Debt Free Direct Tour de Personal Finance, Stage 5 – Saving-Investing Group – Posts 37-40

Without further ado, let’s continue on with the 5th Stage (featuring posts from the “Saving/Investing” category of articles submitted) of the 2013 Tour de Personal Finance (to follow all of the action, click on the Tour de Personal Finance category link and scroll down to read all the posts involved in this subject).

We greatly appreciate Debt Free Direct for being the title partner of the 2013 event and for all their great support. If you’re interested in learning more about the help and advice Debt Free Direct offers to people in debt or their money-saving tips on how to prevent building up debt, click here.

A Quick Reminder On Prizes For The 2013 Competition

The 2013 edition of the Tour de PF will be doubly exciting because we have some very nice cash prizes to give away to the winner and also to charity to continue helping the community.

These will be as follows:

• Yellow Jersey (1st Place) Winner of the 2013 Tour de Personal Finance will receive $100 cash via PayPal.
• In addition, the Yellow Jersey Winner will also get to decide what charity they want me to donate $700 to in honor of their efforts/victory. 

To view the most up-to-date brackets of the competition, click the following link – 2013 Debt Free Direct Tour de PF Bracket

Going along with Tour de France cycling tradition, I’ve listed each competition within each stage as an “intermediate sprint” (one post versus another) along with the description provided by the blog author when the post was submitted.

Also, if applicable, I will give a brief description of the stage of the Tour de France that took place the same day as (or that has happened since the previous Stage of) the competition.

How to Vote

You can vote for the two articles (one from each intermediate sprint)  you’d like to see proceed in the Tour by commenting in the comments section below and telling which are your favorites. I’ve listed a keyword after each post title to make it easy to vote (as a made-up example, you can just comment: Sprint 1: Mutual; Sprint 2: 401k, etc.) 

Be sure to comment which one you like the best out of each set of two! Criteria for the best article is completely up to you, but you can use these factors as a guide: 1) post of your favorite blogger, 2) most interesting post, 3) most thought-provoking post, 4) most unique post, or 5) most actionable post.Here are today’s competitions:

Voting will continue until July 3rd for this Stage!

Intermediate Sprint #1

• The Dow at 15,000 – Now What? (Dow): This post gives my perspective on the stock market and shares a story of mine that my broker advised me to hold off on putting my transferred 401k money back in the market when it was around 14,100.

VERSUS

• How to Handle a Windfall (Windfall): It seems that just about every finance site in existence has at least one post about handling windfalls. But how many of these authors have firsthand experience in dealing with a significant windfall? Very few. That’s where this piece differs. I didn’t dream up a hypothetical list of things that you should do if/when you receive a windfall. Instead, I laid out the things that my wife and I did do when it happened to us.

Intermediate Sprint # 2

• How to Pay Yourself First (First): Personal finance folks often throw around the term “pay yourself first.” It is a bit big-headed of us to assume you know how to do that. Here are some steps you can take to put the most popular finance advice to work.

VERSUS

• Bond Market Forecast: The Interest Rate Paradox (Paradox): Everyone wants higher interest rates, but without the side effects. So if your investment search led you to higher yields the past few years, it might be riskier than you think.

Tour de France Daily Recap

The Tour de France in real life continued today with Stage 2, taking the riders 156 km from Bastia to Ajaccio on the island of Corsica.  It was a more hilly stage today and was quite exciting. The pack stayed together a lot of the time, with a breakaway of 5 riders getting off the front during the last few kilometers.

Jan Bakelants from Team Radioshack Leopard got off the front of the breakaway and held off the pack by only a single second at the very end of the day. That single second was also enough to secure him the leader’s Yellow Jersey as well! Nice!

Reader Profile – Michael from Student Loan Sherpa

Today, in the ongoing Reader Profile Series, we’re getting to know MPFJ.com reader and enthusiastic commenter, Michael, from the site, The Student Loan Sherpa. Let’s all give Michael a big round of applause for sharing his life with us and listen to his story. Enjoy!

Also, if you’re interested in sharing your own financial story/journey with us in a reader profile of your own, just shoot me a quick email, and we can get the ball rolling!  

1. Please Tell Everyone a Little Bit About Yourself (Background, Education, Family Situation, etc).

Math and numbers always fascinated me, so I went to college to become an engineer.

While I enjoyed my studies, I knew I would be happier in a profession that involved more interaction with people, so I went on to graduate school to become a lawyer.  I love being a lawyer for three reasons: 1) I love the role of advocate.  It’s a pleasure to be able to speak passionately on behalf of another.  2) On a daily basis I am required to learn and understand a difficult topic/subject and translate it to basic English.  I love this challenge.  3) It’s a privilege to be able to earn a living helping people.

I now live in Indianapolis with my girlfriend and dog.  We owe obscene amounts of money on our student loans (except the dog, his obedience schooling has been paid off).  Due to this debt, I was forced to educate myself on the subject.  I found some helpful information on the internet and some information that was just terrible.  I created The Student Loan Sherpa to help people navigate their student loan debt.  I’ve been lucky enough to meet some really interesting people with inspiring stories, and it’s been amazing and humbling to see how my little website has been an asset to them.

