Posts byStephonee

A lot of young people always ask me, ‘How do I buy my own home?’ And my first question is like, ‘Why do you want to do that?’ And generally, I think they think #1, it’s cool to own your own home, you can do whatever you want to it! You’re the boss, you don’t have a landlord! But #2, they always say ‘Well, it’s always an investment, right? It’s a good investment.’ And that’s not necessarily true.

Mint and Personal Capital are both services that can link to your online accounts to track your spending and net worth. To accomplish this, you must provide Mint and Personal Capital the username and password to your bank accounts…

Some banks will state in their online services agreement that you are liable for fraudulent transactions on your account if you reveal your username and password to a third party.

Lasting for more than a month, the longest government shutdown in US history brought forth numerous financial lessons, as stories of food lines, unpaid …

As I was watching the train-wreck that was the Inaugural (and only) Fyre Festival unfold, what jumped out at me wasn’t just the story of the con, or the lengths to which people were willing to go to pull this thing off (cough, Andy, cough).

Instead, I took away four lessons we can all use in our everyday lives.

Chris explains how he racked up so much consumer debt without even realising it. After paying for his wedding and simply not keeping track of his credit card, he ended up $26,000 in debt. It wasn’t until he took a good look at it that he decided to get rid of it: by moving in with his parents and keeping on a strict budget.

Transportation costs make up one of the ‘big 3 expenses’ for most families, along with housing, and groceries. And let’s face it, no matter how little you spend, a car will almost always feel like a money pit.

Getting ahead financially on such a small income requires what I call a ‘death of a thousand paper cuts’ in regards to finances. Yes, there are a few big things you can cut and feel amazing about. The low hanging fruit, cable and what not. After that? It’s much harder, and it’s a couple bucks here and a tenner there. Here is one way I cut costs over time that continues to this day.

So here’s the thing about minimal living- it looks a little bit different for everyone. We all have different goals, dreams, and lifestyle preferences, and it also changes based on the life stage you currently find yourself in.

However, the core value of minimal living never really changes – which, we believe means finding value in how you spend both your time and money.

My trip to South America had a new name! It wasn’t a holiday, it was a Mini Retirement! And I was thrilled by the idea of making them a regular part of my life, so I set about redesigning my lifestyle and my work. I promptly quit my job. And in 5 years I took 5 mini-retirements, totaling 22 months off. In between those periods of mini-retirement, I would do consulting gigs in the mining industry, and I would also tinker with my start-up, which later became my business.

Now the question that might be rising in your minds right now—and it’s a logical one!—is, how does someone in their late 20s afford to take more than a third of their time off work? How do they afford a roof to sleep under? Or a car to drive? How do they afford to eat? It’s a really important question.

Talking about our financial situation is ‘too personal,’ and most of us carry a lot of embarrassment about our money situation. So, why are we more inclined to discuss sex than money? Why do so many of us continue to struggle with money despite all the available advice? Why do we feel so much shame around being ‘bad with money’?

There is a general misunderstanding of risk in relation to investing. A lot of people think risk is a ‘thing’ with defined boundaries and a solid, immovable shape. But quite the opposite.

Risk in terms of personal finance can actually be categorized into 3 separate entities that interact with each other. They are like a set of siblings.

I don’t know why or how you got into your current financial situation, but it sucks. It sucks that some people assume you can just fix it by getting a better paying job. As if you wouldn’t already have that if it was an option. As if you haven’t already tried.

Having limited income will help you get more creative, and the more creative you can become, that’s where all, all, all, all good ideas come from. When you don’t have very much money—but a lot of time and creativity—use that to your complete advantage.

I know that everyone who says the word ’empower’ and talks about ’empowering women’ means it in a positive way. Or at least, I hope most people do. But there’s something about that—we were talking earlier about ‘words matter’—that suggests someone granting power. That someone else has that power, and they’re deigning to give us a little piece of it. And that’s something that’s always felt weird to me. I think the thing for us to do is not to sit here and wait for someone to say ‘you may have some power.’ It’s to f— seize that power!

So before you start working with your tax preparer or open up your tax software, either the package you bought or downloaded or are using via Free File (yes, it’s already open), here are some things to think about and documents that you might need to do the job.