Frugal Professor: Recent Episodes
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Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches We are enjoying Season 4 of Welcome to Wrexam (link). Ben Rector dropped a new album. It is great (link). Some new favorite YouTube channels: An Italian bikepacker (link). His current plans of a human powered voyage across the globe (link). Dan Cycles the World, ... Read more
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches NYT Podcast on how the much anticipated reduction in real estate agent fees has yet to materialize (link). Older Bogleheads on advice they’d give their 45-year old selves (link). WSJ on how to easily delete personal info (address, phone number, etc) from the internet (wsj ... Read more
I’ve used Fidelity’s Cash Management Account (CMA) as my primary “checking,” “savings,” and “cash management account” for over six years. I recommend this setup to my students. I recommend it to my children. I recommend it to you. The default CMA setup is already strong. However, I’ve spent years refining it — optimizing for tax ... Read more
I wrote the majority of this post before markets went to hell on April 3–4. Since then, our portfolio dropped another $250k. We’ll see how this plays out, but I can’t say I’m terribly optimistic about the fallout from what the WSJ called the “dumbest trade war in history.” I wouldn’t be surprised if equities ... Read more
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches The Finance Buff on protecting investment accounts from ACATS transfer theft (link). If I were not currently chasing $7k/year of brokerage bonuses, I’d have 100% of our brokerage accounts at Fidelity with lockdown enabled. Hopefully other brokerages follow suit and enable this functionality. Life ... Read more
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I found this YouTube documentary on Malaysian Flight 370 (the Boeing 777 that seemingly disappeared without a trace in 2014) to be fascinating/horrifying (link). Vanguard lowers expense ratios on 87 funds (link). Bogleheads discussion (link). WSJ article (link). Tesla is offering a 10% insurance discount ... Read more
Another lap around the sun. First, a 40,000 ft overview of 2024: I lost my mom (64) after an excruciatingly long and difficult sickness spanning almost a decade. I rediscovered running after a 25-year hiatus. I dragged the family to Seattle/Whistler where we hiked, kayaked, and four of us competed in a triathlon (Me, ... Read more
I’ve been a member of the BoA cult for the better part of a decade now, happily earning 5.25% on “category” purchases with the Customized Cash Rewards card and 2.625% on “non-category” purchases with my BoA Premium Rewards card. However, I recently jumped on the US Bank 4% Smartly card bandwagon for my “non-category” spend, ... Read more
Today, I helped my 17-year-old daughter file her taxes. Since she doesn’t earn much income as a teenager, we opted to use TurboTax for its free federal and state e-filings. While I don’t love TurboTax, I’ll grudgingly use it when it’s truly free—which is the case for my teens. After submitting her return, we were ... Read more
Our oldest kid came back from school with a terrible earache today. Given the time of day, it was too late to get into our primary care physician. My wife scheduled an appointment at our local CVS Minute Clinic for this evening, but I explored telehealth options first. A few Google queries were rather unsuccessful, ... Read more
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Ben Rector dropped three new songs, which made my month (link). I particularly like the song The Richest Man in the World. Life I took a climbing trip to Vegas where a friend and did a ~1,500 ft classic climb called “Solar Slab.” When ... Read more
Update 4/14/25: On 4/14/25, U.S. Bank essentially neutered this card for new applicants. The $100k balance must now be held in a checking account rather than a brokerage account (and thus incurring a ~$4k/year opportunity cost for new applicants). Further, there is a list of exempted categories (taxes, education, etc). Given this, I’d now ... Read more
I drafted most of this post before my mom’s passing. I’ll keep it brief this month. Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I found this photography project to be profoundly moving…and sad (link). Coincidentally, I wrote the above before my mom’s passing. Reader Adrian writes about finding joy in running ... Read more
The 2024 version of FreeTaxUSA is now live: https://www.freetaxusa.com/ Usual disclaimer: the name makes it sounds like a horrible scam. But it is my favorite tax filing site, found through my favorite resource on the planet for all things personal finance: the Bogleheads forum. If you need to adjust your W4, now is the time ... Read more
Disclaimer This blog isn’t profit-driven — I don’t receive money from credit card referrals, and there are no affiliate links here. I write because I enjoy analyzing these topics, so the thoughts below reflect my genuine opinions, unclouded by profit motives. Background I’ve been a long-time user of Bank of America credit cards, particularly ... Read more
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches National Geographic put out a new Honnold/Caldwell bromance on their bike/climbing journey from Colorado to Alaska (DisneyPlus link). Relatedly, Honnold was on Rich Roll’s podcast and provides a bit more context on their adventure (link). Life I discovered how to universally set all websites ... Read more
I loathe Robinhood for a multitude of reasons, but I transferred the entirety of our ~$200k Roth IRA balances to them six months ago because they offered us a 3% bonus (~$6k). The bonus was paid in full, tax-free, directly into the Roth IRA, with the condition that the money remains there for five years ... Read more
Buffett’s Folly I was fortunate enough to see Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger in person at the Berkshire meetings several times. Their wit and common-sense wisdom never ceased to amaze me. One of the many lessons I’ve internalized from Buffett over the years is the reality of opportunity costs. Here’s how Buffett thought about them ... Read more
If you’ve followed this blog, you will know that I find tracking personal finances both fascinating and insightful. With the recent bull market, our cumulative (nominal) investment gains since the birth of the blog 8 years ago surpassed $1M last month. Some Backstory A little over eight years ago, I completed my twelfth year ... Read more
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I enjoyed this Costco Connection article on their operations (link). Life For years, I would bike our unfrugal dog about 4 miles a day to give her some exercise. However, in preparation for the triathlon this past summer, I started running her the ~4 mi/day ... Read more
Disclaimer Usual disclaimer. This blog loses money. I don’t get money from credit card referrals. YTD, I’ve earned $15.42 in Amazon affiliate income and incurred $64.37 in web hosting/domain costs. There are no affiliate links in this post. The thoughts below are my sincere thoughts unclouded by profit motives. Background About six weeks ... Read more
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For the past seven summers, I have gone backpacking with a group of undergrad friends (who I met in 1999). We’ve gone to Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Peru. 25 years after meeting each other, we decided to backpack Alaska. Ironically, it was a Bogleheads post that inspired that decision. We eventually converged on this packrafting ... Read more
The post Alaska Packrafting Adventure (Whale’s Tail) appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Zooming into iPhone chip kind of blew my mind (link). Beau Miles completes his Seinfeld recycling arbitrage (part 1, part 2). Another month, another massive data breach in which our personal info is permanently exposed to the world. If you aren’t already operating under the ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Aug 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Neurosurgeon becomes disillusioned with job, quits, and now spends his time hiking in the mountains with his dog (link). The video has gone quite viral, hitting 10M views in a month. A lot of it resonated with me, including how broken the medical system is ... Read more
The post Financial Update – July 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I didn’t read/listen/watch too much this month, but on vacation we binged the first season of Welcome to Wrexham with the kids, which is basically a real-life Ted Lasso. It is a fantastic show if you aren’t offended by language. Such a beautiful and well-done ... Read more
The post Financial Update – June 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Podcast interview with Die With Zero author, Bill Perkins (link). Perkins’ book, along with the above podcast, has certainly given me a lot of food for thought. The podcast made me reflect once again on whether I’m irrationally hoarding/counting/collecting/obsessing about “Chuck E Cheese” tokens. I ... Read more
The post Financial Update – May 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches An interesting Bogleheads thread about life lessons (link). The collective wisdom of this particular group of internet strangers never ceases to amaze me. Rick Ferri interviews Larry Swedroe (link). Larry came to visit my campus seven years ago. About five of us finance faculty met ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Apr 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches NYT podcast on the collapse of the National Association of Realtors, along with the 6% commission for selling homes (link). A fascinating David vs Goliath story. I had always thought that the downfall would come organically through competitors such as Homie or Redfin. I was ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Mar 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Andre Agassi’s autobiography/memoir, Open (link). I heard about the book in the comment section of the WSJ this past month. I checked out the audiobook from the library and devoured it in about 3 days. For those who don’t care about tennis, you could probably ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Feb 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches PBS documentary of “The Boys in the Boat” (link). We took the family to see the movie in the theater. I thought the book and above documentary are better. 12-minute documentary about a man who has spent 50 years as Yellowstone’s “winterkeeper” (link). Rich Roll ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Jan 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
First, a 40,000 ft overview of 2023: Life flew by, as always. Increasingly so as the years go on. I played many rounds of disc golf and climbed a bunch. I love the competitive, outdoor, social, and physical aspects of disc golf. I like the physical, mental, and social aspects of climbing (mostly indoors, unfortunately). ... Read more