2. Describe Your Current Financial Situation (Who Works in Your Family, How Your Income Is, Your Expenses, etc).

My girlfriend and I both work in public service.  We have a very modest income, so we spend a great deal of time making sure we get the most out of each penny.  If we don’t, our student loans will never be paid off.

3. What Are the Current Financial Challenges You Are Facing (Saving, Paying Off Debt, Student Loans, Merging Finances After Being Married, etc)?

We have two primary financial challenges.  The first is the student loan debt and the second is the credit debt obtained while we studied for the bar exam.  Right now, we are working very hard to remove the stress that this debt puts upon us.

4. What Are Your Plans for the Future (Retire Early, Build Your Career, etc)?

I can’t imagine what I would do with my time if I wasn’t working.  I don’t think early retirement is in my future.  I’d just like to put myself in a position where I don’t have to worry about what will happen if I get sick or lose my job.

5. What’s Your Best Piece(s) of Financial Advice and/or Your General Philosophy on Personal Finances?

My best piece of financial advice would be to not ignore your problems.  I’ve seen many people who just ignored their student loans, and all it does is make their problems worse.  If you are spending too much money, make a budget and pay attention to where your money is going.  Personal finance is about simple math.  If you are willing to put in a little effort you can solve most of your problems.

As for my general philosophy on personal finance and money in general, I seek to use it in a manner that makes my life most fulfilling.  We are saving to take a road trip next summer with the goal of hitting as many national parks as we can.  It’s probably not the most frugal way to spend a vacation, but it will be an epic journey.  I want to get the most out of my money by putting in the least effort.  I don’t ever want to have to stress out about it because I spent too much, nor do I want to stress out about maximizing my income.

***Photo courtesy of http://studentloansherpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/P1020125.jpg

Debt Free Direct Tour de Personal Finance, Stage 5 – Saving-Investing Group – Posts 33-36

Without further ado, let’s continue on with the 5th Stage (featuring posts from the “Saving/Investing” category of articles submitted) of the 2013 Tour de Personal Finance (to follow all of the action, click on the Tour de Personal Finance category link and scroll down to read all the posts involved in this subject).

We greatly appreciate Debt Free Direct for being the title partner of the 2013 event and for all their great support. If you’re interested in learning more about the help and advice Debt Free Direct offers to people in debt or their money-saving tips on how to prevent building up debt, click here.

A Quick Reminder On Prizes For The 2013 Competition

The 2013 edition of the Tour de PF will be doubly exciting because we have some very nice cash prizes to give away to the winner and also to charity to continue helping the community.

These will be as follows:

• Yellow Jersey (1st Place) Winner of the 2013 Tour de Personal Finance will receive $100 cash via PayPal.
• In addition, the Yellow Jersey Winner will also get to decide what charity they want me to donate $700 to in honor of their efforts/victory. 

To view the most up-to-date brackets of the competition, click the following link – 2013 Debt Free Direct Tour de PF Bracket

Going along with Tour de France cycling tradition, I’ve listed each competition within each stage as an “intermediate sprint” (one post versus another) along with the description provided by the blog author when the post was submitted.

Also, if applicable, I will give a brief description of the stage of the Tour de France that took place the same day as (or that has happened since the previous Stage of) the competition.

How to Vote

You can vote for the two articles (one from each intermediate sprint)  you’d like to see proceed in the Tour by commenting in the comments section below and telling which are your favorites. I’ve listed a keyword after each post title to make it easy to vote (as a made-up example, you can just comment: Sprint 1: Mutual; Sprint 2: 401k, etc.) 

Be sure to comment which one you like the best out of each set of two! Criteria for the best article is completely up to you, but you can use these factors as a guide: 1) post of your favorite blogger, 2) most interesting post, 3) most thought-provoking post, 4) most unique post, or 5) most actionable post.Here are today’s competitions:

Voting will continue until July 3rd for this Stage!

Intermediate Sprint #1

• Do You Want to Become a Millionaire? (Millionaire): Ever dream of becoming a millionaire, but think the only way to do it is winning the lottery? Well, I’m here to tell you that dedication and hard work can be just as effective. Find out how you can become a millionaire using two different strategies.

VERSUS

• Why Saving In Your 20s Is Easier Than Waiting (Easier): Many people wait until their 30s or 40s to start saving for retirement. But, the reality is that saving in your 20s is much easier and with compound interest, it really pays off!

Intermediate Sprint # 2

• A Ridiculously Simple Way To Build Wealth (Wealth): Building wealth is ridiculously simple. It doesn’t require luck, genius or special connections. You don’t have to attend overpriced, weekend financial seminars or learn the latest tricks and gimmicks sold by slick marketers. Everything you need to know can be summarized in just two sentences…

VERSUS

• Is it Time to Get Out of the Stock Market? (Time): Whenever we see highs or lows in the stock market we see an increasing number of talking heads telling us what we should do with our portfolios. The problem with listening to them is they have no idea of your personal situation. That said, these are great times to analyze your portfolio while remembering the importance of maintaining a long-term view of your investing.

