Blog Posts
Now, I have made a lot of mistakes throughout my life dealing with finances. From digging myself a large debt hole to not maxing out all retirement accounts, but one of the biggest mistakes that I have made is not understanding the 457 deferred compensation plan.
With two kids in the house and both of them in daycare, I was really expecting our savings to decrease. However, we have taken some huge steps to make sure that our savings has the ability to increase this year. I mentioned a little bit about our changes at the beginning of the year, but I will refresh your memory. Last year, Our focus was mortgage payoff. We didn’t focus as much on retirement savings or taking advantage of tax deferred accounts. This year, however, we have made a change in our plan. This change has allowed us to increase our savings by utilizing tax-deferred accounts.
Being on the cruise, it got me thinking about all the money that you can just throw away. I saw people after people just throwing their hard earned money down the drain in the name of a good time. My wife and I had a great time all without spending loads of money. Based on my experiences from being on a cruise, I have created a list of ways to save money while on the big ship that can become a money pit!
As we begin 2019, I like to take a look back every year at our expenses that deal with cars. Last year, I even contemplated selling my car, because I had just finished paying a huge repair bill. However after looking at the numbers, I was happy to keep my car around another year. I have been in the process of completing a 5-year study, where I compare car repair expenses with the average monthly car payment in America today. For the past 4 years, we were better off to keep our old cars and avoid that dreaded car payment.
It’s amazing to think that three months ago, my wife and I stumbled onto the information we needed to tackle travel rewards. Not only did we dive right into the plan, but we have also been rewarded for our effort. As you might recall in our article from October, I created a plan that started with two Chase Sapphire cards followed by two Southwest cards in an effort to earn the Southwest Companion Pass.