The post 2023 Review — State of the Blog & Life appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Lex Fridman interviews Jeff Bezos (link). Smartless dudes interview Arnold Schwarzenegger (link). I discovered the YT channel of Peter Santenello, who makes ~45min documentaries of people from all walks of life (link). It’s like a long-form version of Humans of New York. Pretty fascinating content. ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Dec 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Jason Zweig reflects on the life of Charlie Munger on a WSJ podcast (link). Relatedly, Poor Charlie’s Almanac is a good read (old edition, new edition). Beau Miles embarks on a 3-day pumpkin-fueled journey (link). Two cyclists have been biking from the very top of ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Nov 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
The 2023 version of FreeTaxUSA is now live: https://www.freetaxusa.com/ Usual disclaimer: the website’s name makes it sounds like a horrible scam. But it is my favorite tax filing site, found through my favorite resource on the planet for all things personal finance: the Bogleheads forum. How do I use FreeTaxUSA? In November, I take 30 ... Read more
The post 2023 FreeTaxUSA is live appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Musk’s biography (link). I’m about 1/3 of the way through it. It’s pretty entertaining. A few things I’ve found interesting to far: Musk’s reluctance to “take chips off the table,” but rather doubling down on downstream bets. This repeated “doubling down” seemed destined to make ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Oct 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Edit 10/6/2023 Since publishing this post, Tesla has dropped the MSRP most trims of their Model 3 and Y by $2k. They also reduced the referral bonus from $500 to $250. Original Post * I discovered my favorite musician, Ben Rector, a few years ago. My wife recently shared with ... Read more
The post We Bought a $40k (net) Tesla Model Y LR appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Beau Miles tries his hand at replicating the Seinfeld (Kramer) aluminum can redemption arbitrage (link). His other videos are astounding (link). Mediocre Amateurs continue to inspire me (link). Dolomites 1 + Dolomites 2. Kilimanjaro + Mount Meru. Clipping Chains interviews the White Coat Investor (link). ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Sept 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I really liked the Quarterback series, but I’m a sucker for sports documentaries (link). It’s hard not to like Kirk Cousins after watching that show. Relatedly, I learned about Hard Knocks this month. It is also pretty entertaining (link). Life School started again for ... Read more
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Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Steve Levitt (re)interviews Sal Khan on People I Mostly Admire (link). Guy Raz interviews Sal Khan on How I Built This (link). The Finance Buff on: Using Fidelity as a bank (link). I’m still a fan of using the Fidelity brokerage account as my primary ... Read more
The post Financial Update – July 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches A fascinating 45-minute BBC documentary on the doomed Titan submarine, filmed many months prior to the recent disaster (link). The amount of red flags documented within the first 5 minutes of this documentary is astounding. For example, during the filmed expedition one of the thrusters ... Read more
The post Financial Update – June 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Rational Reminder Podcast interviews Burton Malkiel (link). Malkiel is the author of the Random Walk Down Wall Street, one of my favorite investing books. Since recently discovering this podcast, I’m going through many of their archived episodes. Some of my favorites so far: Ken French ... Read more
The post Financial Update – May 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Guy Raz interviews OpenAI’s Sam Altman (link). It’s hard to wrap my head around how much the world is about to change. Speaking of AI, I found these 60 Minutes clips to be pretty interesting: Full segment. Bonus segment. Life The end-of-school is always a ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Apr 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches The Finance Buff on the safety/risks of money market funds in a brokerage account (link). His money market fund guide was great too (link). I found BigERN’s post on SVB to be worth reading (link). BigERN also wrote an interesting “Basics of FIRE” post (link). ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Mar 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Mrs FP and I (+ the two oldest kids) are officially obsessed with Neflix’s Drive to Survive series (link). Prior to this show, we couldn’t have cared less about car racing. But this show is so well produced that it is impossible to not be ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Feb 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
A few weeks ago I wrote a deflated post in which I questioned the wisdom of keeping this tiny blog alive. Quite a lot of you responded that I should keep it limping along, so I will. On the topic of what to write about going forward, Ron gave the following suggestion: As a reader, ... Read more
The post 2023 Financial Recommendations appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches The Mitchells vs the Machines (link). Pretty entertaining family movie. I’ve recently become addicted to the music of Ben Rector (link). Old Friends (link). What Makes a Man (link). The Men That Drive Me Places (link). Heroes (link). Brand New (link). Drive (link). Life Due ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Jan 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
First, a 40,000 ft overview of 2022: Life is flying by. FC1 is halfway through her sophomore year in high school and only a couple of years away from leaving us. Where did the time go!?!?!? I am grateful for good health and am cognizant of the fact any of us are one unlucky roll ... Read more
The post 2022 Review — State of the Blog & Life appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I really enjoyed this post from Jonathan at MyMoneyBlog (link). The story he linked to at the end of the post was incredible (link). I really enjoyed the most recent videos from Beau Miles (link). The snow kayaking one was pure joy. Life I ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Dec 2022 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches My father recommended the series Formula 1: Drive to Survive (link). I had always thought that car racing was boring, but this series is pretty captivating. Life The month flew by. I’m unsure where it went. Most of the fam jumping after our Christmas card ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Nov 2022 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
In my recent FreeTaxUSA post, I announced my retirement from the tax calculator game. However, my retirement was short-lived. Blog reader (and former roommate) Tim convinced me to keep it going. Download my 2022 model here ========> Download Here <============= A big thank you to MDM Reader (and one-time guest interviewee) MDM is a wizard ... Read more
The post 2022 Tax Calculator appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I’ve spent a good chunk of the past couple of years helping to redesign our university system’s ~$5B retirement plan. This post summarizes what I learned. While my setting was a multi-billion dollar university retirement plan, surely many of the lessons learned will also be relevant to any 401k plan by even the smallest of ... Read more
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Earlier this week, FreeTaxUSA went live: https://www.freetaxusa.com/ I’ve already filled out my tax forms for 2022, helping me to determine my 2022 federal tax liability with a high degree of precision (probably to within $10 or so). The remaining uncertainty is from not knowing the following parameters: 2022 total taxable dividends However, this is easily ... Read more
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Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches GoCurryCracker on Tax Loss Harvesting (link). I wrote a TLH article a few years back (link). Here are my takeaways from the GCC article: Due to wonky phase ins/outs of various credits (e.g. ACA subsidies), one’s marginal tax rate can be quite high. Therefore, the ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Oct 2022 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches WSJ on the versatility of the HSA (link). Not much new here, but it was the first time I’d heard of this trick: Children of parents with HSAs can qualify for their own HSA. This is a mind-blower: Under current law, children such as recent ... Read more
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Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I finished Better Call Saul, which was great. It is the end of an era. Not much else comes to mind. Life I took a trek to Peru (this one). We had three dedicated staff supporting us: our guide (who mercifully spoke English), our cook, ... Read more
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Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches This Bogleheads Live Podcast episode on tax planning for early retirees was moderately interesting (link). The above podcast is different than Rick Ferri’s Bogleheads on Investing Podcast (link). Confusing, I know. Life Despite being vaccinated and boosted, 5/7 of us got Covid for the second ... Read more
The post Financial Update – July 2022 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
The commenting functionality was broken for a bit. Sorry about that. I’m pretty sure it’s fixed now. Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches MyMoneyBlog on Schwab’s $187M penalty for shenanigans with their robo-advisor customers (link). WSJ on Roth Conversions (link). Top Gun Maverick (link). We went during the $5 ... Read more
The post Financial Update – June 2022 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Everybody Lies (link). I discovered the book via the author’s interview with Steve Levitt (link). It’s as if Freakonomics and Google Trends made a baby. David @ OchoSinCoche published a book on 529s (link). I was a beta reader and found it to be a ... Read more
The post Financial Update – May 2022 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Steve Levitt interviews Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert (link). MyMoneyBlog on the upcoming expiration of Vanguard’s patented tax-efficient ETF+MF combo (link). While interesting, it seems that the industry has simply transitioned from mutual funds to ETFs. Consequently, the expiration of this patent seems largely inconsequential. ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Apr 2022 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
With domestic markets down 12% YTD, now might be a good time to think about tax-loss harvesting (TLH’ing). For the uninitiated, here is a good overview of TLH’ing: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Tax_loss_harvesting. That said, I think it is a largely unproductive endeavor, as I’ve blogged about here: https://frugalprofessor.com/tax-loss-harvesting-is-overrated/. Despite convincing myself in the above blog post that TLH’ing ... Read more
The post Tax loss harvesting for dummies appeared first on Frugal Professor.