Tour de France Daily Recap

The Tour de France in real life continues today with Stage 2, taking the riders 156 km from Bastia to Ajaccio on the island of Corsica.  It’s a more hilly stage today, so it should be exciting!

Debt Free Direct Tour de Personal Finance, Stage 4 – Retirement Planning Group – Posts 29-32

Without further ado, let’s continue on with the 4th Stage (featuring posts from the “Retirement Planning” category of articles submitted) of the 2013 Tour de Personal Finance (to follow all of the action, click on the Tour de Personal Finance category link and scroll down to read all the posts involved in this subject).

We greatly appreciate Debt Free Direct for being the title partner of the 2013 event and for all their great support. If you’re interested in learning more about the help and advice Debt Free Direct offers to people in debt or their money-saving tips on how to prevent building up debt, click here.

A Quick Reminder On Prizes For The 2013 Competition

The 2013 edition of the Tour de PF will be doubly exciting because we have some very nice cash prizes to give away to the winner and also to charity to continue helping the community.

These will be as follows:

• Yellow Jersey (1st Place) Winner of the 2013 Tour de Personal Finance will receive $100 cash via PayPal.
• In addition, the Yellow Jersey Winner will also get to decide what charity they want me to donate $700 to in honor of their efforts/victory. 

To view the most up-to-date brackets of the competition, click the following link – 2013 Debt Free Direct Tour de PF Bracket

Going along with Tour de France cycling tradition, I’ve listed each competition within each stage as an “intermediate sprint” (one post versus another) along with the description provided by the blog author when the post was submitted.

Also, if applicable, I will give a brief description of the stage of the Tour de France that took place the same day as (or that has happened since the previous Stage of) the competition.

How to Vote

You can vote for the two articles (one from each intermediate sprint)  you’d like to see proceed in the Tour by commenting in the comments section below and telling which are your favorites. I’ve listed a keyword after each post title to make it easy to vote (as a made-up example, you can just comment: Sprint 1: Mutual; Sprint 2: 401k, etc.) 

Be sure to comment which one you like the best out of each set of two! Criteria for the best article is completely up to you, but you can use these factors as a guide: 1) post of your favorite blogger, 2) most interesting post, 3) most thought-provoking post, 4) most unique post, or 5) most actionable post.Here are today’s competitions:

Voting will continue until July 2nd for this Stage!

Intermediate Sprint #1

• If You Plan to Work Until Old Age, Change Your Plan (Plan): To be successful financially, it can help to be realistic when assessing risks. Along those lines, it’s important to keep in mind that we might not be able to work for as many years as we might believe. We should plan accordingly and save and invest as much as possible when younger!

VERSUS

• How My Retirement Plans Got Derailed – Big Time! (Derailed): I left my secure job at a major bank to open a small retail store with my husband.  We struggled along for three years, using up almost all our savings and making the terrible mistake of financing the business with our many credit cards. Eventually we gave up and closed the store.  With no money and over $100,000 in credit card debt, we sank to our lowest point of despair.

Intermediate Sprint # 2

• Extreme Retirement is Fools Gold! (Gold): Doing anything extreme is unsustainable for any length of time.  Saving 60-70% to retire early so you could live a minimalist life is crazy!  I do not want to lower my standard of living in retirement, do you?

VERSUS

• When Can I Retire – It All Depends On How Badly You Want To! (Depends): The reason that I love this post is because it is the advice I wish someone would have given me when I started my personal finance journey.   The message is that financial freedom (retirement) doesn’t have to be tied to age – it can happen anytime.  You just need to start making it happen!  Readers will not only find a lot of practical advice about how to accomplish this, but they will also find something else that lacks in a lot of other financial planning literature – encouragement!

Tour de France Daily Recap

The Tour de France in real life started today with Stage 1, taking the riders 213 km from Porto-Vecchio up to Bastia on the island of Corsica.  It was a flat stage for the most part, with a small breakaway staying off the front until about 30 km remaining.

It was a very exciting finish because a team bus got stuck under the finish line, and was only removed about 5 min before the riders got to the line! There was also a big crash that took out pretty much every big name sprinter and overall contender from contesting the stage. Marcel Kittel took the sprint victory, and also the yellow jersey for now in the Tour de France.

It’s a more hilly stage tomorrow. Should be exciting!

***Photo courtesy of  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Tour2013.jpg

Debt Free Direct Tour de Personal Finance, Stage 4 – Debt and Retirement Planning Groups – Posts 25-28

Without further ado, let’s continue on with the 4th Stage (featuring posts from the “Debt” and “Retirement Planning” categories of articles submitted) of the 2013 Tour de Personal Finance (to follow all of the action, click on the Tour de Personal Finance category link and scroll down to read all the posts involved in this subject).

