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Financial Panther’s 2016 Recap: A Year Of Big Changes

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This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

Every year is a big year when you think about it, but I really did feel like 2016 was one of the bigger years in my life. The only thing is, as you get older, the years all sort of blend together. I have a vague idea of what I did in the past few years, but since I never wrote it down, I don’t exactly remember any specifics.

The great thing about blogging though is that it forces you to buckle down and think about what you did, and then write it all down in a synthesized fashion. When I start telling my crazy stories one day, hopefully, someone can look back on what I wrote and fact check me.

And hopefully, you can learn something from this recap too. I know I learn a ton just reading about what others did over the year. So come learn and be inspired! Or just come and be entertained! It’s all good to me.

The 52 Week Money Challenge: The Easiest Way To Save $1,378

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This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

As we close out 2016, I thought I’d issue probably the easiest call to action out there – the 52 Week Money Challenge. This is by no means an advanced money concept. Still, I think it’s a good thing for anyone to do, no matter where you are in your financial journey. We all should have some money set aside for emergencies. And the 52 Week Money Challenge is an easy way to keep that emergency fund topped off each year.

I first learned about the 52 Week Money challenge a few years ago when I started getting interested in personal finance. You have to start somewhere and I was looking for ways to push myself just a little bit more. When you’ve got money coming in, it’s pretty easy to get lazy with your paycheck. Even if you think you’re saving money, a lot of it can slip through your fingers if you don’t put it to use somewhere else.

The Solo 401k: The Side Hustler’s Bonus Retirement Account

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This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

The mechanics of a Solo 401k are fairly straightforward. If you’re earning income as an independent contractor, you’re eligible to create this type of retirement account. Basically, you’re creating a retirement plan for your own independent business. There are two parts to it – the employer part and the employee part. As an independent contractor, you’re basically both the boss and the employee of your own little business.

Qapital Review – A Free App To Automate Your Savings

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This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

What makes Qapital a really awesome app is how easy it makes it to automate your savings.  All you have to do is open up the Qapital app on your phone, set up a new goal with a few taps of your finger, and then set up whatever automated savings rule you want for that goal.  It literally takes less then a minute to set up a savings goal.

How I Invest In My Employer Sponsored Retirement Plans, Part 2: Know Your Plans

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This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

Welcome to Part 2 of an ongoing series detailing the process I went through in picking investments for my new employer sponsored retirement plans. Back in June, I switched jobs, moving from the private sector into the public sector. In addition to a huge change in salary, the job change also meant a whole new set of retirement plans and employee benefits that I had never heard about.

My hope is that this series can help those of you who are just starting a new job or have just switched jobs to learn more about the benefits that your employer probably offers . If you haven’t already, I recommend first reading Part 1: My Core Investing Philosophy, which details the key principles I follow when investing.

Part 2 of this series is pretty straightforward, but is something that is often overlooked (even by people who are good at saving). You need to ask yourself the basic question – what type of retirement plans does my employer offer?

November 2016 Side Hustle Report

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This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

Thanks for stopping by for another side hustle report! Sorry about putting this out a little later than usual. For those of you new to this, each month, I document what I earned doing various side hustles outside of my day job.

With the rise of the sharing and on-demand economy, it’s super easy to pick up a flexible side hustle. There’s literally never been a time in history where you could work in your spare time like you can today. The beauty of your side hustle income is that you can save every single dollar of it! Just think about what that can do for your savings rate…

Making Money With Airbnb In 2024: Why I Rent Out Our Guest Room

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This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

It never really occurred to me how much space in a typical house goes unused until Ms. FP and I moved back into her four bedroom house. As a renter, we never lived in an apartment bigger than 800 square feet or so. Our smallest apartment (where we found all of that sweet, sweet trash) was about 600 square feet. At the beginning of this year the two of us moved back into a 4 bedroom house that was double or triple the size of any apartment we’d ever lived in.

It seemed like a waste to have so much space for just two people. But we didn’t want to get roommates either. That’s when we decided to try out our hand at Airbnb…

Is It Possible To Make Over $50 Per Hour As A Bike Messenger?

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This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

Here at Financial Panther, we’re all about looking for weird money making opportunities. And if we can make a little bit of extra money while doing something we’re already doing, all the better! That’s why when I received the below email from Postmates, I immediately started figuring what I could do to snag that referral bonus.

As some of you already know, I’m a big fan of on-demand delivery services. I’ve written in a previous post about how I get paid to bike around town in my spare time using Postmates…

A Reminder: You Probably Make A Lot More Than You Think

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This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

Thanksgiving is now behind us and with its passing comes the official start of the holiday season. I’ve always thought it helpful around this time of the year to remember how fortunate most of us are. If you’re reading this, chances are that you live in a developed country. You probably also make a decent income and have some education under your belt. If you’re smart, you might even be able to save up enough money one day so that you never have to work again. Most people in the world aren’t lucky enough to have the luxury of thinking about financial independence, let alone actually achieving it.

This is why its always struck me as a bit ridiculous when I see people with good jobs complaining that they don’t make enough to get ahead. Sure, making more money is probably better than making less money. And some cities are definitely more expensive to live in than others…

How I Invest In My Employer Sponsored Retirement Plans, Part 1: My Core Investing Philosophy

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This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

I started a new job back in June and with it, I needed to set up my new employer sponsored retirement accounts. I’ve never switched jobs before, so I thought it’d be a good bit of education to share how I chose to invest in my employer sponsored retirement accounts.

My original plan was to write about it all in one post, but as I was doing so, I realized that I was talking about things without really giving any background as to why I was making those decisions. Needless to say, as I started writing, I realized my post was getting way too long!

So, instead of writing one ridiculously giant post, I thought I’d do my first series of posts! Part 1 is right here and deals with my core investment philosophy. It’s the foundation for how I pick the investments for my employer sponsored retirement plans.

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