——————————————————– Brief intro from Frugal Professor ——————————————————– One of the best parts about having a blog is getting to meet smart people I wouldn’t have already met. A week ago, one of these smart people reached out to me via email to discuss credit card strategies. I enjoyed the discussion so much that I asked ... Read more
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After reciprocating blog posts a little over a year ago (here and here), Mr Clipping Chains and I sat down for a podcast session a few weeks back. It went live today. If you want to take a listen, here it is: https://clippingchains.com/2022/04/11/ep-29-frugal-professor/. Cliff notes version of the podcast: Brief recap of my money journey. ... Read more
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Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I watched an interesting video of the mayor of Emeryville, CA who is transforming his city into a biking utopia (link). It is pretty inspiring. It is understandable that nobody wants to ride a bike when it is so easy to get killed by ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Mar 2022 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I realize that blogging about my sheltered life is tone deaf in light of the unfathomable suffering in Ukraine right now. But tradition (5.5 years strong) demands that I write something. So here we go… Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Harvard economist Greg Mankiw on Ukraine: Mankiw discussing his ... Read more
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We’ve had Xfinity mobile for about two years now. I figured I was overdue for an update since my initial writeup. Here’s Xfinity’s pricing info: https://www.xfinity.com/mobile/learn/plan/details Here’s our setup We get access to Comcast through my parents. I know; it’s weird. If I had Comcast in my area I would simply have my ... Read more
The post A Two-Year Review of our Xfinity Mobile $12/mo plan appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Vanguard hosed their retail Target Date customers with large capital gains distributions. MyMoneyBlog WSJ Lesson learned: Don’t hold funds-of-funds in a taxable account. Beau Miles made some great videos: Planting a tree a minute for 24 hours. Running a half marathon with a wheelbarrow. I ... Read more
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Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches The Rescue on Disney Plus (link). Directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (from Free Solo, Meru, etc). Perhaps the best movie I’ve seen since Skid Row Marathon a year and a half ago. Great movie to watch with the kiddos. 14 Peaks ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Dec 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Here’s the third installment in my state-of-the-blog posts: My 2020 edition is here. My 2019 edition is here. 2021 Blog Stats: 382 WordPress / email subscribers 38% growth from last year (298) 317 Feedly subscribers: 10% growth from last year (288) 92,017 pageviews this year (33% less than 2020). 2020 pageviews: 137,594. 2019 pageviews: ... Read more
The post State of the Blog – 2021 Edition appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I got an email from a reader today: First off, I’ve been reading your blog for a couple years now and greatly enjoy your monthly ramblings of all things ‘useful’. Maybe an odd ask, Do you mind sharing a copy of your net worth worksheet (10-Q?…10-“M”?) you share every month? A blank/bare bones version is ... Read more
The post My Updated Net Worth (and more) Tracking Spreadsheet appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I’ve been busy so this post is a few days late. A concerned reader emailed to ask if I’d died…not yet. Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I finished reading the book Die With Zero (link). If I could summarize the book, it’d be: The point of money is to ... Read more
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FreeTaxUSA I’ve been using FreeTaxUSA for a few years now. Despite having the scammiest-sounding name in the world, their software has been great to me. Their business model is pretty straight forward. 100% free federal, $15 for state. Because I’m notoriously stingy, I use FreeTaxUSA for my federal return and use my state’s free self-serve ... Read more
The post 2021 FreeTaxUSA is Live appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches GoCurryCracker on getting a mortgage without labor income (link). A friend shared with me that the newest version of the Democrats’ multi-trillion dollar climate/social-spending bill no longer nixes the (mega) backdoor Roth (link1, link2). Who knows what the final version of the bill will ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Oct 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches The Finance Buff: On securities-based lending (link). On the (likely?) downfall of the (mega) backdoor Roth (link). Actionable steps? Complete (mega) backdoor Roths before Jan 1 2022 as a hedge. Bummer; I was getting closer every to convincing my university to allow this. Goodbye ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Sep 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Season 7 of Alone on Netflix (link). I’ve only seen about half the seasons of Alone, but this was by far my favorite. Unlike prior seasons, in which the objective was to be the last person standing, the objective this season was to last ... Read more
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In my late twenties, I had a quarter life crisis in which I: Quit my engineering job twice after only 4 years (I earned ~$90k/year when I left) Went to grad school for 7 years, earning no more than $30k/year as an intern, TA, or RA Changed careers entirely When I look at my current ... Read more
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Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches My frugal brother and parents introduced me to Ted Lasso on Apple TV+. Season 1 was pretty entertaining. Season 2 is currently being released. I’ve retold this bad joke before, but it seems pertinent. Some day, there will be a technological solution invented which ... Read more
The post Financial Update – July 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Beau Miles kayaks to work over 4 days (link). Life During my recent trip to UT, my brother convinced me to get a Fitbit. I’ve really enjoyed tracking my various stats (resting heart rate, exercise, biking pace & distance, sleep). It was well ... Read more
The post Financial Update – June 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
A colleague of mine recently got a 2% 15Y mortgage from Better. Since I have a 2.25% 15Y mortgage, it piqued my curiosity. Here’s how interest rates have been behaving lately: My last refi was about 9 months ago, but I applied last month to Better. Their rates were not competitive relative to my current ... Read more
The post Better/Amex $2k (or $6k jumbo) Mortgage Promo appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Berkshire Hathaway’s 2021 shareholder meeting (link). Nice summary by MyMoneyBlog (link). Life We took a quick trip to Utah. Utah is not ugly. I took a couple day brocation to Zion & Bryce. We camped within Zion. The first morning, we woke up at 4am, ... Read more
The post Financial Update – May 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches GoCurryCracker’s 2020 tax post (link). $0 of federal income tax on $143k of income. Entertaining two-hour YouTube documentary of a dude biking (most of) the 2,700 mile Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (link). This ride is now on my bucket list (wiki article)! He’s done ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Apr 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches One of the Mediocre Amateur dudes (specifically, this guy) owns a ~$1M helicopter. In this incredible series of videos on their new YouTube channel, they document their recent trip to Canada & Alaska. The footage & storytelling is stunning. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Mar 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Intro Well, thanks to the $1.9B Coronavirus stimulus bill (#3), there are some pretty major changes to the tax code this year: Child tax credit (temporary changes for 2021 only): Fully refundable this year Phases out at 5% above $150k of income for MFJ, $112.5 for HoH $3,600/kid for ages 0-6 $3,000/kid for ages 7-17 ... Read more
The post 2021 Tax Calculator appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Giant Disclaimer While I pretend to vaguely understand some aspects of frugality and the US tax code, I don’t pretend to be an investing guru. In fact, I’m pretty ignorant on the topic. So please take this post with a gain of salt. Introduction I’ve given some thought recently on the role of international ... Read more
The post International Allocation appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Well, the politicians are at it again. They are currently busy figuring out how to dole out the third round of stimulus — $1.9T this time. We should thank our unborn (great)grandchildren for their generosity. It’s my understanding that the bill passed the House and is being debated in the Senate right now. The issue ... Read more
The post Stimulus Round 3 – Proposed Senate Phase-outs appeared first on Frugal Professor.
First, a note on asset ALlocation I don’t pretend to know what the “right” asset allocation is. I think that anyone who claims to have this superpower is trying to fool you. I’m not smart enough to come up with a very sophisticated answer here, so I just guessed. I hope you are smarter than ... Read more
The post Asset Location appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Automotive engineering expert Sandy Munro interviews Elon Musk for 50 minutes about technical Tesla design issues (link). It starts off kind of slow with a prolonged discussion about seats, but it gets better (unless you really like discussions about seats, in which case the video ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Feb 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I started regularly rock climbing at my campus gym about 3 years ago, about a year after I arrived at my current job. Why did it take me a year to join my climbing gym? Because I’m slowly graduating from “cheap/stingy/idiotic” to “frugal.” Despite the hefty $41/month price tag, I think my gym membership is ... Read more
The post Q&A with Mr Clipping Chains appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I did an internship for Delta Airlines a little over 10 years ago in which I left my wife and 2 1/2 kids for 10 weeks to live with 5 single men in a filthy Atlanta home (story at the end of the post). I’ve lost touch with all but one of my former Atlanta ... Read more
The post Hierarchy of dissavings (aka retirement withdrawal sequencing) appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Prof G interviews NYU finance professor Aswath Damodaran about the GameStop frensy (link). TLDR; prices are asinine and will come back down to reality sooner than later. WSJ article on the mastermind behind the Gamestop/Reddit madness (link). Here’s his Reddit post history, including snapshots of ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Jan 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I’ve been doing a bit of benchmarking retirement plans lately. The vast majority of universities have made their menu structure publicly available, so it’s a pretty easy exercise. Rather having it sit unused on my hard drive, I thought I’d post it to the internet in a dedicated post. If you are interested for some ... Read more
The post Benchmarking Exemplary University Retirement Plan Menus appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Here’s the second instance of the state-of-the-blog post. My 2019 edition is here. Blog Stats: 298 WordPress / email subscribers 33% growth from last year (224) 288 Feedly subscribers: 16% growth from last year (248) 136,970 pageviews this year 2020 cumulative pageviews: 316,223. 2019 cumulative pageviews: 179,253. Posts/month: ~3.5. 2020 Profitability: Amazon affiliate revenue: $104 ... Read more
The post State of the Blog – 2020 Edition appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Goodbye 2020. You will not be missed. Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches The Finance Buff on the “CARES Act 2.0” (link). $300 (single) / $600 (married) non-itemized charitable deduction for 2021. Does not affect 2020. Cash only — no appreciated securities. Mankiw’s NYT article on the double-edged sword of ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Dec 2020 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Well, that happened pretty fast. My Coronavirus Stimulus 2.0 hit my Fidelity (which has lightening fast ACH processing times) account this morning. If you don’t bank with Fidelity, presumably this will hit your account tomorrow? Here’s what I understand about the new stimulus: $600/adult + $600/kid if aged 16 or younger. 5% phase out ... Read more
The post Coronavirus Stimulus 2.0 hit my Fidelity account today appeared first on Frugal Professor.