We greatly appreciate Debt Free Direct for being the title partner of the 2013 event and for all their great support. If you’re interested in learning more about the help and advice Debt Free Direct offers to people in debt or their money-saving tips on how to prevent building up debt, click here.

A Quick Reminder On Prizes For The 2013 Competition

The 2013 edition of the Tour de PF will be doubly exciting because we have some very nice cash prizes to give away to the winner and also to charity to continue helping the community.

These will be as follows:

• Yellow Jersey (1st Place) Winner of the 2013 Tour de Personal Finance will receive $100 cash via PayPal.
• In addition, the Yellow Jersey Winner will also get to decide what charity they want me to donate $700 to in honor of their efforts/victory. 

To view the most up-to-date brackets of the competition, click the following link – 2013 Debt Free Direct Tour de PF Bracket

Going along with Tour de France cycling tradition, I’ve listed each competition within each stage as an “intermediate sprint” (one post versus another) along with the description provided by the blog author when the post was submitted.

Also, if applicable, I will give a brief description of the stage of the Tour de France that took place the same day as (or that has happened since the previous Stage of) the competition.

How to Vote

You can vote for the two articles (one from each intermediate sprint)  you’d like to see proceed in the Tour by commenting in the comments section below and telling which are your favorites. I’ve listed a keyword after each post title to make it easy to vote (as a made-up example, you can just comment: Sprint 1: Mutual; Sprint 2: 401k, etc.) 

Be sure to comment which one you like the best out of each set of two! Criteria for the best article is completely up to you, but you can use these factors as a guide: 1) post of your favorite blogger, 2) most interesting post, 3) most thought-provoking post, 4) most unique post, or 5) most actionable post.Here are today’s competitions:

Voting will continue until July 2nd for this Stage!

Intermediate Sprint #1

• Our Debt Free Story: Paying Off More than $147,000 in Debt (Story): Becoming debt free is totally doable, so long as you’re willing to do what it takes.

VERSUS

• Things to Avoid with Quick Loans (Loans): Quick loans, sometimes referred to as payday loans, can either be an absolute life-saver in times of need, or if handled badly, a great burden. Take your time to research your fast loan options.

Intermediate Sprint # 2

• The 3 Best Free Retirement Calculators (Calculators): Retirement calculators have an impossible job — predicting the future. This post discusses the pros and cons of retirement calculators, and gives tips for using them. It presents a detailed retirement scenario and puts a number of free calculators through their paces, then recommends the top three free calculators. Use retirement calculators regularly to optimize your near-term financial decision making, but remember that the future will inevitably turn out different than planned.

VERSUS

• How Much Should I Save Toward Retirement If I’m Starting Late? (Late): Knowing how much you should save for retirement is critical. But what if you are late getting started? The longer you delay, the shorter the time that compound interest can do its magic on your savings.

Tour de France Daily Recap

The Tour de France in real life is going on right now with Stage 1, taking the riders 213 km from Porto-Vecchio up to Bastia on the island of Corsica.  I’ll be sure to bring everyone an update on the action when the other Stage 4 posts go live later today!

***Photo courtesy of  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/LOTOJA_starting_line_2007.jpg

Debt Free Direct Tour de Personal Finance, Stage 3 – Debt Group – Posts 21-24

Without further ado, let’s continue on with the 3rd Stage (featuring posts from the “Debt” category of articles submitted) of the 2013 Tour de Personal Finance (to follow all of the action, click on the Tour de Personal Finance category link and scroll down to read all the posts involved in this subject).

We greatly appreciate Debt Free Direct for being the title partner of the 2013 event and for all their great support. If you’re interested in learning more about the help and advice Debt Free Direct offers to people in debt or their money-saving tips on how to prevent building up debt, click here.

A Quick Reminder On Prizes For The 2013 Competition

The 2013 edition of the Tour de PF will be doubly exciting because we have some very nice cash prizes to give away to the winner and also to charity to continue helping the community.

These will be as follows:

• Yellow Jersey (1st Place) Winner of the 2013 Tour de Personal Finance will receive $100 cash via PayPal.
• In addition, the Yellow Jersey Winner will also get to decide what charity they want me to donate $700 to in honor of their efforts/victory. 

To view the most up-to-date brackets of the competition, click the following link – 2013 Debt Free Direct Tour de PF Bracket

Going along with Tour de France cycling tradition, I’ve listed each competition within each stage as an “intermediate sprint” (one post versus another) along with the description provided by the blog author when the post was submitted.

Also, if applicable, I will give a brief description of the stage of the Tour de France that took place the same day as (or that has happened since the previous Stage of) the competition.

How to Vote

You can vote for the two articles (one from each intermediate sprint)  you’d like to see proceed in the Tour by commenting in the comments section below and telling which are your favorites. I’ve listed a keyword after each post title to make it easy to vote (as a made-up example, you can just comment: Sprint 1: Mutual; Sprint 2: 401k, etc.) 

