Easy Change

It's nearly April 2014--not that you'd know it from the weather that we're having. It is supposed to snow in the next day or so. But when I really consider the amount of work we're doing here, it makes sense to get the taxes done earlier than this.....but I say that every year. For some reason, despite a refund, I still find myself delaying the tax filing process; I don't know if that will ever change. (And yes, I am one of those people who is giving uncle sam a 'free loan'; I justify this only to say that if I didn't do that, I'd probably never file and then be in jail :) ) When it comes to filing this year, things are getting tricky since I have recently started the process of becoming single. For tax purposes, it wasn't enough time to matter in terms of the dependents etc, but it certainly was enough time for me to realize that I don't want to file a joint return if I am not going to be with the person next year. Separately, determi

Selling your house sucks. At least that is my view after seeing my parents struggle in various situations to sell their house. I work with someone who is very smart. He doesn't believe in real estate personally because he has also come to the same conclusion independently -- selling your home sucks. And in short, I agree with him now. That said, they need to sell. Why? Many baby boomers are in a similar situation where for many many years, they paid their bills dutifully and then continued to pay and live a nice lifestyle until they realized at the end of their working years that there was not all that much money available to handle things that needed to be paid for, particularly if they stopped working. Social Security to the Rescue? So, we'll just bank on social security? Not a great plan in my option. So at this point, we're back to more traditional methods of handling your retirement. Trading up in houses over and over and paying off an expensive house with h

For those of you who follow this blog you will know that I have long been a fan of the show Consuelo Mack: Wealthtrack. This morning, with my dog on my lap, I decided to clear out some recent episodes off of my DVR. I thought that the show was interesting and it was also somewhat surprising how much more I noticed about each of the guests as I was working on getting the ideas of the guests and the shows all at once when I was just trying to get through the episodes. I generally think that Saturday is a good time for me to watch these shows and I think that this is one of the most interesting things I can watch that will not be too much for me to work on in terms of actual work -- something that I really strive to avoid on my weekends where possible since there is enough of that during the week -- and also something that makes me very interested and engaged but at the same time is relaxing. It sounds strange but listening to the show and also reading and writing about money more gene

So, with a ton of time behind me on this blog I have decided that it is time to finally take the last plunge toward becoming debt free in 5 years. I know that this is not a terribly new idea in terms of personal finance but I think that it is a good thing to think about and a good goal to have. At this time, I continue to have a car payment which is a result of driving my old toyota corolla for about 10 years and then finally junking it this past summer at about 180K miles when the A/C stopped working and the expected repair bill would top 1000 dollars. Since there was some money in the checking account, I decided to buy a new car. One major theme that I would like to discuss this coming year is managing cash flow . I have always been conscious of this topic but I was especially conscious of it this year because I wanted to make sure that adding the car payment would not impact me too much. So, with a small downpayment, I took a loan at zero percent interest for 5 years. At this p