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[caption id="attachment_2212" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Boogie Boarding Fun [/caption] October is my favorite time of the year.  While cooler temperatures, autumn leaves, and pumpkins are great, they don't compare with my favorite aspect of fall--tax planning!  Every year Forbes magazine comes out with its tax predictions for the upcoming year.  Well, it's here , so I can finally prepare our tax plan for 2017. As my loyal readers already know (Hi Mom, Penny, and Landon!), tax planning is an integral step to our wealth-building.  By keeping our federal income tax obligations in check, we are essentially able to set our own tax rate.  Let's face a few facts:  1.) no one likes to pay "too much" in taxes.  At the same time, 2.) no one likes to listen to people whine about how much they paid in taxes, especially when much of the taxation could have been avoided with ten minutes of tax planning.  If you are thinking you're payin...

  [caption id="attachment_2128" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Top Secret:  Lottery Tickets = Incredible Wealth![/caption] August has come and gone, and fall is right around the corner.  Our August paychecks ( 26¢! ) finally made it to our checking account, and we're a little sad.  Why?  August represents our final paychecks from our latest " crappy job ."  We still have health and dental insurance for one more month, but on October 1st we're officially on our own. We'll certainly miss saving $9,500 a month, but we'll also love the increased freedom brought on by our voluntary unemployment.  Here's the recap:  In August, we once again funneled all of our income into our 457 and 403b accounts.  In fact, from January through August of 2016 my wife and I received only $2.08 of net pay.  Where did our money go?  Directly into our retirement accounts!  As a result of our hardcore savings via front-loading, we were able to max ou...

[caption id="attachment_1958" align="aligncenter" width="247"] Summer Fun in  2006[/caption] I have an important family issue to take care of, so I'm just going to post a net worth update.  I'll let the numbers do the talking.  The take away is that last month we added $9,450 to our 457 ($6,000) and 403b ($3,450) accounts.  As always, hardcore savings saves the day.  We will have three more months (July, August, and September) of 100% savings.  Here is our net worth as of June of 2016: [table id=61 /] [table id=76 /]

[caption id="attachment_1950" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Dan Otter, 403b Reformer  [/caption] Nota Bene:  This is a post that I wrote for Dan Otter at 403bwise.com  back in 2013.  Dan has led the charge in the area of 403b / 457 reform at the K-12 level.  His site is a must for all teachers; check out our podcast interview below.  Other 403b reformers meriting a visit are:   Scott Dauenhauer  and  Steve Schullo . How I Escaped My 403b by Quitting My Job Greetings to all 403bwise readers.  Let me start by expressing my gratitude to Dan Otter and the other 403b reformers who frequent this site.  Because of your invaluable 403b and 457 information, you guys have certainly saved me a lot of heartache and money over the years.  From reading your articles I learned how high fees and surrender charges made 403b plans a “heads-I-lose-tails-you-win" proposition for most investors.   In 2002 I jumped into the 403b reform movement when I successfully peti...

[caption id="attachment_1832" align="aligncenter" width="279"] Edwina & Ed in January of 1997   [/caption] Around 1992 I had a great plan.  First, I was going to graduate school to earn two degrees:  an M.B.A. and an M.A. in TESOL.  After that, I figured that I would go to Brazil and open up a language school.  Eventually, I would find a beautiful Brazilian wife, and we'd live happily ever after.  Then in July of 1992, I met my future wife and all those plans were instantly irrelevant. How We Met Here is the Reader's Digest version that I love to tell my students.  Don't worry, it's not true: Class :  Sr. Mills, how did you meet your wife? Me :  When I jumped out of the cake, our eyes met and it was love at first sight. Class :  Gross!  Disgusting!  That image is seared in my brain! Me :  You're welcome.  ¡De nada! The True Story *  We met at a party in Atlanta.  I was there having a good time with some old college buddies that I ...

Crappy Jobs or Bust! Summer greetings to my dozens of loyal readers!  As you know, no one loves a "crappy" job more than this guy.  Unfortunately, over the last two years I've been very busy with my latest job, and it severely cut into my blogging.  Well, last week I worked my last day at "crappy job II."  Now that I no longer have to keep secrets from my students, I can tell you all about it. In June of 2014 my wife and I took new jobs in Douglas, Georgia.  The marital-lottery-winner took a middle school job and I landed a high school Spanish job.  We took the jobs for a few reasons.  First, after a year of homeschooling, our son expressed an interest in returning to traditional school.  Second, my brother-in-law in Tifton, GA was diagnosed with terminal cancer, so by moving to Douglas we would be only an hour away.  Third, my wife and I agreed that another year or two of hardcore savings would fast forward us to our goal of a $1 million net worth.  For those ...

[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...