Personal Finance blog Funny About Money tweaks the concept of a "freedom account"—a single stash for irregular-but-common expenses like car repair and clothing—and comes up with targeted accounts. That means opening up a money market or similar small account for each kind of expense, based on how often it occurs, rather than tracking a bunch of expenses from a big fund.For example, I look to the irregular little surprises that can happen at any time (plumbing or car repairs, vet bills, etc.), annual expenses (car and home owner's insurance, property tax, income tax), and long-term expenses (purchase of a new car, about once every ten years; major repairs or renovations on the house, which I hope read more »
11 Comments
Add this link to...
Tell a friend
Bury
If you started investing $448 a month at 30 years old, Yahoo Finance says that a reasonable 8% return would put your savings over the million dollar mark in 35 years. The problem, of course, is finding that extra $450. To help ferret out every quarter in your couch cushions, the article suggests seven different potential expenses that, with slight adjustments, could easily produce the extra cash you need to start down the road to a million. For example:Save $28 Per Month on Health Care: The typical family spends $1,321 on out-of-pocket health expenses each year, says the U.S. Department of Health and Human ServÂices. You can pay those costs with a flexible spending account, which lets you set aside pretax dollars.By cutting $100 a month on food by brown-bagging it, $80 a month on entertainment by skipping o read more »
11 Comments
Add this link to...
Tell a friend
Bury
Personal finance blogger J.D. Roth is on the road towards making his money system completely paperless. Direct deposit, automatic savings transfers, Quicken, and auto bill pay gets most paper out of the way. Then Roth scans any paperwork that does come in to PDF with our favorite scanner—the Fujitsu ScanSnap—and then he shreds it. Nice to see how several parts of his paperless system has also evolved into an automated finance read more »
11 Comments
Add this link to...
Tell a friend
Bury
11 Comments
Add this link to...
Tell a friend
Bury
April 15th may seem like a long trip around the calendar, but there's nothing worse than getting there and realizing you haven't kept a close enough eye on your finances. Nobody likes the extra effort required to keep track of their day-to-day finances, but with the right tools, it can be a relatively painless process. For this week's Hive Five, we want to hear about your favorite personal finance tools. Hit the jump for more details and to cast your vote for the personal finance tool that you fancy. The first round of the Hive Five voting takes place in the comments, where you nominate your favorite tool for the job. We get hundreds of comments, so to make your nomination clear, please include it at the top of your comment like so: VOTE: Personal Finance Tool Goes Here. If you don't read more »
11 Comments
Add this link to...
Tell a friend
Bury
Whether you've got an investment portfolio the size of Texas or you're just trying to keep a balanced checkbook, nothing's more useful than a well made personal finance application. The hard part is finding the right tool to fit your needs. On Tuesday we asked you to share your favorite personal finance tools, and today we're back with the five most popular answers. Hit the jump for a look at the five best personal finance applications, then cast your vote for your favorite app of the bunch. Mint (Web-based)
Mi read more »
12 Comments
Add this link to...
Tell a friend
Bury
11 Comments
Add this link to...
Tell a friend
Bury
14 Comments
Add this link to...
Tell a friend
Bury
|