don’t often write about insurance because, after reading the recommendations, I … Read entire article »

Filed under: investing

Rethinking Our Student Loan Repayment

June 19th, 2013 | 42 Comments

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 »

Filed under: choices, debt, investing

My Sister’s Awesome Financial Decisions

June 17th, 2013 | 31 Comments

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

Trying Hard to Not Time the Market

June 12th, 2013 | 32 Comments

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

The Great Debate: 15-Year vs. 30-Year Mortgages

November 5th, 2012 | 41 Comments

Another way to put the question is what is the better priority – paying off debt or building wealth? Do you pay attention to interest paid or cash flow? This debate can be perfectly summarized by two radio personalities/podcasters I listen to: Dave Ramsey vs. Ric Edelman. I like both of them in different ways but on the question of what kind of mortgage to get they are polar opposites. Ramsey permits the idea of a … Read entire article »

Filed under: choices, debt, housing, investing

My Biggest Financial Mistake and Why I’m Glad I Made It

March 14th, 2012 | 35 Comments

You’re going to think I’m really dumb when you read this. You might even want to take away my PF blogger card. My mistake was a doozy. I’ll just say that I made it several years ago when I was just figuring out my finances and I was a lot less involved than I am now. And Kyle wasn’t around to catch the mistake. Summer 2007. I had just graduated from college and started my first … Read entire article »

Filed under: featured, investing, mistakes, retirement, stock market

We Are Debt-Free, We’re Not Debt-Free, We Are Debt-Free, We’re Not Debt-Free…

December 9th, 2011 | 26 Comments

OK fine, we’re not debt-free! … technically. Upon graduation from college, I had a little over $17,000 in student loans, which immediately went into deferment and will stay deferred until I graduate with my PhD. (During a deferment period, no payments are due.) All but $1000 of the loans were subsidized (not accruing interest), and I paid off the unsubsidized loan within a few months of graduating. So my debt balance stands, unchanging and undue (yet), … Read entire article »