Personal Finance for Young Professionals
Over the past few years, many articles I've read have repeated the same mantra: "Now is the time to buy real estate." Interest rates were low and they couldn't go any lower, whoops, they did. Since purchasing my condo in 2010, I've re-financed … [Continue reading]
Even though I generally recommend investing in index funds and low cost mutual funds, from time to time I do trade individual stocks. Don't get me wrong, I usually end up losing money, but I never invest more than 1 or 2% of my total net worth in … [Continue reading]
Even though I graduated with an engineering degree four years ago, my programming skills were pretty sub par at the time. I took a few HTML/CSS, C++ and Matlab intensive classes but I always figured that I wouldn't use stuff like that in real life. … [Continue reading]
I've been wearing glasses since the first grade and when I made the switch to contacts in middle school my bills skyrocketed. Luckily, I had my mom there to pay for all my appointments and lenses so I never knew just how expensive everything was. … [Continue reading]
"Give blood today and save some lives." Doesn't that sound great? I'm sure you've seen some form of that saying around town or in a bulletin floating around work. It seems like there's always a shortage of blood and never enough donors. My … [Continue reading]
I don't travel much for my day job, but I do for my part-time gig(coaching). This year we have trips planned to Vegas(x2), Philadelphia and Dallas along with a personal trip to New York. Even though most of my airfare will be free thanks to … [Continue reading]
I decided not to write a Valentine's Day article this year since they're pretty ubiquitous around the web right now. But if you'd like to read about some ways to save money on Valentine's Day, check out my article from last year. I love celebrating … [Continue reading]
With today's pitiful interest rates, it's hard to sit there and invest your money in CD's that are returning 1 or 2 percent. So if you've been searching for alternative investments you may already know about Lending Club. But if you're new to the … [Continue reading]
There are very few programs in the US which are understood less than the Social Security program. You'll hear a lot of mis-information about Social Security. "You'll never get what you put into it!" "I'll be lucky to get anything." So on and so … [Continue reading]
Today, we have a reader question about the site Betterment.com. If you have a question for me, feel free to send me an e-mail. Reader TA writes in: I'm wondering if you've heard anything about the Betterment.com site? I'm interested in … [Continue reading]
Although HSA's generally tend to have high deductibles, one great benefit is that preventative care is covered 100% for almost all HDHP plans. A recent industry survey found that over 80% of HSA plans provided first-dollar coverage for preventive … [Continue reading]
I'm dying for it to start raining again in SoCal so our mountains will get some snow. My day job is pretty flexible, so I usually try and get up to the local mountains the day after it rains. Rain down here means snow up there and I found a great … [Continue reading]
Since my company was acquired by an even larger one last year, 2013 will be our first full year under the new administration. That means a whole lot of changes to our benefits and one of those will be to our HSA provider. Although the HDHP … [Continue reading]
Ever since I graduated college, the one thing I've resisted doing on my own is signing up for my own cell phone plan. I've been on my mom's family plan since freshman year of college and I intend to keep it that way. AT&T's family plan lets you … [Continue reading]
January is a great time to re-assess your retirement accounts. It's important to review your 401k contribution and at least consider re-balancing your accounts at the beginning of every year. You've probably made a couple New Year's resolutions so … [Continue reading]
Thanks to all of my readers for supporting this blog. I love giveaways so when I was asked to participate in this cash giveaway I jumped at the chance. Whenever I see a giveaway at the mall or anywhere out in public, I always sign up. And from all … [Continue reading]
Have you heard of restaurant week? Most large metropolitan cities have some form of it, but the general idea is that you pay a discounted rate for a three course price fixed dinner at a top restaurant in your city. In San Diego, the options are for … [Continue reading]
With the start of the new year, I'll be back to posting regularly two times a week on Mondays and Thursdays. Today, I have the pleasure of bringing you a guest post from reader Bichon Frise. I've known BF for a while and we've exchanged some good … [Continue reading]
For the past 5 years, all of my personal computer use has been on a 2009 Macbook Pro that I got as a graduation gift. I didn't have to worry too much about the cost at the time since it was a gift and I got a small student discount. But recently, I … [Continue reading]
This week I signed up to host the Yakezie Carnival. The carnival is brought to you by the network of personal finance bloggers of the Yakezie. You can submit your articles or sign up to host at Blogger Carnivals. There are a lot of articles … [Continue reading]