Last month, my 2000 Honda Civic LX turned twenty-one. Most of its 156,498 miles were earned during the first seven years of its life when it was our only vehicle. When I bought it in 2000, I drove it off the lot, brand new, for $15,631. What I didn’t know at the time is how… Continue reading How to get a brand new Honda Civic for $4,000!
My wife and I have a long running inside joke. We’ll be considering a purchase, be it a thing or an experience, and one of us will turn to the other, asking “how much did we pay for this the last time?” The other spouse will reply, “I don’t know. But I know how we… Continue reading Using Quicken to Track Personal Finances
I finished 63 books in 2020, three more than 2019 but eleven fewer than 2018. Of those 63, only two of them were physical, paper books. Twenty five of them were audio books, but the remaining thirty six were on my Kindle Paperwhite. I love my Paperwhite. It’s my second e-ink Kindle, replacing my Kindle… Continue reading I love my Kindle Paperwhite
It’s the end of another year. Here are some end-of-year financial “chores” that you might consider as we close out 2020 and head into 2021. Adjust W2 Withholdings I track my expected tax burden in a custom spreadsheet and tailor my withholdings to be as close to zero as possible. I’m okay with underwithholding, but… Continue reading Year End Financial Chores – 2020 Edition
Over the past twenty years I’ve had checking accounts at nine different brick-and-mortar banks, including: First Security (defunct), Wells Fargo, Charter One (defunct), Fifth Third Bank, Washington Mutual (defunct), Chase, PNC, Suntrust, and M&T. Why so many? After all, changing banks can be a bit of a pain. Most of the changes were due to… Continue reading Branchless Banking
In 2017, Equifax announced they had a security breach where the personal information of 147 million users was released. As far as breaches go, this was a big one. If you are American and have bought a house or car in the past couple decades or even just used a credit card, it’s highly likely… Continue reading Why I Have Frozen My Credit
Years ago, my first job was delivering newspapers for the local paper. Well, first if you don’t count selling tomato plant starts door-to-door to the neighbors. I have fond memories of delivering papers in sub-zero degrees early Sunday morning. Times have changed. For years now, I’ve been building my own personal “newspaper” or “magazine” of… Continue reading How to Build a Personal Newspaper
If you’ve read any of the Harry Potter books, you’re familiar with Hermione Granger, one of Harry’s friends at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She’s a planner and an anticipator. She’s also a bit of an optimizer. She is anything but a procrastinator. In many ways, I understand Hermione. When planning and executing… Continue reading Hermione Loses
I’ve had a Google Voice since 2007. That was actually in the pre-Google days when it was called Grand Central. I love a lot of things about Google Voice beyond the frugality of it, but there’s also some annoyances. My Google Voice Setup Google Voice provides a single phone number that you can route to… Continue reading Saving Money Using Google Voice
The A1C is the number that a diabetic uses to determine how well they’re doing managing their diabetes. Over time, a diabetic who consistently runs a high A1C, they face significant health risks. By checking their A1C regularly, diabetics can track how well they’ve been managing their diabetes over time. When I read about J.… Continue reading My Financial A1C
