Happy Friday! I don't have any updates but I hope everyone has a great day! I also don't have a planned topic to research on my Financial Fitness Friday so I'm going to check out blogs and see where that takes me. I listen to a podcast, Optimal Finance Daily, where the host reads a blog post from someone each day. I've been meaning to go to those blogs and see what else there is to offer. One recent one was from Keep Thrifty and I found out that it's written by a couple that lives in a suburb of my city. I wonder how many other financial media people live close to me.
@Candice There are lots of work things that other countries do much better than the US: Paid family leave, vacation time, universal healthcare etc. Its a shame that policies like these are supported by most US citizens and yet its still so hard to get bipartisan support for them. Countries that have policies that take are of workers usually have happier workers overall. And happy workers are productive and efficient. Which makes for a better economy. I think we can do better, but I am not sure how we get there as a country.
While I did enjoy being my own boss and managing my own time, I was not ready for that first year of self employment taxes! If I had the investment income and the industry was a little more stable, I'd think I'd like to run a farm again (or a ranch). I found it very rewarding (although I was the book keeper and not the farmer!) Its very hard to get started (unless you are starting with family owned land and equipment) and the equipment you need is extremely expensive (at least for farming). Its part of the retirement dream!
Now that I know what my FI number is, I feel more empowered than ever (thanks to some overconsumption of financial independence podcasts lol) to get there and get there before 67. I want to work because I want to work not because I have to.
Katie, how's the competition going?
Sarah, I come from a family farmers but I live in a different state than where our family farm is located. I remember my grandmother putting all of us to work when we were kids and as difficult as it was, it was hard to leave when the summer was over. My family members still farm there and have expanded their businesses (from grapes used for Moscato to lumber) but my passion doesn't lie there… Honestly, I would love to get paid to travel and report on the areas I visit be it blog/vlog or podcasting.
Thanks for asking, Candice. The competition is going well, but we don't share our progress with the other teams so I don't know how the other 3 families are doing, just myself. As of end of September my numbers are: +$7,924.50, -$2,429.48 (savings accumulated and debt reduced). I have 7 more weekly blogs (mostly done already), 7 more social media posts due, 1 more commercial to shoot, 2 more monthly documents to gather and report. They posted our commercials on their YouTube channel if you want to check out the teams: https://youtu.be/UBF7xZhVw-M?list=PL25QMpKWWFseuHxowe3gWaYJE5XPDoMyN. I think all of us are making progress and learning a lot through the competition, which is awesome! Obviously I want to win but all of the families this year are working hard and I wouldn't feel bad about losing to any of them.
I love the idea of working on a farm or other small business but I can't imagine all the work it takes to start something like that on your own. My hats off to those who can and do!
Alright Katie!! I'm also feeling inspired! Good luck to you (and the other families as well).
I don't have anything new to report. Have a great weekend everyone!!
Hope everyone is having a great weekend! I have caught up on most of my chores and its a long weekend for me so I am getting a chance to relax a bit :)
@Katie that is so awesome! Good Luck!
Good morning! Hope everyone is having a great weekend! On my way to work now, hoping to start the week off with good footing and keep this week no-spend!
Hi Albert and Brooke!!! How are your savings journeys going?
I am getting ready for another 10-day meditation course starting Wednesday. I'm really excited and ready but I will miss the logins and success stories. I look forward to reading them. I know I have 2 more days, but this is the prequel, Lol.
Welcome, Albert and Brooke!
Hope you have a successful meditation course, Candice! We'll be here when you get back, lol
Happy Monday everyone! Still keeping it on track and looking forward to getting started on Christmas shopping.
@Candice Enjoy your meditation course!
Hope everyone has a productive week. There seems to be a couple more offers on the dashboard. I'm going to try the GetUpside app.
While I was browsing through the articles, I noticed one about having too much debt… How much debt is considered too much? 
Another great question, Candice! If you ask Dave Ramsey, then any amount of debt is too much. Unlike Dave, I live in reality, lol. I don't like carrying any debt outside of my mortgage, but my interest rate is so low on the mortgage that it doesn't keep me up at night. If I had any debt that was getting charged at a rate higher than I could earn from investing then I would focus on reducing that.
I used to think the Dave Ramsey way; all debt is bad debt. After adding in other financial professionals in my podcast/blog collection, I am coming to the conclusion that there are sometimes better options to put extra money but only if the interest on the debt is low. Right now our biggest debt is the mortgage, followed by student loans, and our solar loan. The rest is car/credit debt. I feel pretty good about the amount of debt we have because our interest rates are low for the majority of it (except for car/credit) and our assets outweigh our debts. Meaning if we had a catastrophic event, we could liquidate everything (except retirement accounts) and be okay. This is the level of debt I feel comfortable with. The credit and car debt eat up a bunch of money that could be going to an emergency fund/investing, so that is why I am aggressively paying those off. I've been very lucky to have had a mostly stable career in my industry but I see that changing before I retire and that is really frightening me/motivating me to get prepared. I'm likely going to have to change careers in my later years and so having that cushion/debt paid off will be one less stress.
I think debt is just another tool you can use to help you get to where you want to be, you just have to understand the true cost of the debt and be comfortable with it.
It's kind of hard to come up with new posts being that there are so many that answer questions you may want an answer to.
Hello guys, do you actually get points for posting? I have never automatically received point for posting.
Tomika, what questions did you have that were answered previously? Did the answers you received work out for you?
Kaarina, yes, you do get points for posting and starting a new topic. If you haven't gotten your points yet, just wait a day and they usually catch up.
Since opening the new credit card, I've managed not to carry a balance. The only real debt I have is my student loan. If the Public Service Waiver works out, it will eliminate the remaining balance and I can refocus on the sinking funds, increase my retirement contribution and increase the amount I give to charity. Financial freedom here I (We) come!!!
@Tomika, I feel like I ran out of new things to say a long time ago, lol! Repetition is super important when you're trying to change habits so I figure it's fine if we sound like a broken record from time to time 
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@Kaarina, another thing to try is contacting service - they've always responded to me and fixed problems when it comes to points not showing up properly.
Great job keeping your debt in control, @Candice, you're on track and it's inspirational to hear!
@Kaarina L: I receive points, but I found that it is more likely for any point lag to catch up when you log out of your account after finished browsing/using SaverLife each time.
@Candice P: I am not currently comfortable with any sort of debt (mainly due to "just starting workforce" income levels), but I recognize that it is a tool that can be for the good/bad depending on use. I feel that the more I learn, the more it seems like Dave Ramsey is an oversimplified version that is good for "just starting out", but to look at other financial advisors/coaches/resources, too. It makes me wonder if he has an "updated" version that factors in the [seeming] changes of the financial world.
@Candice Awesome sauce! I look forward to when I'm down to student loans/mortgage.
I find that contacting customer service solves just about any problem. They resolve everything within a day or so.
Hope everyone's week is going well!
Good morning! Hope everyone is doing well 
I have a job interview this morning. Completely out of the blue, my former boss, who left for a different job this April, reached out to me suggesting I join her team. It would be a huge change for me and there are a lot of pros and cons to weigh, but I figured it doesn't hurt to at least interview and see what happens!
@Katie Good Luck with the interview!
Thanks, @Sarah! The interview went well and they'll let me know within 2 weeks if I go onto round 2 of interviews. Hope everyone has a great weekend I'm spending the day putting plastic on our windows. We had our first snowfall yesterday and I only had 1/3 of the windows ready for winter. Little bit of a wakeup call! Gotta keep the electric bill down!
Every time i post i don't get points?