Be sure to comment which one you like the best out of each set of two! Criteria for the best article is completely up to you, but you can use these factors as a guide: 1) post of your favorite blogger, 2) most interesting post, 3) most thought-provoking post, 4) most unique post, or 5) most actionable post.Here are today’s competitions:

Voting will continue until July 1st for this Stage!

Intermediate Sprint #1

• Which Is Harder: Paying off Debt or Saving Money? (Harder): Every week, I get asked whether someone should pay off their debt first or save instead, and every week I pretty much say the same thing: Go with whichever one makes you feel better. I often wonder afterwards, though, which side – indeed –  IS the easiest to accomplish? Is it debt cuz you hate it so much and there’s an absolute number attached to it? Or is it savings cuz having tons of money in the bank is sexy as hell??

VERSUS

• Working Towards A Debt Free Lifestyle In 8 Steps (Steps): Debt Freedom means taking yourself to the next level. Debt Freedom means you want to work towards your goals. Debt Freedom means you want to live a stress free life Debt Freedom Starts Now! Take charge of your freedom, your debt freedom by educating yourself on ways to improve and how to forget about the rest and worry about you and your money.

Intermediate Sprint # 2

• Dealing With Debt: Seven Steps to Debt Busting (Busting): This article is awesome and should win because in it I share the seven ‘easy’ debt management steps that helped us pay off $157,000 worth of debt in three years. These are a combination between changing habits, learning new competencies, and changing our attitudes.

VERSUS

• Should You Pay Off the Mortgage ASAP? (Mortgage): So many people come up with reasons why they shouldn’t pay off their mortgage early, but is it really the smartest option? What if you aggressively paid off your mortgage? What are the benefits? As it turns out, there are a TON of them!

Tour de France Daily Recap

Unfortunately, the Tour de France doesn’t start in real life until TOMORROW – Saturday, June 29th (we had to get started a little early this year due to the larger number of entries!).

This year’s Tour features some really cool things for us to look forward to though.

• First, it is the 100th edition of the event.
• Second, the Tour will start from the island of Corsica, the only time in the race’s history that it has visited that Department.
• Third, it will be the first time since the 2003 that the event will take place entirely on French roads (no visits to neighboring countries).
• Finally, the race features a Stage in which the famous climb of Alpe d’ Huez (one that I’ve actually done myself, and can attest to how hard it is!) will be climbed not once, but twice. I’m not quite sure how the logistics will work out with that, but it should be very entertaining to watch!

Extreme Retirement Saving – Is it For You?

The following post is by MPFJ staff writer Travis.  Travis is a customer blogger for CareOne Debt Relief Services, and also appears weekly at Enemy of Debt.  Travis candidly shares his personal journey to pay off $109,000 of credit card debt and the tips he’s learned along the way. As a father and husband he provides a unique perspective on balancing debt, finances, and family.

A person walks through the grocery store, and executes a pre-determined shopping plan, filling cart upon cart with products.  After going through the checkout counter and redeeming a pile of coupons, their truckload of goods costs them little more than pocket change.

You may have heard of this, it’s called extreme couponing.

A comment was left recently on a post of mine that completely blew my mind and reminded me of extreme couponing.   The author lamented dropping $80 for a restaurant dining experience she didn’t particularly enjoy.  She joked it would be wise for her to not do the calculation to determine how much that meal cost her in retirement funds as it may result in heartburn.

I’m sure the statement was simply light-hearted joking, but I couldn’t help but have an image pop in my head of a person going through life analyzing every purchase to the point of knowing how much it would affect their retirement funds.

This isn’t extreme couponing, this is extreme retirement saving.

Tracking your spending and knowing how each expenditure affects the budget can prevent a person’s finances from going off the rails, but can you imagine going to such extreme analysis for each purchase?

Buy a $1 soda?  That’s $4.50 less you’ll have in your retirement coffers

How about a $6 value meal at a fast food restaurant?  Shave another $27 off that nest egg.

With the right perspective, it could have some benefits.  Having such numbers handy for some common items (especially those on which a person typically overspends) could help a person make a decision about whether a purchase is really worth it.  But taken to the extreme, it could be almost debilitating as a person agonizes over every purchase.

I wouldn’t want go through my life simply trying to build as much wealth as possible for retirement.  With that kind of perspective, I may not know how to start enjoying what I’d saved by the time I get to retirement.  I do want to regularly analyze how much I will need to save to maintain the lifestyle I desire when (or if) I decide to retire.  As long as I’m meeting that goal each and every month, I will ENJOY any funds are left over.

Because Life is worth living.  All of it.

What do you think, readers?  Would you want to know the effect each purchase would have on your retirement account?  How extreme is your retirement saving?

***Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Debt Free Direct Tour de Personal Finance, Stage 3 – Debt Group – Posts 17-20

Without further ado, let’s continue on with the 3rd Stage (featuring posts from the “Debt” category of articles submitted) of the 2013 Tour de Personal Finance (to follow all of the action, click on the Tour de Personal Finance category link and scroll down to read all the posts involved in this subject).

