Refinancing My Mortgage After Two Years and Saving $48 per month

This is an article that I am very excited to write.  And I owe a huge thank you to Lanny for helping me make it happen.  Ever since the rate cut in July, we have all been bombarded with emails asking us to refinance our mortgage.  “Why you need to refinance with Quicken Loans.”  “You’ve been pre-approved with Chase.”  Even Ally Bank, where we have both held our investment portfolios at one time, offered us a sweet refinance deal.

With an interest rate of 3.89% on a 30-year mortgage originated two years ago, I never thought that refinancing would work for me.  But as interest rates continued to slide and the refinance market exploded, rates finally reached the level where it was economically beneficial for me to make the move.  Here is why I am refinancing my mortgage after two years and unlocking some serious cash along the way.

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5 Financial Mistakes I Made in My 20s and How They Cost Me Thousands of Dollars in Dividend Income

Mistakes.  We’ve all made them.  I’ve made my fair share of mistakes over the years, professionally and personally.  Sometimes, the best way to learn is to experience the pain yourself.  It is funny, my mom and I were talking over the weekend and she told me that my grandpa always used to tell her that “learning is expensive.”  This didn’t specifically relate to education, either.   This related to different life situations her and my dad encountered over the years.   This year, I’ll be turning 29.  My 20s will soon be in the rear-view mirror.   I’ve made plenty of financial mistakes over the years that have likely cost me a lot of dividend income.  With the benefit of hindsight, I wanted to share my top 5 financial mistakes and calculate the true impact they had on my life and my dividend income.

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Why I’ll Never Fix That Dent in My Car

Lanny and I have talked extensively about our disdain for owning a car, forking over a monthly payment for a depreciating asset, and dealing with all the random costs and annoyances that come with owning a car.   Well, a half a year ago, I caused some self inflicted damage to my car and have a massive dent to show for it.   This time, I drew a line in the sand and determined I am not spending my hard earned money for the repair!

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Banking Without Branches (3 Months Later) & A HUGE Life Lesson Learned

Woah, I can’t believe time has flown by this quickly.   It seems like just yesterday I was walking into my banks, closing my accounts, and requesting a cashier’s check with the remaining funds.   Why did I do this? My wife and I were looking to consolidate our finances after our wedding and wanted to experiment with using a bank without any physical branches in our area.   Ultimately, we selected Capital One as for this grand experiment.  That was three months ago, so I wanted to share the results of this experiment with all of you!  But wait, there is more.  Over the last three months, this experience and others has taught me a HUGE life lesson that I would like to share with all of you.

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Make Saving Part of Your Routine

Since our wedding, my wife and I have been talking about how excited we are for things to settle down.   She is also in grad school, which is occupying a lot of her time, but she is in the homestretch and final semester.   Why do I bring this up?   Because there are a lot of great saving habits or routine that take time.  When you are working full-time, planning a wedding, and in grad school like she is, time is at a premium.   However, despite the busy schedule, the two of us have committed to trying to making saving routine in one aspect…..grocery shopping.   In this article, I will walk you through why we want to establish a routine for saving on groceries and  how we have been practicing this routine over the last several weeks.

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Bert’s Recent Buy – Target (TGT)

I just couldn’t sit on the sideline any longer.  For those of you that have followed our blog over the last month, you would have realized that there was one stock I have been fixated on…Target (TGT).  It was the number 1 stock on my June watch list for a reason.  Over the month, I was patiently waited for the right moment to strike.  When I went to buy, the stock price increased.  When I wasn’t able t access the internet to actually purchase the stock, the price fell.   Finally, the stars aligned as the markets had two terrible days after the Brexit situation.   Time to check out why and most importantly, how much TGT stock I purchased this week!

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