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Why I’m A Huge Fan Of Robo Advisors

Last Updated on January 7, 2021November 16, 2016 20 Comments
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.

When I was in college, I picked up a copy of The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach. His book is still one of my favorite money books and probably the first book I recommend to anyone beginning to learn about personal finance.

When I first read Bach’s book, I too, wanted to become an Automatic Millionaire! One chapter in his book talked about setting up an IRA or a Roth IRA. I was a 19 year old kid at the time, so I didn’t have a clue what that meant. All I knew was that it was something good! After reading Automatic Millionaire, I hopped onto E*Trade, opened up a Roth IRA, and transferred 100 bucks into my Roth IRA account.

And then, I was stuck. I remember Automatic Millionaire talking about investing in mutual funds, but I didn’t really know what that meant or how to put my money into that type of investment…

Has There Ever Been An Easier Time To Start A Side Hustle?

Last Updated on April 6, 2023November 11, 2016 21 Comments
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.

We live in the golden age of side hustling. If you’re looking to make some extra money in order to pay off debt, save more, or even to buy that shiny new toy, there’s really no excuse for why you can’t do it.

Compare the nature of a part time gig today, as compared to just a few years ago. There wasn’t a sharing economy or on-demand economy. Things like Uber and Airbnb didn’t exist. When I was in college, making extra money meant either finding a part time job or figuring out a way to make your own job.

Finding a part time job meant working when your boss told you to work. That’s a problem for people who want flexibility. And creating your own job meant figuring out a skill you had and finding customers, not to mention you probably needed to spend some money in order to get your hustle started…

Do You Have The Strength And Stamina To Survive A Trump Presidency?

Last Updated on August 9, 2021November 9, 2016 15 Comments
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.

By now, you’re all probably aware that Donald Trump is officially going to be the next president of the United States. This isn’t a politics blog, so I’m not sharing my thoughts on the matter (plus, I’m no politics expert). Nor is this a blog about the economy, so I’m not going to talk about that either. Heck, I have no idea where the economy will go. Things go up, things go down. Jobs are created, jobs are lost. I don’t really know why it happens.

What I do know is that the doomsday prophecies are out there. Trump is going to cause a recession! Stocks will crash! The rich won’t pay any more taxes! I have no idea if these are true or not. All I can do is stay calm and stick to my game plan.

October 2016 Side Hustle Report

Last Updated on August 9, 2021November 5, 2016 27 Comments
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 another side hustle report! Each month, I document what I earned doing various side hustles outside of my day job. I’m a firm believer that anyone can find a way to make some extra money on the side. Even just a few years ago, starting up a side hustle required a bit of work and might have required some upfront capital costs. And picking up a second job meant you’d have to go to work whenever your boss scheduled you. But not anymore. Today, with the advance of technology, anyone can find a way to make some extra money on their own time, whenever they want!

Remember, your side hustle is worth a lot more than you think. Even making a few thousand dollars a year can add up to a ton of money over time. That’s because every dollar you earn in your side hustle is another dollar you can save. If you’re living fine on your regular income, then you don’t need to spend your side hustle income at all!

Why I Prefer To Pay Off Debt Aggressively

Last Updated on April 17, 2023November 2, 2016 28 Comments
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.

Anyone with debt and a decent cash flow will eventually find themselves with a choice. What should be done with all of that excess money? Assuming your goal isn’t to spend it all on buying things, you’re basically left with two choices. Pay off your debt aggressively. Or invest the surplus.

The pure mathematical answer is to play the interest rate arbitrage game. Excess money should go into assets that provide a rate of return higher than whatever interest rate your debt is at. It’s a pretty simple calculation from that vantage point…

Do You Know How Much Your Debt Costs You Per Day?

Last Updated on April 17, 2023October 28, 2016 27 Comments
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.

One of the things that surprised me when I began my student loan payback journey was how much interest I had to pay when I started making my payments. What was even more surprising to me was how much interest my loans had accrued while I was in school (and making no money). In fact, when I graduated and made my first student loan payment, it didn’t even reduce my student loan balance at all. All of it went directly towards the interest!

Interest is one of those things that we all sort of understand in theory. Most of us basically know that when we borrow money, we agree to pay it back at some point, with a little extra on top. But I don’t think we’re very good at really understanding what interest looks like on a daily basis. Maybe that’s why we sometimes let debt linger in our lives…

Why Bike Share Systems Are The Best Form Of Public Transit

Last Updated on April 12, 2023October 25, 2016 24 Comments
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 personal finance nerd knows that biking is one of the best modes of transportation out there. In addition to just being fun to do, you also get three things from biking that you really can’t get from any other mode of transportation – speed in getting from place to place, huge cost savings, and, of course, health benefits from actually using your own body power to propel yourself forward. And I didn’t even mention the awesome feeling you get when you zoom past a bunch of cars that are stuck in traffic!

One of the best pieces of technology in the past few years has been the emergence of the bikeshare system…

My Postmates Review 2024: Getting Paid To Bike Around Town

Last Updated on January 19, 2024October 20, 2016 82 Comments
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 remember when my brother first told me about a new app he’d found called Postmates. He’d just returned home to the US after living overseas for a few years and didn’t have a job. So, in order to make a bit of cash while he was job hunting, he picked up a side gig as a Postmates courier, delivering food for people around the city.

Here was my brother, a college educated, smart, hard working millennial…working as a delivery man. He was really putting that college degree to use…

The Only Secret To Paying Off Debt Is To Be A Weirdo

Last Updated on January 24, 2024October 17, 2016 59 Comments
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.

One of the things I always tell people about debt is that there isn’t any secret to paying it off quickly. There’s no magic method that will make your debt disappear. No secret tricks that will crush your loans any faster. And you probably shouldn’t count on someone else paying your debt off for you.

In the end, paying off debt really just comes down to a single basic principle. Live on less than you earn and use what’s left over to pay off your debt. The more you have left over to pay towards your debt, the faster it’ll be gone. It’s basically that simple…

A Breakdown Of How I Paid Off $87,000 Worth Of Student Loans In 2.5 Years

Last Updated on April 17, 2023October 12, 2016 45 Comments
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.

One of the best things I did coming out of law school was to pay off my student loans as fast as I could. Doing this gave me a ton of flexibility in the type of money I had to earn. With my loans gone, I didn’t need to work in a job earning a certain amount of money, all so that a portion of it could go out the door to some student loan company. And I could rest easy at night knowing that I didn’t have to keep paying for a piece of paper that I had earned years ago!

Interestingly, even though I knew how much in student loans I had paid off, I had never actually looked at what I had paid over those 2.5 years.

I thought it might be an interesting trip down memory lane to see this information. So a few weeks ago, I requested my payment history from my student loan servicing companies and took a look.

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