Budget Archives - Page 3 of 110 - Making Sense Of Cents

Pay off our mortgage or not? A glimpse into a couple’s final decision

Last Updated: December 3, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 19 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hello! Here is a guest post from Melissa Brock about her decision on whether or not to pay off her mortgage. Melissa Brock is a 12-year veteran of college admission, founder of College Money Tips and Money editor at Benzinga. She loves helping families navigate their finances and the college search process. Check out her essential timeline and checklist for the college search!

Enjoy!

My husband and I like to make excellent financial decisions. He says I’m obsessed with our finances — which is kind of true. I mean, I listen to the “Afford Anything” podcast and read every personal finance related piece of content I can get my scroll-happy finger on. I’m also the Money editor at Benzinga for my full-time job. (Okay, okay, he’s right.)

Our mortgage is a source of well… pain, for me, if you want to know the truth. All the reading I do probably contributes to that. One day, I’ll read an expert post about how so-and-so plans to invest like crazy, pay the minimum on his mortgage, then run, giggling, toward retirement (early!) and revel in the spoils of compound interest.

This person might say, “Why would you pump money into a non-liquid asset?”

And so my mind goes, “Yeah! That makes sense.” [Read more…]

A 31 Year Old’s Journey to $5,000,000 in Rental Property Value

Last Updated: November 21, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 5 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Today, I have a great article to share with you from Kyle Kroeger on how to invest in real estate. He has a goal of reaching $5,000,000 in rental property value, and is sharing his plan today.

The prospect of retiring early on real estate is highly intriguing to me. It should be for a number of people and I’ll highlight a bit more below.

For millennials, like me, we don’t have it easy. Despite the mainstream media’s thoughts, millennials have faced a Great Recession, massive student loans and a global pandemic already at a young age.

We’ve seen a lot but that can be used to our advantage for financial planning and life goals.

That’s okay if things are a bit harder for millennials financially. It’s a bit more fun when things are hard.

Here I’m ready to show you why real estate investing can be a great asset class.

Related content:

[Read more…]

Is it cheaper to buy eggs or raise chickens?

Last Updated: November 8, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 4 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hello! Today, I have a great article to share about raising backyard chickens for eggs, and how much it will cost you to raise chickens. I have several different family members who raise chickens for eggs, so I am familiar with the topic. When Chris approached me with the guest post idea, I had to say yes because I thought it would be interesting to learn more about the money side of it. Enjoy!

Like many, I didn’t decide to start raising chickens with a spreadsheet in front of me.

I had just returned from visiting my parents’ new retirement project, a hobby farm in northern Vermont that was bustling with chickens and ducks and all sorts of wonderful, useful livestock I had never considered keeping for myself until that moment.

After all, I grew up in the suburbs, full of cats, dogs, and the snake the “weird kid” in middle school loved to talk about, and the only “livestock” were the cows that were shipped in every summer to picturesquely dot the fields behind the local ice cream place – carefully kept too far away from customers to smell.

I was thinking about delicious, farm-fresh eggs; endless access to high-quality fertilizer and pest controls; taking control of where my food came from and developing a healthier, organic diet; and of course, just the joys of animal ownership. [Read more…]

What is Value Investing, and Why Should You Care?

Last Updated: January 15, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 3 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hello! Today, I have a great guest post from Chris about value investing. Chris started a digital marketing business that focuses on freelance writing, content marketing, and SEO — all while working full-time and playing dad to two kids. You can check out his blog – Money Mozart to read more.

Have you been thinking about getting into the investing game, but have no idea where to start when it comes to choosing a strategy? Find yourself totally overwhelmed by the sheer amount of options and information?

Then you may want to take a look at one of the best long-term, proven investing strategies around— value investing.

Let’s take a deep dive into this technique, learn more about value investing, and explore why you should care about it in the first place.

Related content on how to start investing:

[Read more…]

12 Ways To Stay Motivated So You Can Reach Your Money Goals

Last Updated: February 21, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 2 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Learning how to stay motivated is incredibly important if you’re paying off debt, trying to reach a savings goal, learning a new skill, or doing anything challenging.

While it can be difficult, you have to learn how to get motivated and then learn how to stay motivated every day if you want to make your goals happen.

I know how hard this is because I struggled at times with motivation when I was paying off my $40,000 in student loan debt in just 7 months.

And, one of the top questions I receive about my debt payoff story is how I was able to push myself and stay motivated to pay off all of my debt.

Paying off my debt was extremely hard – I will not lie about that!

I took on several side jobs to make extra money.

I had to wake up early in the morning to work on them before I went to my regular day job, and then I stayed up late working on my side jobs too. [Read more…]

6 Simple Steps That Will Teach You How To Write A Check

Last Updated: February 20, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 4 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Do you want to learn how to write a check to someone? Wondering how do you properly write a check? Want to learn how to fill out a check for specific dollar amounts? Have you ever written a check?

While some of you may be thinking that you’ll never need to write a check, or wondering why someone like me would ever write a check, it does happen!

In fact, if you are choosing to read this article, then I’m guessing you may need to write a check and have questions about how to write a personal check.

I remember learning how to write a check for the first time, and it used to be taught in school.

But not everyone is taught to write checks these days, and some people have never needed to write one.

And, even though most people have switched over to using debit cards or are using apps that make it easy to transfer money, it’s still important to know how to write a check.

There are actually many situations when a check is the preferred or only way to pay. [Read more…]

13+ Easy Zero Waste Swaps That Will Save The Environment And Money

Last Updated: November 8, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 2 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Are you looking for easy zero waste swaps that are good for the environment and will help you save money?

I’m always looking for things that I can reuse, and I love when I am able to find easy zero waste swaps.

Not only do they produce much less waste, but many times I am able to save money and space (because I don’t have to store as much!). So, many of these easy zero waste swaps are great if you travel full-time as well!

If you’re not sure what I mean by easy zero waste swaps, I am talking about replacing disposable household products with ones you can reuse over and over again. And, there are swaps for all over your house – there are low waste swaps, plastic free swaps, and more.

As a full-time traveler, one of the problems we have with disposable items is that we have to store a lot of things, and many of them will just be thrown away. [Read more…]

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