The Not-Terribly-Astute Observation I frequently marvel at the grand 401k experiment that we’re embarking on. In the absence of pension funds, all of us with 401k’s are pension fund managers. As such, our future livelihoods depends on: Having the discipline to save early and often by forgoing consumption now Understanding how to leverage the US ... Read more
The post The Power of Staying the Course appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Frustrating (but Important) Committee Work I was asked by my university to serve on a committee to help select “an expert consultant” to tell us what is wrong with our 401a/403b/457 plans. If you haven’t had the joy of serving on an administrative university committee before, you’re missing out. It’s about 10 times more inefficient/frustrating ... Read more
The post My low-cost investing crusade; some recent developments and maybe a victory? appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Bill Gates and Rashida Jones (Karen Filippelli from “The Office”) started a new podcast (link). I’m unsure how the two joined forces, but it has been pretty entertaining so far. In one episode they interviewed Raj Chetty (famous Harvard Economist) about inequality and in another ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Nov 2020 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I tend to check out a lot of books from the library. Here’s a list I currently have on my shelf. I want to love reading books, but I find it hard to finish them because: It seems to me that most books could & should be summed up in a couple of bullet points. ... Read more
The post 2020 Healthcare Analysis….and some arbitrage advice appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Unless you have been sleeping under a rock for the past decade or two, you may have noticed that interest rates have fallen quite a bit. This is manifest in a few obvious places: the interest rates available to investors (e.g. bond yields) and the rates at which borrowers can borrow (e.g. mortgage rates). Below ... Read more
The post The double-edged sword of zero-ish interest rates appeared first on Frugal Professor.
A friend of mine who reads this blog emailed me recently for advice about about tax loss harvesting (abbreviated TLH in this article). The allure and promise of TLH, to pay less in taxes, is indeed sexy. Who doesn’t like this promise? TLH is one of the major supposed value-adds of robo-advisors like Wealthfront and ... Read more
The post Tax Loss Harvesting is Overrated appeared first on Frugal Professor.
The 2020 edition of FreeTaxUsa is now live (link). Despite the scammy name, it’s a great piece of software that I’ve used since 2016. They give the federal software away for free and charge a modest fee for state tax filings. Since I’m cheap (understatement of the century), I do my state filings on my ... Read more
The post 2020 Tax Software is Live appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches The Social Dilemma (link). A documentary about the consequences of wide-spread social media usage. Basically, it concludes that our attention is the end product that is produced (and sold to the highest advertising bidder) by Google/Facebook/etc. That’s a pretty fascinating paradigm. I’ve heard of this ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Oct 2020 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Overview 2020 is almost over (good riddance!), so perhaps now would be an appropriate time to assess your 2020 tax withholdings for taxes due in April 2021. I find it slightly annoying that TurboTax & TaxAct don’t update their tax calculators until mid-late November, so perhaps my spreadsheet can fill the void for someone wanting ... Read more
The post 2020 Tax Calculator appeared first on Frugal Professor.
So you want to be a millionaire? Introduction I know quite a few people who are older and broke. Given the extremely favorable market returns over the past many decades, I find myself having little sympathy for such individuals. The purpose of this blog post is to see whether my lack of sympathy is ... Read more
The post Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? appeared first on Frugal Professor.
A few weeks back I indicated that it was a good time to refinance because: Rates are historically low, and For refi’s funded on/after December 1, there will be a 0.5% one-time surcharge to refinance which will make refinancing less appealing from that arbitrary date. Here’s what I ended up doing. I think it ... Read more
The post Better.com Refi Review appeared first on Frugal Professor.
My senator was among the unmasked buffoons at the September 26 White House super spreader event. Below is the email I sent him. Senator XXXX, I have a good deal of respect for you as a person. I’ve read your book and am generally supportive of your policies. I just read a NYT article in ... Read more
The post A Letter to my Senator appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches GoCurryCracker on the NYT Trump tax exposé (link). The Daily (NYT) podcast episode with the authors of the NYT investigation (link). Bogleheads on Investing podcast episode with author Morgan Housel (link). My Octupus Teacher (link). The Dangerz, the inspirational full-time van-dwellers turned full-time sailors, recommended ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Sep 2020 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I bought our house a little over 4 years ago. At the time of purchase, we got a 15Y loan with a 2.875% interest rate. Given how low the rate was, I didn’t think that refinancing a mortgage refinancing was going to be viable. I was mistaken. There are several great Bogleheads threads on the ... Read more
The post Mortgage Refinancing Calculator + LenderFI Review appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Beau Miles spends a night in his gum tree (link). I love Beau; always providing a refreshing perspective on our place in the universe. He is a remarkable storyteller and filmmaker. His YouTube channel is probably tied for my favorite channel alongside Mediocre Amateur (link). ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Aug 2020 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
It is pretty widely known that the HSA is the best savings account in the U.S. because contributions, growth, AND withdrawals are tax-free. Contributions are tax free from the following types of taxation: Federal State (unless you live in CA or NJ) Payroll Usually 6.2% Social Security + 1.45% Medicare Investment growth (dividends + capital ... Read more
The post Paying out of pocket for healthcare rather than raiding your HSA appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Obligatory trip report for my 2020 backpacking trip to the Wind Rivers. My other trip reports are found here: 2019: https://frugalprofessor.com/2019-wind-river-trip-report/ 2018: https://frugalprofessor.com/2018-wind-river-trip-report/ My two previous trips were around 40 miles over 4 days. This year, I did the following: Trip 1: 42 miles over 4 days with frugal brother from Big Sandy Trailhead ... Read more
The post 2020 Wind River Trip Report appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches How I Built This interview with Ring founder Jamie Siminoff (link). I think this probably my favorite How I Built This interview of all time. For more context, here’s the first two minutes of his original pitch on Shark Tank in 2013 (link). He walked ... Read more
The post Financial Update – July 2020 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Offer Summary On June 23, I got the following email from BoA offering to give me free money via their Premium Rewards card. I took them up on it. Upon reading more about the offer online, it is apparently not targeted (meaning that all with the card can pursue it, whether you got the email ... Read more
The post BoA Premium Rewards $50 Grocery/Dining Credit appeared first on Frugal Professor.
It looks like the nation is gearing up to reopen. I remain skeptical it will end well, but we are planning on returning to work/school nonetheless. So are tens of millions of students in the US (excluding the entire state of CA apparently). My university is weeks away from inviting over 25k students back to ... Read more
The post 32 Degrees Costco 8-pack Face Masks for $25 (online only) appeared first on Frugal Professor.