We greatly appreciate Debt Free Direct for being the title partner of the 2013 event and for all their great support. If you’re interested in learning more about the help and advice Debt Free Direct offers to people in debt or their money-saving tips on how to prevent building up debt, click here.

A Quick Reminder On Prizes For The 2013 Competition

The 2013 edition of the Tour de PF will be doubly exciting because we have some very nice cash prizes to give away to the winner and also to charity to continue helping the community.

These will be as follows:

• Yellow Jersey (1st Place) Winner of the 2013 Tour de Personal Finance will receive $100 cash via PayPal.
• In addition, the Yellow Jersey Winner will also get to decide what charity they want me to donate $700 to in honor of their efforts/victory. 

To view the most up-to-date brackets of the competition, click the following link – 2013 Debt Free Direct Tour de PF Bracket

Going along with Tour de France cycling tradition, I’ve listed each competition within each stage as an “intermediate sprint” (one post versus another) along with the description provided by the blog author when the post was submitted.

Also, if applicable, I will give a brief description of the stage of the Tour de France that took place the same day as (or that has happened since the previous Stage of) the competition.

How to Vote

You can vote for the two articles (one from each intermediate sprint)  you’d like to see proceed in the Tour by commenting in the comments section below and telling which are your favorites. I’ve listed a keyword after each post title to make it easy to vote (as a made-up example, you can just comment: Sprint 1: Mutual; Sprint 2: 401k, etc.) 

Be sure to comment which one you like the best out of each set of two! Criteria for the best article is completely up to you, but you can use these factors as a guide: 1) post of your favorite blogger, 2) most interesting post, 3) most thought-provoking post, 4) most unique post, or 5) most actionable post.Here are today’s competitions:

Voting will continue until July 1st for this Stage!

Intermediate Sprint #1

• Is the College Debt Bubble about to Burst? (Bubble): Student loan debt has officially become a crisis. I explore one of our most important questions and greatest challenges as a nation. Is the College Debt about to Burst?

VERSUS

• Should I Pay Off My Mortgage Early? (Mortgage): If you own a home, a significant portion of your income each month goes towards paying down your mortgage. Although most Americans would rather have no debt and interest payments, with interest rates at record lows, the traditional thinking and logic behind accelerating your mortgage payments may not apply anymore. From the benefits of liquidity and emergency funds to higher yield investments and retirement funding, there are much better ways to use your free cash flow. Stop seeing all debt as bad, and realize that a healthy amount can actually help further your financial goals.

Intermediate Sprint # 2

• What Kind Of People Live Without Credit Cards? (Cards): Credit cards are increasingly being ingrained into our daily life.  Occasionally a story surfaces about people that still function without swiping the plastic.  Are these people real, or do they only exist in fairy tails and legends?  I hunted high and low and found a husband and wife that claim to be two of these mythical people.

VERSUS

• Credit Card Debt and Drug Addiction: Are They Related? (Addiction): While Dave Ramsey advocates the Debt Snowball method for paying down credit card debt and brain scan studies confirm the notion because of the limbic system’s joy at closing down accounts, nobody really tracks what happens after you close down an account. Specifically, nobody has studied the causes and incidences of relapse, where people who were on the road to becoming debt free suddenly veer off the path and rack up debt again. This article examines the neurological and behavioral similarities between credit card debt and drug addiction and suggests ways in which we can apply lessons learned from helping people with drug addiction to the process of getting out of credit card debt.

Tour de France Daily Recap

Unfortunately, the Tour de France doesn’t start in real life until TOMORROW Saturday, June 29th (we had to get started a little early this year due to the larger number of entries!).

This year’s Tour features some really cool things for us to look forward to though.

• First, it is the 100th edition of the event.
• Second, the Tour will start from the island of Corsica, the only time in the race’s history that it has visited that Department.
• Third, it will be the first time since the 2003 that the event will take place entirely on French roads (no visits to neighboring countries).
• Finally, the race features a Stage in which the famous climb of Alpe d’ Huez (one that I’ve actually done myself, and can attest to how hard it is!) will be climbed not once, but twice. I’m not quite sure how the logistics will work out with that, but it should be very entertaining to watch!

***Photo courtesy of  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Col_du_Galibier_in_Mei.jpg

Debt Free Direct Tour de Personal Finance, Stage 2 – Career/College Finances Groups – Posts 13-16

Without further ado, let’s continue on with the 2nd Stage (featuring posts from the “Job/Career” and “College Finances” categories of articles submitted) of the 2013 Tour de Personal Finance (to follow all of the action, click on the Tour de Personal Finance category link and scroll down to read all the posts involved in this subject).

We greatly appreciate Debt Free Direct for being the title partner of the 2013 event and for all their great support. If you’re interested in learning more about the help and advice Debt Free Direct offers to people in debt or their money-saving tips on how to prevent building up debt, click here.

A Quick Reminder On Prizes For The 2013 Competition

The 2013 edition of the Tour de PF will be doubly exciting because we have some very nice cash prizes to give away to the winner and also to charity to continue helping the community.

