Debt Archives | Mastering the Side Jam

Why, Oh Why, Can’t I Be FI?

Written by Robin - 8 Comments

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In Pursuit of Financial Independence

I attended a meetup last weekend for the local ChooseFI group I belong to. It was actually more of a presentation. The group tries to do several throughout the year, balancing out educational with social. Yesterday’s presentation was about the recent tax changes.

Since I’m in the midst of doing taxes for all of my family members, I figured it would be worth it to attend and see if I could glean a few pointers from the discussion.

Also, I’m trying to make myself attend more of these events, to try to be more social. Because a discussion on taxes is clearly a social excursion …

But given the fact that I work from home, I can sometimes go a full week without ever leaving the house. I’m a homebody, and don’t see the need to go out just to go out.

Some people think that’s weird. I know it’s just the way I’m most comfortable.

Since making the conscious effort to co-mingle with the human race, I’ve found this local chapter of Choose FI to be a great place where I can interact with others. We’re all interested in money topics, and I don’t even need to say anything if I don’t want to. I can just sit back and listen.

Because I’ve met many group members who know A LOT, and are more than happy to share their knowledge. Which is really helpful, since this whole FI (Financial Independence) concept is still fairly new to me.

But a funny thing happened as the meeting was commencing and we were going around the table doing introductions.

Fri
06 ^th

For Love and Money – Talking Finances with Your Partner

Written by Robin - 10 Comments

For Richer, For Poorer

Ah, love. Exciting and new.

So many possibilities. So much chemistry. The whirlwind romance, plans for the future.
Cohabiting, vows, babies — and no, it doesn’t have to be in that order (or at all).

But then there’s the bank account.

Do you have one, or maybe two? Does your partner have one? Should you combine them?
And before you even think about doing anything jointly, have you had that crucial conversation about money?

It’s so easy to fall in love, but why is it so hard to have a heart-to-heart with your amour about finances?

Sun
24 ^th

How to Stay Focused to Pay Off Debt

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How to Pay Off Debt - Monthly Update | How to deal with life -- A trip to Vegas, making payments that seem to go nowhere and trying to stay motivated #debt #financetips #creditcards #payoffdebt #getoutofdebt #moneytips

Staying Motivated to Pay Off Debt

This update won’t be nearly as interesting, controversial or fun as my last debt update was. But when you pay off debt, there are peaks and valleys. High points and low points.

This progress report floats along somewhere in the middle.

There were no windfalls, tax refunds or bonuses.
No over the top expenses, medical or vet bills (thank goodness!)
And no huge progress made in terms of debt payoff — unfortunately.

The last two months were kind of ho-hum, business as usual.
But at least we were able to keep on truckin’.

Sometimes moving forward is the best sort of progress you can hope for.

So let’s get down to it —

Where our debt payoff strategy wound up over these past two months.