Money Management & Personal Finance

Details of the 4% Safe Withdrawal Rate

Author: Doug Nordman Last Updated: June 27, 2018 Leave a Comment

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Let's follow up on questions from last week: Explain again this 4% – is that 4% withdrawal from the “investment pot” each year in retirement? Wouldn’t that automatically reduce the amount withdrawn each year? And the 25 times living expenses…we might be unusual in that our children are both college age as we approach 65 so our current expenses … [Read more...] about Details of the 4% Safe Withdrawal Rate

Trends in personal finances

The blog went over 20,000 hits last week-- thanks! It took over six months to get the first 10,000 hits, and only three months to do it again. This month is on track to set yet another new high, and if the trend continues then 30,000 hits will happen in September. I've read a number of interesting financial and retirement articles lately. First, … [Read more...] about Trends in personal finances

Getting Rich In The Submarine Force

Author: Doug Nordman Last Updated: June 27, 2018 5 Comments

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(Disclosure: After "seeing the real Navy" during this summer's NROTC training, our progeny announced a desire to join the submarine force. She's smart, she's persistent, and she'll be good at it. She's a contender for "command at sea". I'm happy to support whatever decision she makes, as long as she has enough facts to make an informed … [Read more...] about Getting Rich In The Submarine Force

Five Money Missteps

Author: Doug Nordman Last Updated: June 27, 2018 2 Comments

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State Farm Insurance recently published "Five Money Missteps to Avoid" in their monthly magazine. (Thanks for sending this, Jay!) I'm a sucker for short lists that help you succeed one sound bite at a time. They're a quick read, they're easily compared to your own practices, and you don't feel as if you're slogging through a personal-finance … [Read more...] about Five Money Missteps

Chasing yield

Author: Doug Nordman Last Updated: June 27, 2018 4 Comments

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Brandi F on Dollar Stretcher asked an excellent question on the "Money Rules to Break" post: I've always wondered if it was prudent for military members to keep a smaller emergency fund, given their job security and health care. I personally keep the traditional 3-6 months of expenses in my emergency fund for a few reasons: 1) if I separate early … [Read more...] about Chasing yield

USAA: Seven Money Rules to Break

Author: Doug Nordman Last Updated: December 16, 2018 Leave a Comment

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A few weeks ago USAA article posted an article on when to break the "money rules". Here's the summary, with my comments in italics: 1. Pay off debt and build an emergency fund before saving for retirement ... ... except when your debt is of the low-rate, tax-reducing variety, such as a mortgage or student loans, and your retirement plan at work … [Read more...] about USAA: Seven Money Rules to Break

How much should you save for college?

After reading the earlier posts on kids & college (see below), some of you have already been thinking about the next question: "How can I save for early retirement and still save enough for my kid to go to a good college?" An earlier post already discussed whether you want to set aside any money for them to go to college. For this post, we'll … [Read more...] about How much should you save for college?

Book review: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Social Security and Medicare

Author: Doug Nordman Last Updated: March 26, 2019 Leave a Comment

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I didn't expect to be reading a book like this for at least another decade, let alone writing a review of it. I'm no less than 12 years away from Social Security and nearly 15 years away from Medicare. I have a lot of zeroes in my SS earnings record, so by the time I start collecting the former, it may barely pay the premiums for the latter. … [Read more...] about Book review: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Social Security and Medicare

Early retirement and the kid’s college fund

This is another perennial (and heated) topic on discussion boards like Early-Retirement.org and Bogleheads.org. I'll try to distill years of debate (and thousands of posts) into the most popular suggestions. Before we get into the mechanics of saving & investing the college fund, let's figure out why you'd want to have a college fund in the … [Read more...] about Early retirement and the kid’s college fund

Raising a money-smart kid

Author: Doug Nordman Last Updated: October 16, 2018 3 Comments

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Our college daughter (just survived freshman year!) spent the last couple weeks at home. As she was reviewing the packing list for next month's NROTC training, she noticed that it included traveler's checks. "Traveler's checks"?!? If you're at least in your 40s then you may have dim memories of using them in your youth. If you're in your 20s … [Read more...] about Raising a money-smart kid