Home Budget Tracker - helps you manage day to day spending. Use it to input receipts, track account balances, stick to your budget, and reconcile statements. Designed to be used by individuals and couples on the go at any stage of life.
Net Worth Dashboard - where you organize your overall investment portfolio across all your accounts. It computes your current asset allocation (% stocks, % bonds) and compares that to your goals. Assets with publicly traded ticker symbols (stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds) get automatic price updates. Also supports "off line" assets like private funds, individual bonds, and even collectibles.
Income Spending Simulator - projects the course of your financial life. It is useful when considering career changes, major lifestyle choices and retirement (how soon and how wealthy). For numbers oriented people it can be fun to play with as it is designed to be open-ended. The compare mode shows you what a specific change would have on cash flow, asset appreciation, and ending net worth.
Currency brokerages are, in essence, wholesalers who deal with currency. As this industry is relatively new and not well-regulated yet, you need to be careful when choosing a currency broker.
Hybrid and electric vehicles are often more expensive than their gas-exclusive counterparts. At the same time their operating cost is lower. With federal and state tax incentives in the mix it can be difficult to …
Low interest rates have led many people to wonder if it is time to refinance their mortgage. Low interest rates, as well as several other scenarios, might mean that it is a good time to …
Record low interest rates have left people wondering what they should do and what will happen in the future. Here are are several things you can do about the current situation of low interest rates.
Studies have shown that a third of boomers and seniors have no retirement savings. Read on to discover how to start the conversation and help get your parents to the best position possible as they …
Everyone wants to maximize their tax returns, and married couples are no exception. In fact, you might have specific goals as a couple for how you want to use your tax return to set yourselves …
Similar to a financial budget, we all have time budget (whether we know it or not). We budget our time in many ways. The financial budget and the time budget are related. As they say …
As you create your budget, a nice "feel good" line item is giving to charity. Many people donate when they can or when they are asked. Others have charitable donations built into their budgets and …
Maximizing utility is essential to staying on budget, meeting your financial goals, and growing your net worth. Anybody can do it. Here are nine tips you can use to save money.
The United States, along with most of the world, is in a recession caused by the outbreak of the Coronavirus. However, there are plenty of ways to save money during the crisis. Additionally, creating good …
If you want to minimize your tax burden in retirement you need to know about the dreaded RMDs (required minimum distributions). Starting at age 72 RMDs begin to siphon off whatever you have saved in …
It is important to strike a balance between paying off debt and investing. However, it can be difficult to discern what the best option is. In this post I will discuss the tradeoffs between paying …
Here's what you can learn about electricians, lawyers (and other career paths) by running some comparisons with the Wealth Meta Income and Spending Simulator.
Children are expensive! My estimates range from $42,650 to $916,600 depending on lifestyle. And that is just to get them to age 18. More importantly 40-60% of the cost comes in the first five years! …
A budget is a plan for allocating your financial resources. For some it is about managing month to month, for others it is a roadmap to build the life of their dreams. A budget allows …
Here’s how my wife and I got to a place where we could max out our annual retirement contributions. By doing so we gave ourselves a nice raise in the form of a tax cut.
Do you have a hobby that creates a bit of cash flow? In this post we explore the gray area between a hobby and business and the tax considerations both situations.
A description of yield curves, what it means when they invert, and a table of historical yield curve inversions with associated market tops and recessions.
Your parents may have taught you how to ride a bike or drive a car but did they teach you how to properly manage your finances? Many parents are guilty of loading up their kids …
Let’s say you have $12,000 cash to invest in the markets. What is the best way to deploy that money - all at once or spread out over time? It depends on your risk tolerance. …
If you want to add value to your property, here are a few renovations that will help you increase your bottom line, both for resale value and when staying put.
Many Americans are doubtful of ever getting their Social Security benefits. They have good reason to be worried. The system is already running a deficit and is on schedule to be depleted in 2034. We …
Flexible spending accounts give you a tax break in the short term but come with some drawbacks, including the fact that they reduce your social security benefits. We ran the numbers and went in depth …
The myth is true - the more wealth a person has the easier it is for them to get even more. This post breaks down the reasons why and shows you how to get a …
The other day a light bulb in my office burned out. Even though LEDs bulbs were more expensive up front I analyzed the available options and ended up saving $192.06 over 5 years!
One on the neatest things you can do for yourself financially is to give yourself a raise courtesy of the IRS. Contributing to a tax deferred retirement account is a special form of saving money …
A friendly voice offers to sell you an investment that will make you rich, smart and good looking. It doesn’t matter what it is - an annuity, a mutual fund, a stock, some sort of …
Rents always seem to be going up. Why can’t rents stay the same? This painful phenomenon has a name - the rent spiral. If you are renting you are riding it. Let’s explore the reasons …
This post explains the investment categories that are commonly found in funds and prospectuses. These asset classes come with complex risk/benefit calculations and can be used to tailor a portfolio to the nth degree.
Ever wonder where all the money goes, live paycheck to paycheck or find yourself running low on cash? Here are some ideas for getting your finances where you want them.
Let’s test the theory that waiting for a recession is the best time to pay for that $60k kitchen remodel. Sure the price will be cheaper but what about losing out on gains that come …
It seems like good financial sense to put at least 20% down when you buy a house… right? That is what many banks require to get a loan. But is that a good thing for …
When it comes to money, if it seems unusual or too good to be true, it means you are being targeted by a scammer. This post explains a few scams relying on financial ignorance that …
Net worth isn’t just for rich people to “keep score” in an endless game of getting more. It is a key indicator of everyone’s financial health. Income, job title, and especially what car a person …
Knowing your asset allocation is essential to being a successful investor. It tells what percentage of your overall portfolio is in stocks, bonds, and other investment vehicles like real estate, precious metals, etc.
Retiring at age 65 sounds nice—but doesn’t retirement at age 30 sound even better? That’s the idea behind FIRE, which stands for Financial Independence Retire Early. The concepts that go into it will help you …
Net worth, the yard stick for comparing financial success is a loosely defined term (irritatingly so to our brains). See our diagram for the break down of "total" vs "investable" net worth. After you read …
Identity thieves are out to steal your personal information so they can borrow in your name, access your benefits, or drain your accounts before you notice. There are a few simple steps you can take …
Utility is the overall usefulness you get from something. Everyone instinctively makes decisions based on utility all the time, but do you consider it when you make a big purchase or setup a budget?
When I was in my early 20’s I was adverse to the idea of putting money into retirement accounts. I knew on a basic level that my money was “safe” at my credit union and …
In terms of raw take home pay, hourly can be much better compared to a salaried job with long hours. Salaried people should know their equivalent hourly wage especially when working more than 40 hours …
Net worth is a way of measuring your progress towards financial goals. It is calculated by adding up the net market value of your assets and subtracting all your debts. If you want to build …
TD Ameritrade has decided to change out its entire commission free ETF lineup. They are dropping almost all the Vanguard and iShares ETFs. The list used to have 100 commission free ETFs and now it …
If a thief gets into your checking account, they can drain your checking account plus your savings account if overdraft is turned on. Overdraft may not be worth the risk if you have even a …
The best day in my financial life was the day I started automating my retirement contributions. I recall a lot of stress in past years centered around market conditions, getting the ‘best deal’, and second …
Have you ever noticed that prices are slowly rising all the time? That effect is called inflation. We’ll discuss where it comes from and how to make it work in your favor, or at least …