About 5-10 years ago a friend of mine called me out for being “overfocused” on money. I think that’s a reasonable observation for a person to make about me; even a close friend. But I think I have a reasonable counterargument. Which of the following two hypothetical people is “overfocused” on money? A person who ... Read more
The post “Overfocus” on Money appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I put together a debt repayment calculator tonight. You can download it here (link). I’m sure there are infinite calculators available on the internet, but I enjoyed the modelling exercise. Yellow cells are inputs. Grey cells are calculations. I’m not really sure the demographics of this blog’s readers, but I suspect that most of you ... Read more
The post Debt Repayment Calculator appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Nov 2020 update: Doctor of Credit discussion that the 75% BoA Platinum Honors bonus might be killed: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/survey-bank-of-america-might-eliminate-75-platinum-honors-bonus-2-62-5-25-etc/. If this eventually happens, it’ll effectively put the kibosh on the strategy outlined in this blog post. Fingers crossed it won’t happen, though I’m worried that the program’s time is limited…. The first two quarters ... Read more
The post Another BoA Efficiency Post appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Some interesting discussion on racism in the US: Trevor Noah (20 min video) John Oliver (33 min video) Tulsa Massacre (9 min video) Ted Radio Hour interview with scholar Clint Smith(52 min audio) All Around Champion 11-part TV series in which they gathered 10 top ... Read more
The post Financial Update – June 2020 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
With the chaos in the country/world right now, I acknowledge that everything I could write about on this silly blog is entirely inconsequential. A few days ago it seemed to me that society was on the verge of disintegrating: Racial tensions are high following the recorded murder of George Floyd at the hands of police. ... Read more
The post Why I love RSS readers appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Due to my lack of bike commuting, I haven’t listened to my usual podcasts this month. Consequently, my recommendation list is quite stingy this month. Also, my lack of bike commuting (and lack of climbing 3 days/week) has turned me into a sedentary individual. I’m ... Read more
The post Financial Update – May 2020 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Succinct Version of the Blog Post (TL;DR): If you have a high deductible plan: and haven’t hit your deductible (and are thus price sensitive) and have an ailment that can be treated via telemedicine Then this is a worthwhile tool that helped us out recently: https://www.goodrx.com/treatment. This blog post is also worth reading: https://www.goodrx.com/blog/telemedicine-true-cost-and-telehealth-price-comparison-chart/. ... Read more
The post GoodRx Telemedicine Tool (& K Health Review) appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Nov 2020 update: Doctor of Credit discussion that the 75% BoA Platinum Honors bonus might be killed: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/survey-bank-of-america-might-eliminate-75-platinum-honors-bonus-2-62-5-25-etc/. If this eventually happens, it’ll effectively put the kibosh on the strategy outlined in this blog post. Fingers crossed it won’t happen, though I’m worried that the program’s time is limited…. I think that gift ... Read more
The post BoA + Raise Cash Back = Big Savings appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I’m not a huge fan of wasting money, but my goal for the year (and life) is to let kids blow money as they see fit. My kids are the biggest fans in the world of Scooby Doo. Today, a new movie of Scooby Doo was released. Since Covid-19 has disrupted the world, the movie ... Read more
The post Digital Purchase of Movies appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Since I don’t have anything wise or profound to say about the pandemic, how about another (trivial?) money saving post? Nothing like documenting how to save a hundred (or more) dollars a month to ease the pain of huge investment losses and 20% unemployment… I first blogged about my cell phone strategy about 3 ... Read more
The post Xfinity Mobile Review appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Skid Row Marathon (link). A documentary about a judge helping to lift people out of homelessness through a shared hobby of running. One of the best movies I’ve seen in a while. It made me want to be a better person. (It’s on Amazon Prime). ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Apr 2020 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I’m fortunate to have a job that allows me to work from home. That said, working from home makes for an interesting working environment. For example, I can hear every quarrel between my kids since my office (bedroom) is adjacent to the living room where my kids spend the entire day. 100 years from now, ... Read more
The post Working from home appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Two good posts unpacking the $2T stimulus package: Kitces (link). GoCurryCracker (link). A subtle point regarding the stimulus checks: The check issued in a couple weeks will be based on 2019 AGI if you’ve already filed and 2018 if not. If you have lower AGI ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Mar 2020 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
It seems like a lifetime since my last post. I had an Xfinity Mobile review post drafted, but it feels entirely trivial to blog about how to save $100/month on cell phone bills when the world seems to be ending. Alas, that post will be released at a future date. The last few days have ... Read more
The post Thoughts from the eye of the hurricane appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Interesting 2hr PBS Frontline report on Amazon. It’s worth watching (link). TL;DW – Amazon is big and powerful. Really big. Really powerful. Another Econtalk episode on healthcare economics (link). Fiscal health of each state in the US, published by a non-partisan think tank (link). Two ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Feb 2020 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Several interesting Bogleheads threads: On 2020 goals (link). On forgiving yourself for stupid financial mistakes (link). Giving advice to a recent college grad (link). Yesterday (link). Mrs FP and I really enjoyed it. We let FC1 and FC2 see it the next day. Greg Mankiw, ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Jan 2020 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
FC2 has the flu. She was prescribed Tamiflu which has a generic (Oseltamivir) available. We dutifully filled the prescription for $71.11 an hour ago at our local CVS, the preferred pharmacy of my insurance company/employer. I believe the technical term for the preferred pharmacy/manager is the Pharmacy Benefit Manager (link). Since we were using a ... Read more
The post Prescription Rant appeared first on Frugal Professor.
In the process of writing this blog, I’ve connected with several really smart people. One of the smartest I’ve encountered is reader MDM, best known for his Excel & tax wizardry (here). To my great disappointment, he doesn’t have a blog of his own, but instead contributes on the MMM forum among other places. A ... Read more
The post Trad vs Roth; (Marginal vs. Marginal) vs. (Marginal vs. Average); Wisdom from MDM appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I’ve been blogging for a little over three years now. The idea for the blog was born as a phd student as I was flying around the country desperately trying to get a job to provide for my 5 kids and justify the 7 years away from the workforce (2 years mba + 5 years ... Read more
The post State of the Blog – 2019 edition appeared first on Frugal Professor.
As per tradition, here’s the card we sent out this year. 2019 FP Family Update Family Highlights: We got a dog. In a moment of insanity, we succumbed to our kids’ incessant begging and got a goldendoodle puppy named Ruby. The kids love her. The parents less so. We’re not looking forward to dog ... Read more
The post Happy Holidays 2019 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another trip around the sun, eh? Seems like the appropriate time to reflect on how things are going. Last December, I publicly posted the following 2019 goals. For the sake of public accountability, here’s how I grade myself for 2019 (bold is my grade & self assessment, non-bold is the original goal). At the end ... Read more
The post Reflections on 2019 & Plan for 2020 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Bill Gates on the need for increased taxation on wealthy at the Federal and State level (link). His main argument is that, to close the deficit (and thus the federal debt level), we should increase taxes on the wealthy to fix it. He argues that ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Dec 2019 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
A few months back, I blogged about a free $1.5k opportunity (link). Well, it worked. I get paid at the end of the month. I dumped $5k to HSBC via my employer’s direct deposit. The following day I pulled the $5k from HSBC to my Fidelity CMA/Brokerage on an automated schedule. Consequently, there was only ... Read more
The post Free $1,500 HSBC bonus came through appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I was doing some thinking today (a dangerous activity). I was marveling at the amount of income that can be realized tax-free, a-la Go-Curry-Cracker. It is well known that investments (long term capital gains (LTCG) + dividends) are taxed preferentially: https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/taxes/capital-gains-tax-rates/ So let’s go through a few scenarios here given 2019 tax parameters after accounting ... Read more
The post 5 kids; $169,817 income; $0 taxes appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches WSJ opinion piece on the state of income inequality in the U.S. (link). The authors claim that, on an after-tax-and-transfer basis, the five quintiles of income earn a net of $50k, $55k, $65k, $80k, and $190k. While the ratio of gross incomes of the top ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Nov 2019 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I’ve been dragging my feet on the release of my 2019 tax calculator for a while now. I think I updated it several months ago but I wanted to wait until TurboTax & TaxAct updated their tools so I could validate my spreadsheet against theirs. As of today, however, neither site has been updated for ... Read more
The post 2019 Tax Calculator appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches The Biggest Little Farm (link). Our friends saw this indie film at a local theater and highly recommended it to us. It documents the journey of a couple as they embark on an ambitious plan to change careers to become farmers. In the process, they ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Oct 2019 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
The faithful reader of this blog will remember that I’m a fan of the outdoors. Wyoming, the least populated state in the country, has recently won over my heart for its beauty (at least in the summer time). (Grand Teton, Vedauwoo, Wind River Range, Yellowstone) A couple of months ago I learned of ... Read more
The post Q&A about Wyoming Geo-Arbitrage with Kim from TheFrugalEngineers appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches One of the more well-written and inspiring things I’ve read on the internet in a while from the Dangerz (the former van dwellers turned perpetual sailors). To see the text of their instagram post, you’ll have to scroll to the top of the comments (link). ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Sep 2019 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Purpose of this Post The third quarter of 2019 is days away from ending, thus resetting the $2.5k/quarter BoA Cash Rewards limits. As a reminder, if the $2.5k/quarter spending limit is exceeded, the normal rewards of 3% (category of your choice) or 2% groceries/wholesale are degraded to 1% for all subsequent spending. If you have ... Read more
The post An Audit of BoA Credit Card Reward Efficiency (2019 Q3) appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches MyMoneyBlog on safe withdrawal rates & mortality (link). Seeing that grey “you’re dead” portion of the engaging data plots is pretty startling. GoCurryCracker posted about this some time ago (link). A Reddit user reports that Fidelity has streamlined (i.e. automated) the mega-backdoor Roth (link). This ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Aug 2019 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
In the past couple of months, I’ve booked two different flights with Priceline Express Deals. Before doing so I scoured the internet for relevant info but largely came up short. Here’s my attempt to fill that hole in the internet. I have vague memories of Priceline’s commercials going back a decade. At the time, it ... Read more
The post Priceline Express Deal Review (Flights) appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Obligatory trip report for my 2019 backpacking trip to the Wind Rivers. My other trip reports are found here: 2020: https://frugalprofessor.com/2020-wind-river-trip-report/ 2018: https://frugalprofessor.com/2018-wind-river-trip-report/ * Key Stats * Dates Traveled: Friday 8/16/19 – Monday 8/19/19 Route: We originally planned on taking the same 42 mile “figure 8” route as last year but ended up calling ... Read more
The post 2019 Wind River Trip Report appeared first on Frugal Professor.
