Budget Archives - Page 2 of 120 - Making Sense Of Cents

How My 401k Loan Cost Me $1 Million Dollars

December 21, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 27 Comments

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How My 401k Loan Cost Me $1 Million Dollars #401kloan #retirement

Today, I have a great guest post from a reader, Ashley Patrick. She asked if she could share her story with my audience, and I, of course, had to say yes! This is her personal story about how her 401k loan cost her a ton of money and why you shouldn't take be borrowing from your 401k.

You've been thinking about getting a 401k loan.

Everyone says it's a great loan because you are paying yourself back!

It sounds like a great low risk loan at a great interest rate for an unsecured loan.

But you know the saying “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”.

So you're thinking, what's the catch?

I take out a loan without having to do a withdrawal and I pay myself back. I'm paying myself back at a low interest rate right, so what's wrong with that?

Well, I'm about to tell you how our 401k loan cost us $1,000,000 dollars.

You see, there are a lot of reasons to not take out a 401k loan and they all happened to ME! [Read more…]

Setting 2019 Goals- Let’s make this year the best!

December 19, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 16 Comments

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

Setting 2019 Goals- Let's make this year the best! #settinggoals #2019goals Wow, can you believe that 2018 is almost over? This means you are probably thinking about setting 2019 goals and making a list of 2019 New Year’s resolutions. The new year is always the perfect time for looking ahead and thinking about what is possible in the year ahead of you.

However, only about 8% of people actually achieve their resolutions each year. And, only 75% of those who are setting 2019 goals will follow through with them after the first week of the year.

It’s crazy that 25% of people will stop working towards their goals after just the first week!

So today, I'm going to help you learn how to reach your 2019 goals and become successful with them in the new year. Let's make your 2019 New Year’s resolutions and goals a reality! [Read more…]

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

December 17, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 7 Comments

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

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 To Simplify Your Life In 2019

December 10, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 19 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

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

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 - 39 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…]

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