According to ipropertymanagement.com, 36% of American's households rent their homes. Approximately 41% of renters spend more than 35% of their income on rent and most renters are under 45 years old with a college degree. When asked, 1 out of 5 millennials say they feel they will never be able to afford a home. It is often argued that renting is a waste of money. You cannot sell your asset (home) to get your money back. On the other hand,…
Yotta is a popular lottery-based savings company whose angel investor's include personal finance YouTube star Graham Stephen. For every $25 you deposit, you are rewarded with a permanent lottery ticket that you can use each week for a chance to win $10 million, a Tesla, or lesser cash prizes. I wrote all about it in my blog post "Save for a chance to win up to $10 million each week". Since I published that blog post, much has changed making…
Many American's blame their income for their inability to save. If you have already tried to save money by spending less and budgeting, try these easy ways to make a little extra income. Work Part-Time. Sign up for one of over 100 different gig economy apps and work part-time, on your own time. Drive people around with Uber. Drive food around with DoorDash. Shop for and delivery groceries with InstaCart. Write papers on Fiver.Rent out a bedroom and get a…
If you are new to my blog, I have an entire category of blog posts on the topic of debt reduction strategies. My favorite strategy is velocity banking and I discuss how I am using velocity banking to pay off my mortgage in less than 7 years. The Debt Snowball Method is a very popular debt reduction strategy popularized by the finance guru himself, Dave Ramsey. Similar to how a snowball grows larger as it rolls down a hill, the…
When budgeting, the hardest costs to reduce are your necessary costs, especially the recurring fixed costs. Here are some ways you can reduce your monthly and annual expenses. 1. Lower your Utility Bills This step is easier than you think. There are many ways to lower your utility bills without changing your habits or lifestyle. Consider buying LED lighting. Look for the lowest Watt bulbs you can find. Switch to a low-flow shower head. You can save hundreds of gallons…
The 529 Account is an Educations Savings and Investment Account. Any money you contribute is tax deductible and the money grows tax free as long as you spend it on qualified educational expenses like tuition, school supplies, dorm rent, or even a laptop. Read all about the 529 Account on my blog post Saving for College with a 529. Now let's work on answering the question in the title of this post. What happens with the money left over in…
An HSA or Health Savings Account is a type of triple-tax-advantaged account. Any money you put in is tax-deductible. Any money you make in the account is tax-deferred, and any money you spend on qualified health expenses is tax-free. What is a Qualified Expense? For HSA's, qualified expenses include paying for doctors visits, prescription and off the counter medication, hospital stays, therapy, and other medical related bills. You can also use your HSA account to pay for your spouse's or…
F.I.R.E. stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. The F.I.R.E. movement is a lifestyle movement with the goal of gaining financial independence and retiring early. F.I.R.E. became very popular with millennials starting around 2010. With F.I.R.E., you need to invest 50% - 75% of your income by increasing your Savings Rate. Your savings rate is your monthly expenses divided by your monthly income. Sounds impossible? The F.I.R.E. movement is more feasible for the middle-upper class and people who live in areas…
For those just tuning into Finance Throttle, my wife and I purchased our home with a mortgage of $282,000 @4.5% on January 1st, 2019. Just a short 2 years later, we paid off about $83,000 and now owe about $199,000. After a long 6 month process, our refinance finally closed in February of 2021. We refinanced our home for $225,604 @2.5% with no cash out option. I used my HELOC to pay for my closing costs, then scheduled a $25,000…
If you need to save money fast, here are some ways you can spend less immediately. 1. Buy Generic - You can easily save up to $50 per month on groceries by buying the generic brand. In most cases, the generic brand has the same ingredients and tastes the same. 2. Eat-in, drink-in - Eating out is very expensive. A weekend of eating out is much more expensive than a week of groceries. In addition, bottled water is a waste…
