Now Offering Lower 401(k) Fees!

Last October, I wrote a couple of articles about how 401(k) fees can be a hidden danger, sucking away huge amounts of money almost undetectably. As part of that process, I went over the investment options in my 401(k) and found ones with the lowest fees that still met my investing goals. I dropped my overall fee expense from 0.749% annually to 0.675%. That's still higher than I would like, but it was the best I could do with the choices I had. My...

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My Magical Budget Spreadsheet

Budgets are the basic building block of personal finance. You can't realistically achieve any financial goals without one. They are also boring. It's just the nature of the beast. But it pays to remember that boring often creates wealth. Socking away a boring 10% of your income paycheck after paycheck, year after year, will make you a millionaire. In long term investing, boring is often good. The best thing about budgets is that they take all the...

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Book Review: The Richest Man In Babylon

The Richest Man In Babylon can rightly be called a classic among financial books. Although it was written back in 1926, the book's messages are still valid today. The book is more inspirational than how-to, which is probably the reason for its staying power. The book is written as a series of parables told by different people living in Babylon thousands of year ago. There are men struggling to save money, yearning to be like the rich of the city....

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Goal Update: End of May 2015

At the end of each month, I post an update of my goals, including a brief discussion of any notable events that might have occurred during the month. The latest month's figures can always be found under the Featured menu in the menu bar at the top of the blog. Last updated: End of May, 2015 Current value: $13,777 Change from last month: +$554 Percent of Goal:  12.67% Note that the funds in this account are invested in stock,...

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