Blog - Making Sense Of Cents

Wondering Why You Need Life Insurance? Here Are 4 Reasons Why

December 17, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 6 Comments

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Time and time again, I'll come across an unfortunate story and/or a GoFundMe for a person who didn’t have life insurance and has left their family with debt, no savings, and very little to continue to live off of.

Note: Before you exit out of this page because you think it's not worth it, many people can easily find life insurance plans for around $25 a month– so there are extremely affordable plans that exist.

Every time I see one of these stories, I think about how much I wish these families knew about life insurance, from how affordable it could be to much they need it.

Before I go on, I realize that this can be a hard subject to talk about as it’s talking about what happens when you or a loved one dies. But, learning why you need life insurance is a very important thing, and it can help your family out when they need it the most.

According to Life Insurance Awareness Month (from September 2017), around half of the people in the U.S. do not have life insurance. And, those who do have life insurance typically have much less coverage than they need, at an average of just $168,000. [Read more…]

How I Made $159,592 Blogging in November 2018

December 12, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 31 Comments

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How I Made $159,592 Blogging in November 2018 #howtostartablog #howtomakeextramoney Welcome to November 2018's business income report where I show you how I made money online last month. It's time to look at this month's update and see how I did.

If you're new to Making Sense of Cents, you may be wondering why I would want to publish my income report each month. You can simply skip to the next section if you're not new here.

This all started out as my extra income report because, in the beginning, it was all about the money I was earning from my side jobs. In my side income reports from the beginning, I included all of the income I made except for what I made at my day job.

However, I left my day job as a financial analyst in October of 2013 and now my monthly income reports consist of the many ways I earn a living.

Many have asked why I would ever want to publicly post my income each month. Some think I'm crazy, whereas some are glad I'm open about what I'm doing. Whatever you think, I enjoy publishing my monthly online income reports and I share them publicly for three main reasons: [Read more…]

How To Simplify Your Life In 2019

December 10, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 17 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

How To Simplify Your Life In 2019 #howtosimplifyyourlife #waystosimplifyyourlife Trying to manage your life, especially your financial life, can be difficult in today’s age. Between planning for retirement, paying bills, raising a family, etc. life can be exhausting.

But, one of the best ways to reach your financial goals and relieve some of your stress is by learning how to simplify your life.

Most of us live with a lot of clutter, mental and physical, and these are things like houses filled with too much stuff, spending problems, debt, being unsatisfied with your job, and more. When you are so focused on controlling the chaos and managing the clutter, it’s really difficult to spend time doing what you love.

Living simply is a little different for everyone, but in general, a simplified life means that you are getting rid of any extra mental and physical clutter that is preventing you from focusing on the things that really matter to you. [Read more…]

How Is Early Retirement Even Possible?

December 5, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 21 Comments

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How Is Early Retirement Even Possible? #earlyretirement #retirement Early retirement has been extremely popular lately, and I'm sure you've been hearing about it a ton.

Between “Why I Hate the FIRE Movement,” says Suze Orman (from Afford Anything), Mr. Money Mustache, and any of the other amazing FIRE blogs, early retirement has been in the news a lot lately.

And, I love it!

But, I know there are a lot of people who are confused or even skeptical of what early retirement is and whether or not it is a real thing.

First, if this is the first time you have heard of FIRE, it stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early, and it can mean a lot of things to different people. But, the basic idea is that you work towards financial independence– either having enough saved and/or enough passive income to cover your expenses. You can then choose whether or not you want to work. [Read more…]

What We’re Doing Now That We No Longer Have a Car

December 3, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 38 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

What We’re Doing Now That We No Longer Have a Car As I recently said in Welcome To Paradise – We’re Living On A Sailboat!, we no longer have our Jeep and have been car free since July. Since we are preparing to cruise and will soon be leaving the marina (eeek, this week!), we no longer have a need for full-time use of a land vehicle.

But, this has led to many of you asking what we’re doing now that we no longer have a car with us.

I’ve heard questions like:

How are you getting groceries?
How are you going to the store?
What are you doing for errands?
How do the dogs get to shore to use the bathroom? Not that a car would help in this instance anyways, haha!

Due to ditching our car, we are commuting by dinghy, folding bikes, walking and Lyft.

We haven't had a car for around four months now, and we are still very happy with our decision! [Read more…]

How I Repaid $65,000 In Student Loans and Invested at the Same Time

November 30, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 4 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Today, I have a great guest post to share. Here is how this person paid off $65,000 in student loans all while investing at the same time.

Student loans… everyone’s got ‘em everyone wants to get rid of them. This is a story of my battle with student loans and how I found success in the middle of a vicious cycle of urgency to invest, save for a house and pay off debt.

My background on student loans

I went to a fairly large out of state school, which resulted in a huuuuge annual tuition payment along with room and board, food, annual travel expenses, etc. I had to pay for it somehow. Just like everyone else I had to revert to student loans… For all four years. Yikes.

But, that wasn’t all of it. Student loans only covered tuition expenses. I had to work part-time while going through college because I had to pay for food, rent, living expenses and more. Solely on my own. This ended up being a blessing in disguise as I graduated without any credit card debt. [Read more…]

Cut The Cord And Save Over $1,000 Every Year

November 29, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 23 Comments

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Cut The Cord And Save Over $1,000 Every Year #getridofcable #moneysavingtips #cutthecord A few years ago we cut the cord and got rid of cable, and we haven't missed it one bit.

We don't even have Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, or anything else. In fact, we haven't even turned on our TV since September (or maybe it was August?!).

Out of all of the ways you can watch TV shows and movies, cable is definitely the most expensive option out there. And, according to USA Today, the average monthly cable bill in 2017 was $100.98. That cost will only continue to rise.

If you have cable right now, then you are likely spending $1,200 a year in cable. That’s a crazy amount of money! Just think of what else you could be doing with that money.

I know of many people who spend much more than this as well, and I even had someone recently tell me that they spend over $300 a MONTH on their cable bill. While that may seem crazy to you, I have heard of many people who pay this much money and more for cable. [Read more…]

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