As you can probably tell by now I’m a sucker for free money, but only if it isn’t too much work. In grad school, I had a tradition of opening up a new Chase checking account every 6 months, collecting the $300 sign-up bonus, then closing it. I would alternate between my name and my ... Read more
The post Free $750 (* 2 if married) appeared first on Frugal Professor.
For reference, here’s a link to all the articles I’ve written on the BoA credit card strategy. https://frugalprofessor.com/another-boa-efficiency-post/ https://frugalprofessor.com/an-audit-of-boa-credit-card-reward-efficiency-2019-q3/ https://frugalprofessor.com/one-month-review-of-updated-boa-cash-rewards-card/ https://frugalprofessor.com/best-credit-card-rewards-strategy-2018-edition/ (Lack of) Disclosure: I don’t make a penny on any credit card recommendation. What I recommend is what I currently have (or have had) in my own wallet. There are Two Basic ... Read more
The post Best Credit Card Rewards Strategy – 2019 Edition appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I picked up the book Playing with Fire from the library, by Scott Rieckens (creator of the documentary I haven’t seen yet). TLDR: Scott and his wife were making $180k pre-tax in Coronado, CA and spending 99% of it on life (fancy cars, ocean-side apartment, ... Read more
The post Financial Update – July 2019 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
At the end of 2018 I wrote down the goal of visiting three national parks during 2019. Well…we did it. We did the trip with relatively little planning and zero reservations. I had a vague idea of where I wanted to camp and hoped for the best. Here are some notes. Stop 1: Grand ... Read more
The post Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Chernobyl, a new five-episode miniseries by HBO, is fantastic (link). It just surpassed Planet Earth 2 (also highly recommended) as the highest rated TV show of all time on IMDB. You can binge watch for free with a 7-day HBO trial. Thought provoking article from ... Read more
The post Financial Update – June 2019 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Mr Money Mustache on our constantly running “Purchase Justification Machines” (link). Interesting Bogleheads thread on fun post-retirement “jobs” (link). Interesting Bogleheads thread in which hundreds of individuals share their career path & whether or not they recommend it (link). The thread really illustrates how diverse ... Read more
The post Financial Update – May 2019 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Thoughts on cash I loathe physical cash. Why? It is dirty, can be stolen/lost, and erodes in value over time. Coins are even worse. Their sole purpose is to find their way into the crevasses of my sofa cushions and cars. We usually have about $25 or so of the green stuff in our house ... Read more
The post Cash Management, Emergency Funds, Using Fidelity as a Bank appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches GoCurryCraker’s brilliance: On frontloading frugality (link). He makes the case that front-loading frugality increases savings (and investments) early in life which allows compound interest to do its thing, facilitating the loosening of purse strings later in life. I think there is something wrong with me ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Apr 2019 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Walden on Wheels (link). Ken Ilgunas is an incredibly engaging and hilarious writer. This book is a memoir of his college years in which he accrued $32k of student loans for a worthless degree then clawed his way out of debt through a series of ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Mar 2019 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches About Time (link). I really enjoyed this movie. I had never heard of it before. Found via Justwatch. Won’t You Be My Neighbor (link). Awesome documentary about Mr. Rogers. Worth watching. Others I’ve talked to think the movie is too slow. I’m convinced that millennials ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Feb 2019 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
* This post has been superseded by these ones: https://frugalprofessor.com/an-audit-of-boa-credit-card-reward-efficiency-2019-q3/ https://frugalprofessor.com/best-credit-card-rewards-strategy-2019-edition/ What Changed? A month ago, Bank of America updated their policy for the cash rewards card. Prior to the change, the rewards were as follows on the cash rewards card: 3% gas 2%* grocery/wholesale 1% all else Last month, this changed to: ... Read more
The post One month review of updated BoA Cash Rewards Card appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches As you have surely heard, Jack Bogle (founder of Vanguard) died a couple of weeks ago. Mr Bogle had a profound effect on my life. It was his Little Sense of Common Sense Investing book that was of the first investing books that I read in my ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Jan 2019 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I spent 2-3 days in 2018 writing down everything I know about the U.S. tax code with the hopes of turning it into a book someday. It’s not exactly a page turner, but it may very well make you hundreds of thousands of dollars richer over your lifetime through the minimization of your lifetime tax ... Read more
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It has been a good year for the FP household. Here is our Christmas card, which is admittedly redundant to much of the blog. Highlights include: Year of Medicine: Mrs FP had her gallbladder removed. FrugalChild3 had an emergency appendectomy. Mr FP broke his nose playing basketball. FrugalChild2 is allergic to everything (grass/weed/pollen/dust).FrugalChild1, FrugalChild3, ... Read more
The post Happy Holidays 2018 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Last December, I publicly posted the following 2019 goals. For the sake of public accountability, here’s how I grade myself for 2018 (bold is my grade & self assessment, non-bold is the original goal). At the end of the post I’ll include my 2019 goals. Finances Keep doing the painfully simple things that generate wealth: ... Read more
The post Reflections on 2018 & Plan for 2019 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches WSJ editorial board on the exodus from high-tax states to no-tax states (TX, NV, WA, FL) (link). Molly’s Game (link). Based on true story of high-profile poker ring in LA & NYC. Fascinating MrMoneyMustache forum thread documenting the implications of the recent Medicaid expansion (link). ... Read more
The post Financial Update – Dec 2018 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
* This post is now obsolete and has been replaced by this one: https://frugalprofessor.com/best-credit-card-rewards-strategy-2019-edition/ Begin 2019 update ** This post was written in late 2018. BoA has since made a few changes to their cards. 3% cash back on BoA cash rewards card is now a choose-your-own category (rather ... Read more
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Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Fidelity is now an HSA administrator! Fidelity Link Bogleheads Discussion Thoughts from the Finance Buff There are no administrative fees. It is now unambiguously the best HSA administrator. The only reason not to use them is to capture the payroll tax benefits from your employer. ... Read more
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During my (almost) decade of living in poverty in grad school, I dutifully filed my taxes via TurboTax’s poorly advertised “Freedom” edition, which includes free federal & state to those with low income. It is generally available in mid-January here (link). I would recommend it to anyone who qualifies. Since my income has risen since ... Read more
The post 2018 Tax Software Live appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Free Solo (link). Honnold is a nut job. This movie highlights this well. He’s brilliant but has no fear of death, arguing that in the end we’re all dead anyway. Paraphrasing from the movie: “My girlfriend is weird; she has this weird obsession with maximizing ... Read more
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Earlier this week I received a panicked email from a friend last week who wanted help choosing between about 20 healthcare plans during open enrollment. To the uninitiated, this indeed is a confusing process. However, this needn’t be confusing. But you first need to be informed. Important Definitions Here are some definitions that will help you ... Read more
The post Demystifying Annual Healthcare Enrollment appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (link). Really good book about prioritizing all aspects your life. Paraphrasing some good quotes (I listened to the audio book): Every time we say yes to something non-essential we are saying no a host of potential opportunities down the ... Read more
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Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I mentioned this in a footnote a few months ago, but I spent three days this summer starting to write a “book” to my former self about money stuff. As of today, it’s basically 60 pages of tax optimization. It has a few typos and ... Read more
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This blog isn’t really about coupon clipping, but this deal was too good not to pass along. Blog readers Scott & Costblogger tipped me off to the deal. Detailed discussion here: https://slickdeals.net/f/11938079-humble-jackbox-party-bundle-pc-steam-games-you-don-t-know-jack-series-1-4-the-jackbox-party-pack-series-1-3-drawful-2-quiplash-fibbage-xl Looks like the deal expires in 11 days (around Aug 28 ish). For $12, you can purchase almost the entirety of the Jackbox suit (only ... Read more
The post Jackbox Deal appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Obligatory trip report for my 2018 backpacking trip to the Wind Rivers. My other trip reports are found here: 2020: https://frugalprofessor.com/2020-wind-river-trip-report/ 2019: https://frugalprofessor.com/2019-wind-river-trip-report/ I’m convinced that nature is one of the greatest “frugality hacks” on the planet. But even more compelling, I’m convinced that nature is one of the greatest hacks (of any kind) ... Read more
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Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Really enjoyed this ChooseFI interview with Jillian from Montana Money Adventures (link). I like the annual goal-setting that she and her husband do. I particularly like the concept of deliberately cutting unnecessary things from your life in an attempt to achieve what you truly desire. ... Read more
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Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Hear me yak at Millionaires Unveiled Podcast: I have a strong aversion to hearing my own voice so I have yet to bring myself to listen to the interview, but I recall having a fun chat with Clark & Jace. Stitcher, iTunes, or Episode 33 here. ... Read more
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Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Great interview with Bezos (link), found courtesy of Go Curry Cracker. I honestly didn’t know much about Bezos prior to this article. Obviously, an incredible guy. I enjoyed the portion of the article beginning with “I’m interested in space, because I’m passionate about it.” I ... Read more
The post Financial Update May 2018 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
On a whim, I decided to attend the Berkshire meeting this year. I’m not getting any younger (36). Buffett (87) & Munger (94) aren’t either. I live in the Midwest, so this is an easy trip for me. I created a Facebook account (which I’ve since deleted) for the sole reason to find out where ... Read more
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Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches GCC featured on national news (link). Loved the accompanying blog post. “As I explained to ABC, if there was any magic we had it was that we were willing to live like college students longer than it is socially acceptable to do so. Along with ... Read more
The post Financial Update Apr 2018 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
First, the Establishment of Some Costco Cred Our family lives at Costco. To prove it, I downloaded some statistics on our Costco usage over the past 6 months. The first chart is a histogram of days between Costco visits over the past 6 months. The mode is 1. The average is 1.98, meaning that we’re ... Read more
The post How to Shop at Costco Like a Boss appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Frugal Wife, Please reread upon me getting hit by a bus. I’ll keep the sentimental stuff out of this letter. Here’s what you need to know about how our finances work and how to not run out of money. Overview of How our Money Works All of our recurring bills (i.e. utilities, ymca, etc) ... Read more
The post If I’m hit by a bus: A letter to my wife appeared first on Frugal Professor.
