Tag Archives: Saving

3 Ways to Save Money on Auto Insurance Today

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This pandemic has significantly changed our lives and the routines we have been accustomed to.  The changes have been drastic and sudden.  One of the major changes is that people are driving less than they were a few months ago.  No more daily commutes, no more traffic jams, less fuel (and more savings)…you get the picture. With these changes, there are plenty of opportunities to also save on your insurance costs.  This article will discuss 3 ways to save money on your auto insurance plan today. Hopefully you can take advantage of some (or all) of the ways to save.

save money on car insurance, car insurance, auto insurance, saving money

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Getting Back to Basics

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We all have been there.  When time goes by and sometimes you cannot grasp everything that is happening or everything that is happening is out of your control.  You begin down a spiraling path of not taking care of “the house” and end up jumping from one event/task/fire to the next, while running out of time to take care of what was needed.  The last 6 months have been amazing and Lord knows how life-filled that time period was.  However, I may not have been as diligent as I could have been and 2019 is about getting back to basics.

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Nothing Matters More Than Your Savings Rate

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Nothing Matters More than your Savings rate. Now that I’ve been deep on the journey to financial freedom, one learns quite a bit. From investing, making every dollar and hour count, to maximizing your investments to the highest level with tax efficient accounts.  Additionally, I’ve learned the utmost importance of having an extremely high savings rate.  One cannot do any of the items above if you spend all of your money!  Here is why in personal finance, nothing matters more than YOUR savings rate.

save money, personal finance, budget

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Dividend Investing to Take Back Control

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All, I’ve been very intense lately talking to friends, peers and co-workers about dividend investing.  Not purely because of this, but I come home from work in a haste, not happy and very mentally drained.  Even writing articles, which I love to do, ends up being very difficult and even connecting with loves ones results in stress.  It would be one thing if I was drained from doing something I love so much that it wears me out, but that is not the case.  I’m exhausted in a prison-like manner and that is why I am even more energized at the same time to continue my build up of forward dividend income.

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Cancelling Our Gym Membership

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With the purchase of our first home, my wife and I are looking to find any monthly expenses that we can cut back on in order to offset the impact of our new mortgage, tax, and insurance payment.  There isn’t a one size fits all answer or one expense that will magically offset this impact; however, we are going to do everything we can to collect a series of small victories to lessen the blow.  We found one piece of low hanging fruit, our gym membership, and decided to take a look at whether the expense was necessary or a luxury.

gym membership

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My Phone Battle & Success with AT&T Cable & Internet

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Well, well, it seems as though Bert was driving off of what I was able to accomplish with my mom’s package with AT&T recently/earlier this month.  You know how this battle goes – price is too high, you don’t want to pay/can’t afford that service, want to save money to invest/act more frugal, but that does mean one thing we all dread… Calling your cable/internet provider.  Luckily, I don’t have cable at my house, but my mom does, to which she wants to keep it.  Well, I wanted to put the gloves on and go to battle for her, did I come out the victor?  Let’s see how this went down and who stood at the end…

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Small Dividend Increases from Big Companies This Year

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As I sit here with the desire to “crank out” an article before the day starts (going for an 8 minute post) – it dawned on me that this year hasn’t been the “strongest” in terms of dividend increases for large companies that we all share, hold and love.  Some are even dividend aristocrats that increase their dividend year, after year, after year.  Some are big name companies that over the last 5 to 10 years have had large or more than the average dividend growth rates, say between 5 and 15% increases, vs the 0-5% increases from some of the others.  This has been a very different year for dividend investors as we navigate the playing field and start seeing action events from companies on their annual increases, which – we can’t blame them at all, given the facts displayed out below.  Let’s see what I’m talking about so far this year, with 5 examples of companies that haven’t provided that historical or thought of dividend increase year. Continue reading →