Easy Change

Recently, I've been extremely busy with some work commitments. The interesting thing for me is that this increased work activity has really helped crystallize some of my feelings with regard to time. And these ideas are a critical part about my view on personal finance. I'm curious to know if others feel similarly. Time is money. That is, Time, in some way, contains energy. Money, is also energy. In the act of working, I am able to compound and increase the amount of money that I have. I am exchanging my time and effort and thought which are components of my work, for the productivity that I produce. And this production gets me money from my employer. However, the first dollars that I make each day, week, or month are the most valuable. Then the ones that I make at the end are the most valuable. (Forget about taxes for a minute.) The reason is, the first ones help me have a place to live and food to eat. And the last ones are the ones that I can use to really improve my life lo...

In terms of building an emergency fund, I've found that the "freedom fund" strategy seems to work best for me. Although I keep almost all of the savings in the same high-yield savings account, I allocate it to different buckets. Each year, I consider what the "big" and "unexpected" expenses will be. This could be weddings and holidays, vacations, tax bills, etc that will have to be paid throughout the year. If I am unsure, I look at last years bills and inflate the total by a few percent. Then I round up a little bit. So, if I ended up with a total of 189/month would be needed, I'd make my goal 200/month saved for these kinds of expenses. Then when they come up, if they are less than that month's 200 dollar deposit, I just take it out of that month's deposit. If it is more, I withdraw the difference from the account. And if it is less, I deposit the difference into the account. The whole time, this money is sitting in an account that makes ...

For those of us who own homes and or condos, some extra protection is almost always welcome. For me, this came recently when I went and *finally* got an item crossed off my todo list of financial planning: Homestead Insurance. Without going into excruciating detail as to where the idea came from and all of that (You can read about that stuff <a href="http://www.sec.state.ma.us/rod/rodhom/homidx.htm">here</a>. Since I live in Massachusetts and I have this available, I finally took advantage of it. Clearly if you live in a different state, the laws are going to be different, but it might be worth checking to see if you have something similar. As for me, now that this is taken care of, I can rest a little easier. Of course, depending on your situation, the way you handle this is different. I would be certain that you understand your situation quite well before making any kinds of decisions about doing this; and when in doubt always consult a lawyer. But for me, I fou...