A few months ago during the Equifax hack, I read that it was smart to freeze your credit (duh), but also to secure your Social Security Identity online. What do I mean by that? I mean create an online account at the SSA with a strong password and two step authentication so that nobody can ... Read more
The post SSA Earnings History appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Big ERN describes why home ownership can be a good investment after properly accounting for imputed rent (link). WSJ article on retirement destinations (link). WSJ article on people leaving bay area due to high cost of living (link). 36 year old accountant called in as ... Read more
The post Financial Update Mar 2018 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
If you care to learn deeply about the tax code, I have begun writing a book which contains everything I know on the topic. The book discusses wealth accumulation strategies, of which tax minimization is a key component. The (imperfect and incomplete) draft can be downloaded here. Today I noticed that Turbotax ... Read more
The post Taxcaster 2018 Available appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Discovered a new podcast called Millionaires Unveiled. I enjoyed the episodes with Justin at Root of Good and White Coat Investor. Berkshire’s 2017 letter to shareholders Investing is an activity in which consumption today is foregone in an attempt to allow greater consumption at a ... Read more
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I’m filing my taxes this year through a little-known company called FreeTaxUSA that I found out about through Bogleheads. It’s free to do federal filing (including itemized transactions, investments, and self employed income). Their business model is to give free federal returns and charge $13 for state. FreeTaxUSA properly handles backdoor Roth contributions (remember to enter ... Read more
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Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches PBS Frontline Report called “The Retirement Gamble” on the impending retirement crisis (link). If the above link is broken, search “The Retirement Gamble” within YouTube for non-broken link. 55 minutes long, but this video should be required viewing for every American. I showed it to ... Read more
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Some of my favorite bloggers have written about groceries in the past: Mr Money Mustache (link) Justin at Root of Good (link) Mr Money Mustache concludes that Costco is great. Justin at Root of Good concludes that Costco is for chumps and that WalMart prevails as low cost leader (with Aldi to supplement). Justin is ... Read more
The post Aldi vs Costco vs Walmart appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Sebastian Thrun on Machine Learning & AI. Found through “TED Talks Daily” Podcast. Youtube link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_QrGglKG64. Sebastian is optimistic on the future of AI unlike many others. I liked the following quote: “Today 75% of us work in offices and do repetitive things. We’ve become ... Read more
The post Financial Update Dec 2017 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Taking 5 minutes yesterday to follow this advice from the Finance Buff saved me around $300 in taxes: https://thefinancebuff.com/make-mortgage-payment-due-january-1-december.html. The higher YTD interest paid already posted in my mortgage account today after making my payment yesterday. Easily one of the simplest tax hacks I’ve ever employed. Though this tax hack is mostly targeted towards those itemizing ... Read more
The post Not itemizing next year? Make your Jan 1 mortgage payment by Dec 31 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
The House and Senate released their new plans tonight. The gory details are here in this 570 page document: http://www.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/JointExplanatoryStatement121517.pdf It’s really easy to model in Excel because it’s so similar to the existing tax code. Took me about 5 minutes. To me, the biggest changes are: The Rubio-encouraged refundable child tax credit (up to 1,400 ... Read more
The post Model of New Tax Plan (House + Senate Compromise) appeared first on Frugal Professor.
As of today, it’s looking like the tax code will change drastically on Jan 1, representing the largest change to the tax code in 30 years. A huge impact of the tax change is the reduction of the corporate income tax from 35% to 21%. While important to shareholders of firms (i.e. any investor), this ... Read more
The post Year end tax planning moves (preparing for massive tax law change) appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Available here: https://frugalprofessor.com/updated-tax-calculator/
The post 2017 Tax Spreadsheet Available appeared first on Frugal Professor.
If you care to learn deeply about the tax code, I have begun writing a book which contains everything I know on the topic. The book discusses wealth accumulation strategies, of which tax minimization is a key component. The (imperfect and incomplete) draft can be downloaded here. A friend of mine told me that ... Read more
The post Updated Tax Calculator (2017 Edition) appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Summary of this months finances. 2012 minivan travelling 75mph vs deer. Family is safe. Radiator + oil pan done for. Rest of car in okay shape (above pic is during teardown inspection of car). $6.5k repair estimate. $2.5k insurance deductible. Grateful it wasn’t worse. Item #91 on repair estimate. 1 man hour for removing all ... Read more
The post Financial Update Nov 2017 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I thought it would be fun if my wife were to write a guest post about her take on our finances. After all, this whole money saving thing wouldn’t work without her buy-in, and I’m extremely grateful that she’s on board with the whole thing. My questions are in bold. Her uncensored confessions follow. My ... Read more
The post (Mostly) Uncensored Confessions of a Money Weirdo’s Wife appeared first on Frugal Professor.
*** the title initially had the wrong number of balls; it’s now corrected. My father has always loved to golf. For those unfamiliar with golf, it is best described as “a good walk spoiled.” It’s a sport in which rich old men waste away their time, money, and sanity chasing the ever elusive perfect round ... Read more
The post I spent $1,322 on 984 golf balls and I don’t like golf appeared first on Frugal Professor.
The much anticipated GOP tax bill is hitting the news (link): Summary of changes to individual taxes: Massive standard deduction ($24.4k) makes itemizing irrelevant for most the US New 10k limit on property tax deduction (this is a big deal if you’re in a state with exceedingly high property taxes (bay area, CA)) No deduction ... Read more
The post Proposed tax reform: What does it mean? appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches My wife and I binge watched the first season of This is Us and are now caught up on season 2. I’m a fan of dramas and this is the best show I’ve seen in a while. Life We upgraded our 10 year old ... Read more
The post Financial Update Oct 2017 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
This post is long overdue, as cell phone hacking is low hanging fruit in terms of expense optimization. Here’s how I have done it for the past decade, saving us over $10k in the process. Google Voice – The Key Ingredient Google Voice (https://voice.google.com/) is the critical component of our phone setup. What does ... Read more
The post How to defeat your $100/month cell phone plan appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches This MyMoneyBlog post (link) on the rising cost of insurance + the viability of purchasing insurance on the open market was interesting. The rate at which healthcare expenses are rising is alarming. A friend of mine forwarded me a video of a recent MMM interview ... Read more
The post Financial Update Sep 2017 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I’ve enjoyed the podcast ChooseFI very much. I like that the hosts are normal dudes (probably more normal than me) stumbling through life like the rest of us. The hosts talk a lot about the idea of frugal analogs, which is an incredibly powerful concept. Examples of frugal analogs in my life include: $100/month cell ... Read more
The post Frugal Analogs appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock, you’ve probably seen the news that a crap-ton of people’s personal information was exposed through a breach at Equifax, one of the three credit bureaus. You can check whether you were compromised here: https://trustedidpremier.com/eligibility/eligibility.html It turns out that I was compromised. No big deal. Why? Because I’ve frozen my ... Read more
The post You should have frozen your credit years ago appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I stumbled across a new podcast called ChooseFI (http://www.choosefi.com/) via Jlcollins blog. I’ve binge listened and am halfway though their episodes. I recommend checking them out, particularly their travel hacking podcast & guest interviews. It’s now my second favorite FI podcast now, behind MadFientist’s. I ... Read more
The post Financial Update Aug 2017 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Every single person should have a clear hierarchy of savings, primarily driven by tax arbitrage (link). On January 1, where do you put your first dollar of savings in the year? What about your second dollar? 10,000th dollar? Etc? I believe the following list should work for everyone, whether you’re making $10k or $10M per ... Read more
The post Hierarchy of Savings appeared first on Frugal Professor.
