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[caption id="attachment_128" align="aligncenter" width="750"] Be Prepared: Front-loading Can Lead to Some Lean Checks... [/caption]   Like my buddy the Mad Fientist , I'm a huge advocate of front-loading.  If that's a new term for you, this post is going to show you the hidden power of your paycheck.  A quick search of the term "front-loading" offers this definition: the process of "distributing or allocating (costs, effort, etc.) unevenly, with the greater proportion at the beginning of an enterprise or process."   In our case, front-loading refers to our practice of diverting 100% of our paychecks into our various retirement-educational-healthcare accounts.  Each year we start this process in January to make sure that we hit our savings goals...this is financial priority number one.  The main accounts for these hardcore savings are the 457 and 403b accounts offered by our employer.  We also save money in:  IRA's, an HSA...

[caption id="attachment_1494" align="aligncenter" width="773"] Future Debt Slaves of America? [/caption] As a teacher, I value education to the utmost.  Over my lifetime, I have earned four degrees, learned a few languages, and read a ton of books.  In my eyes, obtaining knowledge is fun, motivating and life-changing.  However, these days I have a real problem with higher education and its runaway costs.  In its current form, higher education benefits academia, banks, and politicians while creating a generation of future debt slaves. Over the last thirty years college tuition, room, and board have become insanely expensive. For example, in 1982, my freshman year, total costs at my alma mater were $7,700 a year, but today it costs a cool $60,000 a year...whiskey tango hotel!  To be fair, that horse-choking number represents the annual cost at a prestigious private college .   It's also true that few students graduate with student loan debt over $100K, ...

  [caption id="attachment_1227" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Nerding Out on Minecraft [/caption] Like most inhabitants of Earth, we love technology in all its forms.  We have computers, smart phones, tablets, a Roku (for our 2002 unsmart TV) and a Wii.  Of course, we need an Internet connection to bring the world into our home, so an Internet connection is a must.  After enjoying a one-year introductory rate of $25 a month, I realized that our local ISP was now charging us $50 a month for a 25Mpbs Internet connection.  Something inside me said that we were paying too much, so I began researching our options. At the Mr. Money Mustache forum I came across a technology guide by I.P. Daley.  I couldn't believe what I read: Realistically, most people in this day and age can easily get by with no more than 3Mbps service." ( Read it all here. ) What?!  Well, after reading his guide, I emailed our ISP to learn about their lower-end options.  Sure ...

[caption id="attachment_1132" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Aiming for Our Targets [/caption] Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of my trillions of readers out there!  With 2015 almost gone and 2016 right around the corner, it's time to 1.) see how we did last year and 2.) establish some goals for the upcoming year. 2015 Results  A year ago I wrote that our goal was to save $106,250 in 2015.  Currently, we have contributed $104,250 to our various accounts, and we are just a little short of hitting our goal.  I'll need to check with my CPA to make sure that I earned enough to top off my IRA with the final $2,100.  (Fortunately, I'll have until April 15th of 2016 to contribute to my IRA if necessary.)  Here is what we did in 2015: [table id=41 /] Wow, I can't believe that we were able to cram so much money into our accounts this year.  As a working-class guy with simple tastes, six-figures of savings is a lot of moola to me.  How...

Greetings to my dozens of readers out there.  Because of the surging stock market, our high savings rate, and our frugal lifestyle, we're slowly approaching our goal of amassing a net worth of $1 million.  Currently, we have a net worth of approximately $900,000, so, barring a total meltdown of the U.S. economy, it looks like we'll hit the 7-figure mark sometime over the next 18 to 24 months. As I watch our net worth grow, my mind starts to race at a furious pace.  While a $1 million net worth is a lot of money to me, I know that it's small change to the money elite.  So, after lots of thought, I have decided to (pardon the cliches) go for the gold and shoot for the moon.  My goal is to exceed the net worth of Bill Gates, Carlos Slim and Warren Buffett combined...I'm going to become a TRILLIONAIRE ! How?  The Nuts and Bolts How do I plan on achieving this lofty goal of $1,000,000,000,000?  First, I'm going to continue investing at least $25,000 every year until I di...

[caption id="attachment_929" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Fall Camp Out with Cub Scouts...Much More Fun Than Tax Planning! [/caption] Anybody out there like free money besides this guy?  Yes, it's October, so it's time for the IRS to release valuable tax information for the upcoming year.  I've been hawking the internet for the 2016 tax-code changes and finally came across  this reliable source .  As usual, we plan on using this tax information to 1.) determine our free money and to 2.) develop a comprehensive tax plan for the next year.  Let the tax planning begin! FREE MONEY  My regular readers know that our " free money " consists of three main components:  the standard deduction, our personal exemptions, and our tax credits.  The total of these three amounts provides us with our free money amount.  In 2016, it appears that we'll be able to earn $34,750 of income before we owe any federal income tax.  Because we're a...

Cool fall greetings to all my current and future millionaire readers. Since September is done and gone, it's time for a Q3 hardcore savings update. As always, we continue to feed our 457 and 403b accounts with the intention of maxing them out in December. So far, so good! Thus far, we've managed to contribute $65,000 into our 457, 403b, and IRA accounts. In total, we have managed to save a little less than $70,000 thus far in 2015. [table id=34 /] How are your savings goals progressing? Good luck to all and keep on hammerin'! [table id=76 /]