Nicole and Maggie discuss budgeting
Some early popular money posts
The Money tag
#1 used to have a mortgage
Do you have any favorite money posts? Any money questions for Ask the Grumpies?
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Summer Break, links to old money posts
June 27, 2022 — nicoleandmaggie6 Responses to “Summer Break, links to old money posts”
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Grumpy Rumblings (of the formerly untenured) 
June 27, 2022 at 4:50 pm
Ah I like all your money posts! And that was a nice visit into the past, unlike when I go back to old posts and feel sad not knowing where that microgeneration’s commenters went. I don’t know why I care, I just like knowing or don’t like the idea of people disappearing.
I did like rereading your not trying to be a millionaire post because it’s a useful yardstick to hold up to where I am now and I think we’ve made real progress on some of those fronts. I still work to grow wealth but it’s tempered a great deal by other priorities now.
June 27, 2022 at 11:55 pm
Man, it looks like you’re the only one left from that post. The personal finance blogosphere has changed! Donna is still around but we don’t cross paths as much, but I think the others are gone.
June 28, 2022 at 2:16 am
The look back is interesting. When I started blogging way way back in 2009, I felt so so skint despite 2 incomes. My portfolio went in the toilet much more than the crash itself due to the company stock I had. We had 2 mortgages, 2 full time daycares, 3 fixer uppers. Yet, we never stopped saving 15% of our paychecks. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at our progress. We have been saving for 25 years, but what I still don’t get is how has it been 25 years already?
Automating savings is the best thing we ever did, because life goes by in a flash and that can work both for and against your savings goals. It would have been much easier to take a few years off from saving for retirement after the lost decade but I would have missed some of the best growth years of my generation. Thank you dollar cost averaging.
June 28, 2022 at 3:53 am
On blogging topics. I always have lots of ideas.
I’d love one on life insurance during retirement and why you would have it. If you’re retired, then it’s almost like you can self insure.
Id also like a relook at what a diversified portfolio looks like allocation wise these days. It’s a strange time due to both stocks and bond funds tanking.
Dividend investing as a source of monthly income seems to be making a comeback. Pros and cons of that approach.
Why are admissions rates at colleges going down almost everywhere? Why are colleges I easily got into now at a 5 or 10% acceptance rate? Is it a supply demand thing? Is it just demographics of the population? Gen x was small so there was lots of capacity? Is it because common core app lets kids apply to a lot of places easily? Is it because China has a more rich people now and they are taking up a bunch of capacity? Is it all those things?
I’ve heard rumblings that my kid’s generation are now seeking alternate paths to wealth due to skyrocketing college costs. Do you think there is a number where colleges will have to start doing stuff to control escalating costs? I personally am seeing a number of my peer’s kids starting at community colleges or cheap state schools because they don’t want to be in 6 figure debt, not because that’s all they could afford or get into.
Roth IRA conversions. Traditional wisdom says that you early retire and then ladder your conversions to minimize tax implications. That assumes you will have low/no income years at some point. Many early retirees in the blogosphere regret not having more roth because their earned income is higher than expected in retirement from side Hustles. Is there any value in paying tax today vs during your RMD phase in retirement if you will essentially be in the same tax bracket as you are now?
Related to roth…what would be a good trigger number to use for a stock market correction to say, yes it’s a good time to convert. I recall you converted after the 2008 crash but something had to be the catalyst to make the switch. I should have done something during the pandemic but I honestly thought we’d stay at the bottom a lot longer and expected a double dip. I missed my window, so I need something more concrete than what my gut says and maybe that double dip is now.
What is a good balance/ratio between roth and traditional ira account balances and why.
What blogs do you read today? Will you update your blog roll?
I’d love a general look back on lessons learned over your personal finance journey…what did you do right, what would you do differently if you were to go back 15-20 years.
June 28, 2022 at 10:40 am
I have a question: How much are people saving for their kids’ college and what investment vehicles are they using? I’m not sure whether locking money in a 529 is worth the limitations.
Also, follow up question: Is it tacky to ask for college fund contributions in lieu of physical items on a baby registry? In general, my plan is to get things for our baby mostly used/secondhand to reduce waste, but that does provide less opportunity for family and friends to contribute.
June 28, 2022 at 11:10 am
I think it’s ok to answer that if people ask, but if you have a baby registry only have it be one of the options. And you’ll want to set it up so they can contribute directly. There are probably also disposable things you can put on a list If you troll through enough online lists (ex lanolin and other breast soothers you probably shouldn’t get used if you’re nursing).