***I spent 2-3 days in 2018 writing down everything I know about the U.S. tax code with the hopes of turning it into a book someday. It’s not exactly a page turner, but it may very well make you hundreds of thousands of dollars richer over your lifetime through the minimization of your lifetime tax ... Read more
The post How to mint money using tax arbitrage appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I was voluntold to give a lunchtime seminar in our community on a topic of my choice. I converged on the topic of retirement savings. My slides are downloadable here. The presentation contains nothing I haven’t already harped on in the blog, of course. I just present the simple case of: 1.) Being frugal 2.) ... Read more
The post Retirement Savings Seminar appeared first on Frugal Professor.
To improve the navigation of this site, here’s a directory of Excel tools I have made: Federal Income Tax Calculator Calculates estimated tax liability to within a few bucks, but more importantly computes effective marginal tax rate at any level of income. Debt repayment & Net worth projection tool A tool to visualize the optimal ... Read more
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Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I watched Lion and really enjoyed it. I had never heard of it before but found out about it through Justwatch, a great streaming filtering tool. Mike Piper, the Oblivious Investor, on why Vanguard’s Target Date Funds don’t use Admiral Shares (link). Moral of the ... Read more
The post Financial Update Jul 2017 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I watched “A Man Called Ove” and enjoyed it. My wife thinks I am Ove; I agree. Life Past month has been crazy. Lots of travel. Little sleep. Hence the abbreviated update without much content. This month’s finances I’m most pleased with the low spending ... Read more
The post Financial Update June 2017 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I created a new tool, which was a pain in the butt to create, but I think it’s pretty nifty. Key inputs (all in yellow): Assets Liabilities (including interest rates) Income Desired annual funding of each account (in green; put $0 if you don’t care to fund the particular type of account, like a 529 ... Read more
The post Debt repayment & Net worth projection tool appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I do a fair bit of financial mentoring for fun. I’d like to open this up to the readers of this blog. If you’d like me to publicly dissect and optimize your finances, send me an email at professorfrugal@gmail.com. I’ll make a blog post out of it so others can learn as well. In order for ... Read more
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Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Wisdom from Warren Buffett and Bill Gates: Recent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CCcheNC1sw Older: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmwTqvu8LPA A WSJ reporter shares her infuriating experience of calling her financial advisor to figure out how much she was paying in fees (link). After a series of calls to different people (including company headquarters) ... Read more
The post Financial Update May 2017 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
A reader asked if I could make my financial update spreadsheet publicly available. Why not? It’s downloadable here: (link). How I update this every month in 5 minutes using Personal Capital: Extract balance sheet info from PC by carefully selecting relevant numbers, as shown below. Copy (paste special as values) into Sheet 2 at cell ... Read more
The post Net Worth Tracking Tool appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I listened to an interesting podcast on strategies to pay for college (link). Cliff notes version: get kids to take ownership of college costs + get them to apply for grants/scholarships. Random thoughts from me: A more expensive college won’t necessarily lead to better life outcomes, ... Read more
The post Financial Update April 2017 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Investing/Tax Disclaimers This site is for entertainment purposes only. Nothing I write here or in the comments can be considered advice or guidance for investment decisions or, for that matter, any other decisions. For professional advice, you should always consult an investment advisor (who will charge you a >1% AUM fee) and/or accountant (who will ... Read more
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Tomorrow, you’ll find my EITC-hacking guest post on GoCurryCracker’s website (link). It’s quite an honor to write a guest post on my favorite blogger’s website. Thanks Jeremy! To the curious CrackerHead arriving to this website, welcome! To me, the great irony of personal finance is that there isn’t really much to say about it. You ... Read more
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Another month, another update. A few random comments. The first half of property taxes were due in March. $3,500 down the drain. I will not retire in this state. By paying property taxes directly out of pocket we make approximately $150 in interest per year. Not earth shattering, but a small benefit to paying ourselves ... Read more
The post Financial Update Mar 2017 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Tax refund finally came through. I denoted this as “other income”. As expected, EITC hacking / tax optimization proved to be wildly profitable this year. All low/middle income families with several kids should be doing this. I’ve drafted a guest post on the topic on GoCurryCracker which will ... Read more
The post Financial Update Feb 2017 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Thanks to aggressive tax sheltering in 2016, we’re getting a $8k refund in a few weeks. I filed taxes for free using Turbotax’s Freedom edition (turbotax.intuit.com/taxfreedom/), which is available to those with low incomes who qualify for EITC, etc. What’s nice about this edition is that it ... Read more
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Another month, another update. Some random thoughts this month. The humbling mathematics of retirement savings. The mathematics of retirement are daunting. In order to retire, you can only withdraw 3-4% of your investments annually. This is known as the safe withdrawal rate. 3% is a more conservative number. 4% is less so. Good discussions on ... Read more
The post Financial Update Dec 2016 appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Another month, another update. A few anomalous expenditures for November 2016 to point out: $1k for new tires & brakes for car. Cars are expensive. I didn’t fully appreciate it until tracking my spending on this blog. $1k for home gym. I convinced my wife to cancel our YMCA membership ($80/mo) as a result. Break ... Read more
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The steps to accumulating wealth are dumb-simple, as described here: https://frugalprofessor.com/start-here-the-recipe-for-wealth-accumulation/. In those 3 posts, I’ve essentially exhausted my ability to say anything more on the topic. Step 1.) Be frugal. Step 2.) Minimize your tax burden. Step 3.) Invest your savings wisely. In an effort to have this blog contain more than 3 posts, I’ll track our ... Read more
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I’ve developed a tool that can be used for tax planning purposes. In order to make decisions like how much to work, how much to save in a 401(k), etc, you have to know what your effective marginal tax rate is. Unfortunately the tax code is so complex that knowing one’s effective marginal tax rate requires ... Read more
The post Federal Income Tax Calculator appeared first on Frugal Professor.
To get to Step 3, we’ve first learned to be frugal in Step 1, which will generate savings for us. In Step 2, we’ve learned to maximize our savings by minimizing our tax burden using tax-deferred accounts like 401k’s, etc. In Step 3, we’ll learn what to do with the piles of money in our 401k’s, ... Read more
The post Step 3: Invest the savings wisely appeared first on Frugal Professor.
* The below blog post is a bit stale now, as it was written before the massive tax law change of 2018. If you want my latest and greatest thoughts on the tax code, you can find them in this pdf here. The following post was written based on 2015 tax ... Read more
The post Step 2: Minimize your tax burden appeared first on Frugal Professor.
Groceries & Retail: Costco We get 2% cash back through our executive membership. Executive membership costs $120 vs the normal $60, but we spend more than enough to pay for the entire $120 membership fee, let alone the $60 executive premium ($60/0.02=$3k to break even on executive upgrade; $6k to break even on entire membership). ... Read more
The post Things I Like appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I love this brilliant SNL video (link). If I could improve upon this brilliant video at all, I’d say the path to wealth accumulation not only to “not buy stuff you can’t afford” but also to “not buy stuff you CAN afford.” Frugality is the most important factor in accumulating wealth, not income. No matter how ... Read more
The post Step 1: Be frugal appeared first on Frugal Professor.
* I wrote the below series of posts three years ago. I think all three posts are now much better summarized by this “book” that I started last year (but haven’t finished). You may download the ~60 page draft pdf here. Given how taboo talking about money is, many of us are financially ... Read more
The post Start Here – The recipe for wealth accumulation appeared first on Frugal Professor.
I’m married with 5 kids. My wife is a stay-at-home mother, though she taught elementary school for a year before putting her career on ice for a couple decades until the kids are older (maybe after they graduate high school?). I spent 5 years getting an undergrad degree in mechanical engineering. I then spent 4 ... Read more
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