These will be as follows:

• Yellow Jersey (1st Place) Winner of the 2013 Tour de Personal Finance will receive $100 cash via PayPal.
• In addition, the Yellow Jersey Winner will also get to decide what charity they want me to donate $700 to in honor of their efforts/victory. 

To view the most up-to-date brackets of the competition, click the following link – 2013 Debt Free Direct Tour de PF Bracket

Going along with Tour de France cycling tradition, I’ve listed each competition within each stage as an “intermediate sprint” (one post versus another) along with the description provided by the blog author when the post was submitted.

Also, if applicable, I will give a brief description of the stage of the Tour de France that took place the same day as (or that has happened since the previous Stage of) the competition.

How to Vote

You can vote for the two articles (one from each intermediate sprint)  you’d like to see proceed in the Tour by commenting in the comments section below and telling which are your favorites. I’ve listed a keyword after each post title to make it easy to vote (as a made-up example, you can just comment: Sprint 1: Mutual; Sprint 2: 401k, etc.) 

Be sure to comment which one you like the best out of each set of two! Criteria for the best article is completely up to you, but you can use these factors as a guide: 1) post of your favorite blogger, 2) most interesting post, 3) most thought-provoking post, 4) most unique post, or 5) most actionable post.Here are today’s competitions:

Voting will continue until June 30th for this Stage!

Intermediate Sprint #1

• The Hidden Job Market – How to Find a Job that Isn’t Advertised (Hidden): I’ll let you in on a little a secret: most companies don’t make their job openings publicly available until they have exhausted every opportunity to fill them in house or through recommendations. Some experts estimate roughly half the available jobs are in the hidden job market. This article shows you how to find and apply for those jobs through your network before they become available to the general public.

VERSUS

• My Husband is Now WORKING FROM HOME WITH ME!!! (Husband): It’s important to work out a plan before leaping into self-employment.  It’s even more important when that entrepreneurial spirit hits both of the income earners of the household.  But after running the numbers, looking at worst case scenarios, and mulling the idea over…it was time for us to put on our big girl panties and jump in.  🙂  Here’s the post about the excitement and fear when we officially put all of our financial eggs in one basket and happily skipped away into the unknown…

Intermediate Sprint # 2

• 529 Savings Plans: 101  (Savings): Given the shift in the economics of higher education it’s time that we change the conversation on paying for school. The conversation needs to shift to adequately saving for college expenses so that the next generation can avoid “mortgaging their future” and graduating with a mountain of student loan debt. A 529 Savings Plan is qualified tuition plan that has appealing tax benefits for college savings. Read this post for a complete guide of all you need to know about 529 Savings Plans!

VERSUS

• FAFSA.com Scam – 2.1 Million Students Potentially Ripped Off! (Scam): In January 2012, we exposed FAFSA.com as a For Profit Company misleading millions of students and charging them to complete the free FAFSA.gov application. The immoral marketing tactics including a very misleading domain name were exposed by this article. The article drew anger from the company and stories of students being ripped off by this company.

Tour de France Daily Recap

Unfortunately, the Tour de France doesn’t start in real life until this Saturday, June 29th (we had to get started a little early this year due to the larger number of entries!).

This year’s Tour features some really cool things for us to look forward to though.

• First, it is the 100th edition of the event.
• Second, the Tour will start from the island of Corsica, the only time in the race’s history that it has visited that Department.
• Third, it will be the first time since the 2003 that the event will take place entirely on French roads (no visits to neighboring countries).
• Finally, the race features a Stage in which the famous climb of Alpe d’ Huez (one that I’ve actually done myself, and can attest to how hard it is!) will be climbed not once, but twice. I’m not quite sure how the logistics will work out with that, but it should be very entertaining to watch!

Mid-Year 2013 Financial Goals Check-In and Progress Update

Happy first few official days of Summer 2013 everyone! I hope you’ve been enjoying the warmer weather and have been able to get outside every once in a while!

I’ve really been enjoying getting out on the weekends and doing some nice long bike rides in the hills, mountains, and valleys here around Central Virginia! The picture to the right is me and our golden retriever, Crystal, chasing after a ball in a local dog park recently.

Back in January of this year, I set my financial goals for 2013. Since the year is now almost officially half finished, I figured it would be a good time to sit down and take a few minutes to review how I’ve been doing thus far in reaching or NOT reaching (in some cases) the various targets I set for myself. 

Overall, I would rate the 1st half of the 2013 year as being all-around top-notch, from a personal, financial, and professional perspective. The financial markets are doing well, the real estate market seems to be coming back (good for me since I may be looking to sell my condo in the next 1-2 years), I got engaged in mid-March, and have started exploring a whole new realm of in-vivo (mouse studies) in developing our Alzheimer’s disease drugs in my graduate school studies.

So, here goes, a progress update (in bold below) on how I’ve been doing so far in 2013 reaching my financial goals. Enjoy, and I look forward to reading any comments you all have!

