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Posted
Sep 14 2009, 06:12 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly.
It's been a long time since I wrote about the general state of my financial affairs. A few readers have written to express concern that I've lost my way. I haven't. If anything, I'm more devoted to this stuff than ever.
But as I wrote earlier this year, I've entered a different stage of money management. During the first two stages of personal finance (debt elimination and establishing a foundation), things happened quickly. They did not seem quick at the time, but they were.
Now I'm in the third stage of personal finance. Progress is steady, but there's not a lot of scenery. Have no fear: I'm still on the road to financial freedom.
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Posted
Jul 22 2009, 09:18 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Grace of GRACEful Retirement is 60 years old, and she plans to work for nine more years. Otherwise, she won't have enough savings for even a modest retirement.
So a recent study was sobering news for her: Nearly half of retirees leave the workforce earlier than planned.
Here's how she summed it up: "Job loss, age discrimination, family duties (such as caring for a spouse or one's parents) or a personal health crisis make a mockery of well-laid plans."
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Posted
Oct 30 2008, 05:51 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Nora Dunn at partner blog Wise Bread. Retirement [ri-tahyuhr-muhnt]: The act of retiring or the state of being retired; removal or withdrawal from service, office, or business. You go to school. You get a good job/career. You work for 40 years or so. In the meantime, you find a soul mate, marry, buy a house, have kids, and live happily ever after. The kids grow up and move out. Then you retire. Your life map is so clearly laid out in front of you; yet the last piece of the puzzle -- retirement -- is a fuzzy and often incomprehensible anomaly. With people living longer and striving for earlier retirements, the very definition of retirement is evolving. No longer is it merely a way to stop working and basically wait for death to come; that would take too bloody long and be a bore. Now retirement takes many different shapes and forms:
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Posted
Oct 29 2008, 03:18 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Although it's a questionable decision for many, almost half of 61-year-olds surveyed recently said they'll begin collecting Social Security when they reach 62, the earliest people can apply. The new survey by Fidelity Investments shows that surprising result -- as well as a widespread lack of understanding of how Social Security works. For instance, "56% do not know when they will be eligible for full Social Security benefits (age 66 for those born 1943-54)," Fidelity said. About a third wrongly think that all benefits are exempt from taxes. Applying at age 62 locks you in at a lower benefit for life (with one exception we'll describe below.) Is it really worth settling for a lower standard of living just to increase the chances that you'll collect Social Security for a few extra years?
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Posted
Sep 22 2008, 06:35 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Moving to a country with a lower cost of living isn't the only unconventional way to retire -- or retire early, says Nigel, a U.S. resident who blogs at Retire To India. For the adventurous among you whose savings are secure, his post "10 alternatives to retiring abroad" is a should-read. We've already thoroughly enjoyed the posts at Early Retirement Extreme about living in an RV, which are mentioned on Nigel's list. Here are a few of the other options to consider:
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Posted
Sep 12 2008, 01:36 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Jacob at Early Retirement Extreme is about to cut his already spartan monthly living expenses in half. How? He and his wife are moving into an RV. This blog is called Early Retirement Extreme for a reason. Jacob, a guy in his early 30s, spent five years saving and investing 70% of his income on his way to a goal of quitting the rat race, and now he's going to save even more.
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Posted
Aug 07 2008, 02:39 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Someone asked Jennifer Derrick the other day why she doesn't make more money so she can have the "finer things in life" -- jewelry, fancy cars, big house, expensive vacations. She's talented enough. Doesn't she want these things? Nope. But that person said: "Everyone wants those things and if you think you don't, you're living in denial. You only say that to make yourself feel better because you can't afford them."
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Posted
Jul 22 2008, 02:53 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
It's a shame it took us so long to find the Frugal Bachelor. Such depth of thought. Such an eye for the ladies. He writes unlike anyone we've read in the personal-finance blogosphere. In several posts, he mused about whether it's actually possible to be frugal in supersized America, and whether frugality and technology are mutually exclusive. In another, he considered where to eat based on the waitresses' qualities, and we're not talking about how often they refill his water glass. In yet another, he decided that rum would be the thing to hoard if civilization were teetering on the brink. He said: "Some historians even credit alcohol (beer) as the motivation for establishment of human civilization. It's true; look it up."
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Posted
Nov 16 2007, 03:05 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
LifeEdit.net provides some very sound advice to people in their 20s about managing money: Save for retirement, pay off student loans as soon as you can, budget and keep your credit score high. But there's more than one way to skin this cat. The Retirement Hobo is 24 years old, and he's already retired.
He's aware that some readers might be incredulous. "At a first glance, you might think my blog about (extremely) early retirement is about a lazy guy trying to find a loophole in the system so he can keep on being lazy. I assure you, that is not the case," he writes in his first post, called, appropriately, "Newly retired."
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Posted
Nov 13 2007, 12:39 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Retiring at age 65 (or 66 or 67 , depending on what year you were born) is "so 1990s," The Dough Roller writes. Why wait until then if you can ease into it? he asks, and introduces the concept of slow-motion retirement . Start by working those 40 hours in four days to have a three-day weekend, and then begin a transition to telecommuting. Eventually shrink your work to part time. DR notes that some people have to be at work to work. ("Peyton Manning has that kind of job. So does a firefighter," he observes.) You also may find it difficult to earn less money or to convince your boss to allow you to work from home. He proposes solutions for those potential problems, and recommends you read his companion post, " 5 steps to achieving the 24-hour workweek (which beats the 4-hour workweek )."
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