Talk to any of your friends at work or family members at a gathering, and someone is always sure to bring up “the price of gas” and how it is eating away at their monthly budget. Their complaints are totally justified! According to The Nest, transportation expenses count as the second biggest expense in U.S. households, running as much as 10 to 20% of the household income. Man, don’t I know the feeling! Car expenses have been a huge drain on our household for a long time. For well over a decade, I’ve commuted an exceptionally long distance to work every weekday: 60 miles each way, 120 miles round trip! Start adding up those numbers over the weeks, months, and years, and it’s no wonder I’ve easily gone through 3 different … [Read more...] about What is the Real Cost of Driving per Mile?
Should I Build My Rainy Day Savings Account or Save More for Retirement?
Every day, good intentioned couples are faced with a practical financial decision: Should we build back up our rainy day savings account or continue to save more for retirement? We just had this same dilemma in my own household. After having tapped our emergency fund for immediate cash to use a down payment on our new house, we’ve now got a big hole to fill. But that poses a financial problem. Every penny we earn that exceeds our budget is supposed to go towards our early retirement by age 45 plan. Plus, as we’ve demonstrated before here, saving your money in tax-sheltered accounts can compound into huge financial benefits later on. So then, why am I choosing to build back up my rainy day fund and put my extra retirement … [Read more...] about Should I Build My Rainy Day Savings Account or Save More for Retirement?
Niche Website Income Report 34 – $815 for September 2015
Welcome to the September edition of our niche website income report and update. Blogging and learning how to steadily earn affiliate income is not only a fun hobby, but it has also become an incredible way for me to supplement our household income. In addition to my investing habits, that extra income has contributed significantly to our financial freedom plan that will one day become a stream of passive income and tool we use to retire early. Like I’m sure it was for most of you, September was a whirlwind of activity with the kids going back to school and my wife going back to work (she’s a teacher). School, of course, also means that sports starts back up, and so most of our weekends have been consumed by soccer and catching back … [Read more...] about Niche Website Income Report 34 – $815 for September 2015
Should I Rollover My 401(k) Into an IRA? – Absolutely!
One of the biggest financial questions working people like you and I face when we change jobs is the question of should I rollover my 401(k) into an IRA or not? It’s a BIG decision, and not one to be taken lightly! The answer could result in missed opportunity of hundreds of thousands of dollars later on down the road. Or worse … make the wrong move and you could end up owing the IRS tens of thousands of dollars in taxes that you’re not prepared to pay for. Yikes!!! I was recently faced with this decision now that I’ve made some new life changes and decided to switch jobs. I’m not going to be shy – my 401(k) balance was pretty substantial! 12 years of saving and earning tons of employee matches results in a pretty healthy … [Read more...] about Should I Rollover My 401(k) Into an IRA? – Absolutely!
How LongTail Pro Keyword Research Can Help Grow Your Blog Income
Chances are if you’re blogger, then you’ve probably heard of LongTail Pro and how it can help you do keyword research. But why is that important? How do keywords translate into growing your blog and – ultimately - making more money with it? The short answer: Keywords are the foundation for a great SEO strategy; a strategy that will bring you the right kind of traffic you’re looking for that will increase your passive income earning potential. Every major SEO marketer I can think of validates this. They all insist choosing good keywords wisely so that it makes everything else you’re going to do easier. Neil Patel of Quick Sprout, who does SEO for big-name companies, emphasizes this fact often. In fact he devotes an entire … [Read more...] about How LongTail Pro Keyword Research Can Help Grow Your Blog Income
The Best Retirement Payout Calculator I’ve Ever Seen
I love playing around with online retirement calculators. But unfortunately most of them leave me disappointed. How many times have you plugged some numbers into one of those calculators only to receive some magical savings goal, and then said to yourself, okay … now what? It just leaves you hanging with so many un-answered questions! What happens if I really do hit that BIG number? Will life be all peaches? Will my money last me forever and ever? What if the market does really poorly? What’s the probability? Over time, how will my savings look then? What if that “magic number” the calculator spits out is too conservative, and I could do just fine by saving less money? What about Social Security? How will that affect my … [Read more...] about The Best Retirement Payout Calculator I’ve Ever Seen
Niche Website Income Report 33 – $785 for August 2015
Hello and welcome to the August edition of my niche website update and income report. Each month I like to give you, the reader, a look under the hood of my niche website building business as I attempt to try new things to make it grow. This is all in an attempt to try to develop a number of sustainable streams of passive income that will help supplement my income and help me to achieve my ultimate dream of reaching financial freedom. Hopefully along the way you’ll be able to use a few of these tricks for yourself and make your income soar! Even if you're not a blogger yourself, you can still utilize some of these practices to come up with your own money making ideas and turn them from thoughts into real cash in your … [Read more...] about Niche Website Income Report 33 – $785 for August 2015
Embrace Your Fear of Change and Overcome It
It has been about two weeks now since my family and I took the big plunge and moved into our new home. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, this move was all about priorities – the most important ones being close to my children’s schools and my wife’s work. In addition to relocating our home lives, my working life also took a dramatic turn. I was offered a great job opportunity by one of my former clients at a location that was within a reasonable commute to my new house. With little hesitation, I sprung at the opening and have now switched jobs. I’m sure I don’t need to tell anyone that leaving your house of 11 years and your job of 12 years doesn’t come without some sort of apprehension or uncertainty. As human beings and … [Read more...] about Embrace Your Fear of Change and Overcome It
