Ditching the Data Plan & Verizon Contract 1

One egregious expense I have paid blindly for the last three years, despite my focus on frugality has been a smart phone plan with tons of minutes, texts, and data available costing me $70-$80 per month. This cell phone bill has been my fifth largest monthly expense category trailing only housing, groceries, transportation and restaurants. ...

College on a Beer Budget…Part I

Many debate the value of a college education today.  The escalating tuition has led many experts to declare that college doesn’t make financial sense.  However, numerous studies provide evidence to the power of earning a college degree.  It statistically provides far greater lifetime income opportunities to pad your net worth. As someone who graduated from ...

$300k Net Worth Milestone 8

Thanks to the stock market’s continued upward trajectory, I eclipsed the elusive $300,000 net worth mark today! I am proud of this achievement at age 27 with less than five years in the working world with my “career” job.   My favorite fact about this is that my gross earnings have only been in the ...

April 2013 Progress Report

I track both my income and expenses monthly. I started this process over two years ago to provide a better picture of my financial standing, and do this in tandem with a monthly net worth update. This process paints a fairly clear picture of my financial status and helps me identify the savings I’m adding ...

Lending Club Leap 3

After much wasted time, I have kicked my butt into gear to accomplish one of my 2013 goals by creating a Lending Club account and deploying my initial investment capital to a variety of U.S. borrowers. I have been very intrigued by the business model of Peer-to-Peer lending where individual investors have the ability to ...