Evolving Personal Finance » retirement
Earned Income: The Bane of the Graduate Student’s Roth IRA
This is my contribution to The Roth IRA Movement started by Jeff Rose at Good Financial Cents. The post will briefly touch on the advantages of the Roth IRA account but will focus on how graduate students can determine whether or not they have earned income (now: taxable compensation). For more posts with greater detail on various aspects of the Roth IRA, please visit the Movement’s page. Also, I am not a CPA or financial … Read entire article »
Filed under: grad school, retirement
Why You Should Save for Retirement While In Graduate School Part 2
aka Why You Should Save For Retirement Even with a Low Income This is the second half of a two-part post intended to inspire graduate students and others with low incomes who are currently not saving for retirement to start. Check out the first post for my assumptions and an argument concerning compound interest. Please remember that I am not a financial planner or CPA and you should not consider my opinions financial advice targeted for … Read entire article »
Filed under: choices, retirement, savings
Why You Should Save for Retirement While In Graduate School Part 1
aka Why You Should Save For Retirement Even with a Low Income This two-part post is intended to inspire graduate students who are currently not saving for retirement to start. The graduate students I refer to in this post are those who are being paid a living wage while in school – that is, they are not taking out loans for tuition or living expenses and can keep their must-have living expenses (rent, utilities, food, etc.) … Read entire article »
Filed under: choices, featured, grad school, retirement
My Biggest Financial Mistake and Why I’m Glad I Made It
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
Why Do We Make Rules If We’re Just Going to Break Them?
Kyle and I have a rule: We don’t watch important basketball games (i.e. any game involving our team, or the final rounds of the NCAA tournament) with people who don’t care about basketball (apathy is bad enough – rival fans would be inconceivable!). You can imagine the situation that inspired this rule! So I was surprised when Kyle told me yesterday that he is planning to watch our team’s big rivalry game this weekend with people … Read entire article »
Filed under: budgeting, choices, credit cards, debt, giving, retirement, values
Psyching Out My IRA
For the last six months or so I’ve wanted to max out my IRA. Like, I’m dying to. I’ve looked at our budget numerous times, attempting theoretical cuts here and there that could get me to the limit. I took my contribution from just under 10% of my gross income to about 16% but going the rest of the way is just not happening. Why do I want to max out my IRA? Two psychological precepts … Read entire article »
Filed under: budgeting, goals, retirement, savings, stock market
I’m Not Perfect. Not Even Close.
Sometimes personal finance bloggers come across like they have everything figured out and their money management is running exactly right on autopilot. Often, people start blogging during or after getting out of a massive amount of debt and so they have a tight focus and seemingly boundless motivation. These are incredible achievements and should be commended. I’m sure these bloggers don’t seek to conceal their current imperfections from their readers but I think it comes … Read entire article »
Filed under: budgeting, retirement, savings
Recent Comments
- Adam on Home Equity Is Funny Money
"Hi Emily - I just stumbled upon your blog. Great post! Up in Canada this is a…" - Emily on Home Equity Is Funny Money
"I agree that an appraisal is the best number to work with. I can't think of why …" - JL on Home Equity Is Funny Money
"I only note it as round numbers, in $50k or $100k estimates. I also usually upda…" - We Maxed Out All Our Retirement Accounts for the First Time! - Evolving Personal Finance | Evolving Personal Finance on Avoiding an Expensive 401(k) Plan through Self-Employment
"[…] was the first year that we contributed to Kyle’s expensive 401(k…" - Business Goal Tracking for Week 8 of 2022 - Evolving Personal Finance | Evolving Personal Finance on Business Goal Tracking for Week 6 of 2022
"[…] Done as of two weeks ago! […]…"