Taxes are complicated. They’re not hard, they’re complicated. They’re complicated in the same way that old computer systems are complicated. As a software developer, it’s not uncommon for you to update old code to perform new functions. What often happens, especially in poorly designed systems, is that you just update the code. You don’t redesign […]
Latest Articles
Best Places to Get a Money Order
Need to get a money order but don’t know where to get one, how they work, or how much it’ll cost you? We’re here to help! We’ll explain how money orders work, why you might want one, and then explain the best places to buy a money order as well as the best place to […]
The Backdoor Roth: Investing in a Roth IRA for High Earners
I love my Roth IRA. I was lucky in that my dad pushed me to open one the moment I started earning money that was reported on a W-2. The Roth IRA was created in 1998, the year I started college, so I got in as early as once possibly could have gotten a Roth […]
How to Win the 2019 Safeway Monopoly Game (Shop, Play, Win!)
Many years ago, I played the McDonald’s Monopoly game. I don’t eat at McDonald’s much (or ever? I haven’t been to one in at least 10 years) but as part of a marketing ploy for my last blog, we bought a hundred hash browns just for the game pieces. It was kinda gross, so so […]
What is Real Estate Syndication?
I’ve always heard that real estate is the path to wealth. You probably have too. For many Americans, that means your primary residence. You buy it, you make your mortgage payments, and those “forced savings” plus property appreciation result in equity that often makes up a large percentage of your net worth. For others, it […]
Which TurboTax Version Should I Use in 2019?
Time to do your taxes right? If you’re looking for a cheap option for tax preparation, you’re probably considered Intuit’s TurboTax software. For years, I used TurboTax when I was working a corporate job at Northrop Grumman. It was easy to use, affordable, fast, and more importantly, accurate. TurboTax Free Edition is their free version. […]
What We Would Have Done Differently While Saving for Early Retirement (If We’d Known Better)
Today’s post comes courtesy of a blogging friend I met a few years ago at FinCon in San Diego. At the time, she was anonymous, working in politics (I’m sure you can understand the need for anonymity!), but well on her way to early retirement (another good reason to remain hidden!). In the couple years […]
How to Cultivate Kaizen: Embrace Continual Process Improvement
We make chicken parm fairly regularly. It’s a simple recipe. Bread some chicken breast, cook it, top with tomato sauce and mozzarella, warm it up the melt the cheese, and then serve over pasta. But if you looked at the first time we made it and the latest time, the two looked massively different. We’ve […]
Married Filing Separately: Benefits and Drawbacks of This Little Noticed Filing Status
Are you married? Or thinking about it? Wondering what the difference is between the tax filing statuses Married Filing Jointly vs. Married Filing Separately? I know I once did. You would see Single, Head of Household, and Married Filing Jointly as relatively logically structured. For tax brackets, the Married Filing Jointly status was roughly twice […]
20 Simple Ways to Make Money Fast
If you’re looking for a few good ideas on how to make money fast, you’re in the right place. I’ve compiled a list of the fastest ways to make money online. These are not loans or grants, no applications or approvals necessary. These are money earning opportunities that you can start and complete within a […]
Where Can You Get Quarters?
It used to be that you need coins all the time. If you used a laundromat, you needed quarters to run the machine. If you went on a toll road, you needed coins to pay the toll. If you parked at a meter, you needed coins to pay the meter. Nowadays, many of those places […]