Debt is a four-letter word for anyone looking to retire early. In fact, it should be for everyone. Still, despite our relative prosperity, Americans are more in debt than ever. It looks like total consumer debt is 15% higher than it was before the pandemic. All of the stimulus money had only a temporary impact on debt levels … It’s one thing to be sitting … Continue reading Debt Getting Very Expensive
I really hate writing articles about political issues, but here I am again. The Biden administration’s student debt cancellation policy – which seeks to erase $430 billion in college student loan debt – is in the headlines again. We’re awaiting a Supreme Court’s decision on its Constitutionality, likely this June. It caused me to look a little into the scope of the “CRISIS” as it … Continue reading Stop Calling Student Loan Debt A “Crisis”
It’s graduation season. In Minnesota, that means backyard high school graduation parties every weekend from late May through June. Most of the graduates that we know are heading off to college this fall. Let’s all hope for their sake that they learn some useful things. I’m not sure that is actually the case. A study out this week says that the average college graduate in … Continue reading How Dumb Are College Students?
I have to shake my head when I see politicians promoting “free college” and “student loan forgiveness”. College grads are supposed to be smart & responsible, aren’t they? In my view, college students are adults and they voluntarily entered into these loans with the help of the friendly folks in the university admissions department (who try hard to disguise their job as anything but what … Continue reading Driving Away From Debt …
I started looking at the topic of America’s growing debt before the coronavirus pandemic spread. Across all age groups, debt has been accelerating rapidly for the last two decades, and I’m sure it has gotten much worse now. This chart, from a CNBC article, shows the magnitude of the debt problem, with perhaps the greatest growth happening among older Americans … As the chart shows, … Continue reading Debt Has Spread Like A Virus
How do you manage your spending with your spouse? How do you ensure that your spending is ‘fair’? Do you use combined accounts? Separate accounts? A hybrid approach? Today, I thought I would share the approach that Mrs. Fire Station and I use, which leverages a unique concept we named “Sunshine Funds”. First, all of our income and spending have always come out of one … Continue reading Sunshine Funds – Budgeting Our Individual Fun Money
Today we have a Guest Post from Tom “FIRE” – a FI blogger who reached out to Old Mr. FireStation to see if he could share a little Millennial experience with our readers. Tom’s website is FIREdUpMillennial.com. His experience with getting too deep in credit card debt in your twenties is very familiar to my wife & I, and he offers a great approach to get out … Continue reading Guest Post: How I Saved Money on My Credit Card Debt with a Personal Loan & Lessons I Learned Along the Way
We were discussing college kids and getting credit cards with some friends recently and I admit I am a bit hesitant to suggest to my son that he get a credit card. He has a debit card that works just fine for him, but I guess he is not building up a credit history that can contribute to a positive credit score. Given that … Continue reading Credit Scores – Must Everyone Have One?
We are in the car market again after two years with our current fleet. Our SUV has reached the point when it is starting to require quite a few repairs and as I have written before, vehicles are a budget item that I confess to being a guilty pleasure splurge. The SUV we will sell is a 2011 model with 114K miles. We have really … Continue reading Car Shopping Framework – 7 Principles That Guide Us
Earlier, I wrote a few posts on financial failures on our route to financial independence and early retirement (FIRE). The idea was to share that everything hasn’t been challenge-free on our route to a life of goofing off. Today’s story isn’t patently a financial failure, but it runs completely counter to the advice that you might typical hear as you build your retirement nest egg. … Continue reading Financial Failures – Taking Loans From 401k
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