A home equity line of credit (HELOC) is an interesting entity. In essence, it’s a line of credit that a lender gives you using the equity in your home as collateral. A HELOC is similar to a home equity loan and this sometimes causes confusion with borrowers. There are a few differences between the two though… Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) Does not necessarily advance you all the money at once – you are given a line of credit you can draw from as needed […]
I just finished reading The Richest Man in Babylon. I had a lot of recommendations to read this and I’ll tell you that, for as old as this book is (originally published in 1926!!), the content still holds strong. Great book if you’re trying to find your way to wealth. There is some very sound advice that stands the test of time, such as saving at least 10% of what you make and that you can live off your income, but you
I was listening to another podcast from the BiggerPockets guys and their guest this time around was Natali Morris. The podcast was called Limiting Beliefs That Hold You Back From Incredible Wealth. Although the podcast was interesting, that’s not really the point of this post. It was something that she mentioned in the middle of it that for some reason really jumped out at me and that’s what I wanted to share. Natali said that when her father was in the midst of his divorce, he was referring
If you’re reading this article, you’re probably someone interested in or already on the way to the world of financial independence. Regardless of why you’re here, I think we all know some of the basics of reaching that goal: Get out of debt ASAP – This is the #1 step that needs to be done… and this refers to bad debt like credit cards, car payments, etc. This does not necessarily mean good debt like mortgages on rental property that serve as assets helping to provide you with cash
I recently realized that I have a number of loose ends out there from previous posts that my regular readers might be wondering about. So I thought I would take an opportunity to put out a post following up to hopefully tie up those loose ends a bit… Switching to an Accountant This was the first year I decided not to use TurboTax and go to an accountant. If you remember, I had three goals with this: Check over my work Get
I used to have a common guy problem (no not that one!) – it’s the one where I wouldn’t go to the doctor because “things will just work themselves out.” Bad idea in general and, as I’ve grown a little older, I at least now do the annual checkup (something I never used to do). Although never going was a bad idea, it did help me get ahead on something. About 6 years ago, my company offered something called a Health Savings Account or, it’s
Since I was a kid, I had it set in my mind that I was going to be rich. And for years, I thought that the only way to become rich was to accumulate as much money as possible. And while that is one way to get rich, it’s probably not the most efficient – especially because inflation loves to work against the money that you’ve saved. It took me a long time, but I’ve learned that the accumulation of
I love reading. I’ve always been a bookworm and, although I don’t have the time I used to, I still read quite a bit. I actually find myself reading more nonfiction than fiction, but I love a good fiction book as well. Recently though, I read a financial book that’s stuck in my head… and I’m not sure whether that’s a good or bad thing, but it made me question my retirement funds. The book I finished reading is The 3 Simple Rules of
This past year was an exciting one for us, albeit a little bit of a roller coaster ride. However, we were able to pick up a new rental property, max out my 401(k) and contribute up to the match in my wife’s account. We also added to our Roth IRAs and a little bit in my HSA, and continued to save a good deal in our online savings account. No time to rest on our laurels though – last year’s financial goals are in the
I’ve said before that Quicken was a lifesaver for me and my finances all the way back in 1999. That’s when I stumbled across the product and it helped me realize just how much of a mess of debt I was in. I was then able to rely on the software to really come up with a game plan and eliminate all of it over the next handful of years. Obviously software can’t get you out of debt (you need to do that yourself),
