Evolving Personal Finance » transitions
Upcoming Transition and a Potential Financial Overhaul
I believe I’ve mentioned this a few times on the blog but haven’t explained the full scenario: Kyle is striving to finish his PhD this spring (or, less optimistically, over the summer). He is currently looking for his first post-PhD job, a postdoctoral position, which is essentially additional training in the lab of another faculty member and will last 2-5 years. Good news: this job transition will come with approximately a 40% raise over his … Read entire article »
Filed under: budgeting, transitions
When Top-Down and Bottom-Up Budgeting Clash
In my observation, there are two totally reasonable approaches to budgeting: top-down: decide where your money should go de novo without reference to your current spending i.e. percentage-based budgeting like the Balanced Money Formula (BMF) bottom-up: observe where your money goes and create a budget reflecting that, perhaps with small tweaks The bottom-up approach is the most straightforward for most people because, you know, they already have financial lives. They rent or have a mortgage, they eat, they pay … Read entire article »
Filed under: budgeting, transitions
What Do You Want Your Life to Be Like in Five Years?
Today I want to hear from you about your dreams and ambitions! Tell me how you envision yourself living five years from now. What do you want to accomplish in that time? What transitions will you go through? In five years Kyle and I will be thirty-two! I see us on a beach near San Diego playing with our 1-2 small children. We both have PhDs; Kyle has finished one postdoc and has a research position … Read entire article »
Filed under: transitions, values
Toeing into the E in EPF
I thought I’d take this Friday post to update you all on the random money goings-on around the EPF household. We are gearing up for our first financial transition, moving from the apartment Kyle’s lived in for 5 years (and I for 2 years) to a townhouse that’s both cheaper and closer to school and church. In addition we’ve had some other small bumps in the road and changes and are looking forward to some … Read entire article »
Filed under: budgeting, credit cards, targeted savings, transitions, travel
How to Move Out on a Shoestring Budget
I admit it – I was a boomerang kid. It grates on me to admit that, since I boomeranged in 2007, before it was a big thing. I lived with my parents for about six months post-college before moving closer to my job. The long commute and close quarters with my family really got to me late in the fall, so I planned and executed my move within a couple months. I didn’t know nearly … Read entire article »
Filed under: transitions
Fantasy Summer Money
I’m in the process of interviewing for a summer internship in the “business world.” While I don’t want to get ahead of myself (there’s only a small possibility that I’ll even get the internship), I have given some thought to how an internship like this might change our financial situation. It would be the first of our anticipated transitions! The position pays about 4.5 to 5 times what I make now, so I’ve tried to … Read entire article »
Filed under: budgeting, personal, transitions
My Beloved Air Mattress: An Anti-Debt Story
I have heard many stories of people getting over their heads when furnishing their first living quarters after college. Some of them get into credit card debt that haunts them for years and some others just create a really tight month or two for themselves on their new salaries. This post is about a similarly strapped young person who didn’t give in to those pressures and lived to tell about it. Because I attended college a … Read entire article »
Filed under: personal, transitions
Vestigial Bank Accounts
I’m sure if you’ve been managing your own money for long enough you’ve come to this point: your banking structure makes no sense. You can’t justify with any current logical reasoning why you still have certain accounts. You know why you opened those accounts, but you probably wouldn’t again given what you know now or how the situation has changed. Inertia has played a big role in their continued ties to your name. Kyle and I … Read entire article »
Filed under: checking, marriage, savings, transitions
Five-Year Sketch
I know it’s incredible hubris to not only make plans but also write them down. But I do want you to know what I’m thinking about when I talk about our anticipated financial transitions/upheaval. I realize that our lives may not progress as this plan outlines. I haven’t included dates or put a lot of stock in the listed order. But these are the goals that we’re working toward within the next five-ish years. Directly financial … Read entire article »
Filed under: personal, transitions
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