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  [caption id="attachment_3769" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Let the Good Times Roll! [/caption] Depending on where you live and work, teacher pay varies greatly.  Occasionally, I get questions about how we managed to earn such "high" teaching salaries over the years.  When my wife and I took jobs in LaGrange, Georgia in 2002, we were pleasantly surprised by our combined salaries of $85,000.  That seemed like a ton of money at the time because I earned only $18,500 during my first year of teaching back in 1992.  Obviously, teacher pay had improved over those ten years.  A few years later as we climbed the pay scale, our combined salaries crossed the six-figure salary mark.  In 2011, we hit our peak earning with combined salaries of $132,000. Because we're veteran teachers with years of experience on the pay scale, our base pay is a combined $125,000 a year.  Take a look at the pay scale below.  My wife and I are both in the Prof T-6  col...

[caption id="attachment_1279" align="aligncenter" width="700"] The Remains of Edwina's Paycheck [/caption] Happy Monday, readers!  I just wanted to make you aware of my last podcast appearance at the Teach and Retire Rich podcast with Dan Otter and Scott Dauenhauer .  I also need to update our 2016 savings rate numbers that have changed due to some unexpected income on last year's W2 forms. Teach and Retire Rich Podcast This was my second appearance on the TRR podcast.  Previously, I was on episode #18 (also below).  This time Dan and Scott wanted to know what we've been up to since we quit our jobs last May.  Take a listen:   You might notice between minutes 17 and 18 there is a break in the conversation.  I was answering Dan's question about our sources of income.  About that time we were interrupted with a knock on my door.  As a result, the podcast went a little off track; just know that I was basically providing the information fro...

[caption id="attachment_3292" align="alignnone" width="700"] Merida, Mexico in December of 2016 [/caption] If you read FAQs  #1 and #2 , you now know how we save money and how we cover our living expenses.  In this post, I'll explain how we invest our money as it builds up in our various plans.  How we invest our money varies depending on where it's saved.  You probably remember from previous posts that we have four main savings accounts--our IRA, HSA, 403b,  and 457 accounts.  Because each savings account operates under a different investment platform, our investment options vary depending on our choices within the platform.  Our main concerns when we invest in our accounts are 1.) investment choices and 2.) their underlying fees.  Here's how we invest our money: Our Investments by Accounts IRAs * IRAs are great because you , not your employer, get to choose where to invest your money.  Naturally, you want to go with an excellent investment...

[caption id="attachment_1279" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Poor Edwina Earns Only 7¢ a Month! [/caption] If you read FAQ #1 , I already know what your next questions is.  Here's what's going through your mind: "Gee Ed, I think the way you funnel all of your paychecks into your various savings accounts is awesome, but what the heck do you live on?  How do pay for rent, groceries, utilities, etc.?  Do you and your family live in a cardboard box?" Come on and admit it, I just read your mind, didn't I?  This question is a fair one because as you can imagine, we usually don't have much money at the end of the month after stuffing our various accounts (see Edwina's paycheck above).  In 2016 from January to August, we received combined paychecks of 26¢:  7¢ for Edwina and 19¢ for me.  Naturally, we need money to live on, so in order to work our financial plan, we set up two sources of income to cover our living expenses.  (For t...

[caption id="attachment_3218" align="aligncenter" width="223"] Cancun Monkey Bars [/caption] These days saving over $100,000 a year is a given for us .  Whenever we take jobs, we are certain that we'll save at least six figures.  You can take that to the bank.  Upon hearing such bold statements coming from two public school teachers, people are shocked and asked how the heck we do it.  My answer consists of two elements:  the mental aspect and the nuts-and-bolts component. I.  Mental Aspect:  Mind Flip Years ago my wife and I viewed our jobs as current income streams that allowed us to enjoy an awesome lifestyle.  We weren't high-rollers, but we could eat out whenever we wanted, go for drinks, and take week-end trips and nice vacations.  If we needed or wanted something, we simply bought it:  clothes, books, music, cable TV, etc.  All of our consumption was made possible thanks to our two-income household.  However, in 2009 we realized that we c...

[caption id="attachment_3075" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Playa Delfines in Cancun [/caption] Before I put 2016 in my rear-view mirror, I want to take a final look and calculate our 2016 savings rate.  Every year the Mustachian Post  updates its index of bloggers' savings rates.  That means it's time for me to crank out a few spreadsheets for more awesome tables.  First, let's take a look at what we saved in 2016; here's the recap: [table id=79 /] 2016 Savings Rates Okay, now that we know what we saved last year, let's take a look at our 2016 salary numbers.  You can see in the next table that last year Edwina and I had combined salaries of $90,720.  That number represents our gross pay (not net pay) from January to August of 2016.  However, we also had another source of income last year, our 72t IRA distributions of $18,375.  When we add that amount to our salaries, we get a total income of $109,095 for the year.  (Some years we ...

[caption id="attachment_2992" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Wave Riding > Debt Servicing [/caption] Debt...ugh!  Where do I start on a topic that I hate so much?  Let's go back to the summer of 1996.  After two years of full-time graduate school, I had just finished an MBA and my  MATL .  In July, I landed my first job after graduate school, a position as an ESL instructor in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.  At the time, it was the best job I ever had:  $39,000 a year (mostly tax-free), 401k with automatic 10% employer contribution, housing, and the use of a car.  My only expenses were for food and phone calls. I was very happy to have the job because I had a $20,000 student loan that I wanted to pay off.  I was 33 years old, and I had never been in debt...EVER.  I realized that I should use my first job to pay down my loan as quickly as possible.  When my first paycheck arrived, it was for nearly two months work, so I immediately sent Sallie Mae a check ...