• Contribute $5500 (or ~$458 per month) to my Roth IRA with Vanguard this year (maximum allowed, which increased $500 in 2013 compared to the $5000 maximum allowed in 2012!).
  • Done. I finished maxing out these contributions in around the May timeframe. Yahoo!
• Reach short-term net worth target for this year (1.42X my current net worth).
  • I’m getting a lot closer, but not quite there yet.
  • I need an increase of about 23% more from where I am now, so that’s definitely better than a 42% increase needed back in January! 
• Maintain target 6-9 months of expenses in cash reserve emergency fund in Dollar Savings Direct account.
  • On target. 
• Rebalance mutual fund portfolio to meet asset allocation target %’s (70% equity, 30% fixed income overall).
  • Done. Going well. 
• Put together a will and have it reviewed by a lawyer.
  • Have put together a will, but still have not gotten it reviewed by a lawyer. Need to though! 
• Continue to save money for trip to Grand Canyon or to see Niagara Falls.
  • On target. 
• Invest $500 in Microloans with Microplace.com to support Latin American micro entrepreneurship. This equates to $41.67 to invest per month.
  • On target. 
• Donate $1,150 to Multiple Sclerosis Foundation in 2013 (5% of take-home pay in my graduate school research assistantship job).
  • Done. I actually donated $3,000 this year. Yah! 
• Fund raise $7500 for MS 150 bike event in June 2013.
  • Done and surpassed. I ended up raising $11,000 total this year for the MS Society, which puts my total in the past 5 years at above $25,000. Nice! 
  • It looks like I’ll end up being the 2nd or 3rd highest fundraiser in this year’s MS event.
• Save 3% of take home pay each month (after taxes) for Dream Account.
  • On target.
• $30 per month save for doing running races / bike rides as part of health life values account.
  • On target.
• $20 per month save for buying fresh vegetables as part of health life values account.
  • On target.
• Save ~20% of (blogging income (if any) – amount of income deferred to Individual 401k with Vanguard + untaxed graduate fellowship income from my research job) in a high yield online savings account in preparation for 2013 taxes.
  • On target. Since I am investing so much in staff writers/content creation for my blog, my overall income is lower this year, meaning that I don’t need to pay as much in taxes. 
• Apply for new graduate research fellowships since the one I have from the NSF will run out in 2014 (and need to apply for new ones about a year ahead of time).
  • On target.
  • I have discussed this with my graduate school advisor, and we have selected 2-3 good-looking fellowships that I will apply for later this year. 
• $30 per month save for trips to visit friends/family in other states.
  • On target.
• $10 per month save for purchasing food for backpacking trips in the Blue Ridge Mountains once a month.
  • On target.
• Contribute at least 20% of blogging income to Individual Roth 401(k) with Vanguard.
  • Have not done yet, but will start soon.
  • According to the account hierarchy priority order, I have first been maxing out my Roth IRA this year prior to funding my Individual 401k (which I recently found out has a Roth option, so I’ll soon start taking advantage of that!).
• Execute any business tax deductions I can for 2012 taxes.
  • Done.
• Use 1% home value home maintenance fund to fix various small things that are broken around my condo after 2.5 years of use. These things include a closet door off the hinges, the light-switch in the bathroom not working all the time, the bathroom towel rack holder coming unscrewed, and some pipes under the sink that need to be re-caulked. Once I get these things repaired, I will then need to replenish the depleted funds in the home maintenance account.
  • Have not yet done. 
• Execute 4 estimated tax payments for blogging + graduate research fellowship income on the following dates – 1) April 15, 2013, 2) June 17, 2013, 3) Sept. 16, 2013, and 4) Jan. 15, 2014.
  • Done/on track. 
• Save $111 per month until have a total of $1600 for health expenses for dogs we adopted (for annual health checkup, Frontline/Interceptor, and miscellaneous health emergencies/treatments needed. I will have the $1600 total after March 2013.
  • Done.
• Help friends become debt-free.
  • On track.
• Continue investing in long-term content growth of blog.
  • On track. 
• ***New Goal Added During 1st Half 2013*** – Continue building, optimizing, and balancing a Three-Legged Stool for Retirement
  • Since I am in the 15% tax bracket, I first maxed out my Roth IRA for 2013.  
  • My next move has been to contribute an equivalent amount in an after-tax investment account in order to have money that is accessible for needs prior to retirement. 
  • Now that I have completed that, I am going to work towards contributing to a Roth Individual 401k with Vanguard. Should be good! 

• Continue contributing $5500 to Roth IRA and Individual Roth/Traditional 401k each year using dollar cost averaging.
• Reach intermediate net worth target (2.8X my current net worth).
• Own a rental property by 2018.

• Obtain a net worth of $1,000,000.
• Own a home free of mortgage payments.
• Own a vacation home in the mountains or a ski resort.
• Accumulate enough funds not have to work, but will probably anyways because I would get bored.

How about you all? How are you doing so far in reaching the goals you laid out for yourself in 2013? What techniques do you find are most effective in holding yourself accountable and on-track for your goals you set?  

Share your experiences by commenting below!