Evolving Personal Finance » Archive

How Emerging Is Your Adulthood?

How Emerging Is Your Adulthood?

There’s been so much news coverage in the last several years (and perhaps this has happened with previous generations as well) about how 20-somethings are no longer adults in the same sense that our grandparents were when they were the same age – we are engaged in “emerging adulthood” or “adultescence” instead.  Sometimes finances are implicated as a cause of this extended adolescence/delayed adulthood.   “Sociologists traditionally define the “transition to adulthood” as marked by five milestones: … Read entire article »

Filed under: transitions

Favorite Posts, Mentions, and Top Comments Week of 16June2013

Favorite Posts, Mentions, and Top Comments Week of 16June2013

I have had such a good week!  I’ve been putting in long hours at work and have been rewarded with real progress.  Kyle and I also played tennis a couple times, which was really fun.  Regular playing is really shaking the dust off our games.  We need to find another local couple to play doubles with.   Not too much else is going on for us right now except that we fiiiiiinally got our new grill!  We … Read entire article »

Filed under: weekly update

Blog Statistics Update May – June 2013

Blog Statistics Update May – June 2013

Despite our falling traffic, we have had a good month on the blog.  I write this blog for the comments, and some of the posts I’ve written have had a very good discussion/debate, particularly: my review of Lean In and Getting to 50/50 my reasons for not currently pursuing ER/FI     Guest Posting   I had two guest posts this month: Side Hustle Series: I’m a Human Guinea Pig at Budgets Are Sexy Your Credit Card Prescription at Money Life and More   We also … Read entire article »

Filed under: blogging, month in review

Rethinking Our Student Loan Repayment

Rethinking Our Student Loan Repayment

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

My Sister’s Awesome Financial Decisions

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

Favorite Posts, Mentions, and Top Comments Week of 9June2013

Man, I had a great week!   I have an undergraduate working with me full-time and his mere presence is really helping me keep on track with my experiments.  I was able to replicate my great result from last week so I feel like I’m a giant leap closer to finishing my PhD.   Kyle and I attended one of those how-to-get-a-job talks this week and actually got to spend some time in a smaller group with the speaker. She told Kyle she was confident he’ll be able to find a job with his unique training (and she said she doesn’t tell most people that).  We got a free meal out of the deal at a nice French restaurant in Durham.  She also gave me some advice and a possible interesting contact on the PF front, … Read entire article »

Filed under: weekly update

The Best Things in Life Are Free

The Best Things in Life Are Free

These are all things and experiences that I love that are free (or at least can be free)!   sunshine reading (books from the library) the Sarah P. Duke Gardens exercise orgasms friendship church/small group cuddling conversation stargazing the Smithsonian Gmail the Bible sleep podcasts   Not surprisingly, many of these line up with my top five values.  I feel wealthy when I enjoy these things and I didn’t spend a dime doing it!   What are some of best things in your life that are free?   photo by Amy Goodrich Photography   … Read entire article »

Filed under: luxuries

Trying Hard to Not Time the Market

Trying Hard to Not Time the Market

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

Hand in Hand: Lean In and Getting to 50/50

Hand in Hand: Lean In and Getting to 50/50

After learning about Sheryl Sandberg’s message to young women from the extensive media coverage of her TED Talk and other speeches, I knew that I should read her book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead.  I saw myself in her comments about 20something women who tone down striving for advancement in their careers when they start thinking about reproducing.  Little did I know that while waiting for her book to arrive, I … Read entire article »

Filed under: books, career, family

Favorite Posts, Mentions, and Top Comments Week of 2June2013

Favorite Posts, Mentions, and Top Comments Week of 2June2013

Last weekend Kyle and I were in northern Virginia to celebrate some family events.  We got a lot of quality time with my sister, which you’ll hear a bit more about in the coming weeks.  I was hoping to see SWARMS AND SWARMS of cicadas as I remembered another brood from 2004, but we only heard them and saw a few dead ones.   Yesterday we served lunch again at a local homeless shelter and then went … Read entire article »

Filed under: weekly update