Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Scottie Scheffler, the world’s best golfer by a decent margin (reminiscent of Tiger Woods), talks frankly about the triviality of the sport and how unfulfilling fame/success is (link). A week after the interview, he won the British Open (one of the four majors) in ... Read more| Frugal Professor
On September 4, 2024, US Bank made big news with their announcement of an “industry-leading” card purported to earn 4% on all purchases (screenshot below). The card started accepting applications on November 14, 2024. In the ensuing 8.5 months, it has been almost comical to behold the meteoric (and inevitable) implosion of this card.| Frugal Professor
Reader Case Study: Finding 7 Figures of Tax Alpha Under the Couch Cushions| frugalprofessor.com
Last month, I received an email from a reader (shared anonymously with permission): My wife and I are 53, living in Texas with our two kids. We’ve built up about $1 million in stocks and retirement accounts (we got a late start!). I’m a small business owner, with pre-tax and pre-expense income around $500,000, netting ... Read more| Frugal Professor
My brother-in-law and his wife promised each of their kids a vacation to anywhere in the world upon graduating high school. My wife and I thought that was a cool idea and vaguely promised something similar to our children. The cheapskate in me secretly hoped that each of my graduating seniors would choose a tour ... Read more| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches We are enjoying Season 4 of Welcome to Wrexam (link). Ben Rector dropped a new album. It is great (link). Some new favorite YouTube channels: An Italian bikepacker (link). His current plans of a human powered voyage across the globe (link). Dan Cycles the World, ... Read more| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches NYT Podcast on how the much anticipated reduction in real estate agent fees has yet to materialize (link). Older Bogleheads on advice they’d give their 45-year old selves (link). WSJ on how to easily delete personal info (address, phone number, etc) from internet (wsj article). ... Read more The post Financial Update – Apr 2025 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
I’ve used Fidelity’s Cash Management Account (CMA) as my primary “checking,” “savings,” and “cash management account” for over six years. I recommend this setup to my students. I recommend it to my children. I recommend it to you. The default CMA setup is already strong. However, I’ve spent years refining it — optimizing for tax ... Read more| Frugal Professor
I wrote the majority of this post before markets went to hell on April 3–4. Since then, our portfolio dropped another $250k. We’ll see how this plays out, but I can’t say I’m terribly optimistic about the fallout from what the WSJ called the “dumbest trade war in history.” I wouldn’t be surprised if equities ... Read more| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches The Finance Buff on protecting investment accounts from ACATS transfer theft (link). If I were not currently chasing $7k/year of brokerage bonuses, I’d have 100% of our brokerage accounts at Fidelity with lockdown enabled. Hopefully other brokerages follow suit and enable this functionality. Life ... Read more| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I found this YouTube documentary on Malaysian Flight 370 (the Boeing 777 that seemingly disappeared without a trace in 2014) to be fascinating/horrifying (link). Vanguard lowers expense ratios on 87 funds (link). Bogleheads discussion (link). WSJ article (link). Tesla is offering a 10% insurance discount ... Read more The post Financial Update – Jan 2025 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another lap around the sun. First, a 40,000 ft overview of 2024: I lost my mom (64) after an excruciatingly long and difficult sickness spanning almost a decade. I rediscovered running after a 25-year hiatus. I dragged the family to Seattle/Whistler where we hiked, kayaked, and four of us competed in a triathlon (Me, ... Read more The post 2024 Review — State of the Blog & Life appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
I’ve been a member of the BoA cult for the better part of a decade now, happily earning 5.25% on “category” purchases with the Customized Cash Rewards card and 2.625% on “non-category” purchases with my BoA Premium Rewards card. However, I recently jumped on the US Bank 4% Smartly card bandwagon for my “non-category” spend, ... Read more The post Repurposing BoA’s Obsolete Premium Rewards Card with a No-FTF Customized Cash Rewards Card appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Today, I helped my 17-year-old daughter file her taxes. Since she doesn’t earn much income as a teenager, we opted to use TurboTax for its free federal and state e-filings. While I don’t love TurboTax, I’ll grudgingly use it when it’s truly free—which is the case for my teens. After submitting her return, we were ... Read more| Frugal Professor
Our oldest kid came back from school with a terrible earache today. Given the time of day, it was too late to get into our primary care physician. My wife scheduled an appointment at our local CVS Minute Clinic for this evening, but I explored telehealth options first. A few Google queries were rather unsuccessful, ... Read more| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Ben Rector dropped three new songs, which made my month (link). I particularly like the song The Richest Man in the World. Life I took a climbing trip to Vegas where a friend and did a ~1,500 ft classic climb called “Solar Slab.” When ... Read more The post Financial Update – Dec 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
I drafted most of this post before my mom’s passing. I’ll keep it brief this month. Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I found this photography project to be profoundly moving…and sad (link). Coincidentally, I wrote the above before my mom’s passing. Reader Adrian writes about finding joy in running ... Read more The post Financial Update – Nov 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
64 years old. Gone too soon. She was a wonderful mother and grandmother. The post Goodbye mom appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
The 2024 version of FreeTaxUSA is now live: https://www.freetaxusa.com/ Usual disclaimer: the name makes it sounds like a horrible scam. But it is my favorite tax filing site, found through my favorite resource on the planet for all things personal finance: the Bogleheads forum. If you need to adjust your W4, now is the time ... Read more The post 2024 FreeTaxUSA is live appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Disclaimer This blog isn’t profit-driven — I don’t receive money from credit card referrals, and there are no affiliate links here. I write because I enjoy analyzing these topics, so the thoughts below reflect my genuine opinions, unclouded by profit motives. Background I’ve been a long-time user of Bank of America credit cards, particularly ... Read more The post Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Card (and Premium Rewards) Review appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches National Geographic put out a new Honnold/Caldwell bromance on their bike/climbing journey from Colorado to Alaska (DisneyPlus link). Relatedly, Honnold was on Rich Roll’s podcast and provides a bit more context on their adventure (link). Life I discovered how to universally set all websites ... Read more The post Financial Update – Oct 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
I loathe Robinhood for a multitude of reasons, but I transferred the entirety of our ~$200k Roth IRA balances to them six months ago because they offered us a 3% bonus (~$6k). The bonus was paid in full, tax-free, directly into the Roth IRA, with the condition that the money remains there for five years ... Read more The post Robinhood 3% IRA Transfer Bonus Returns (temporarily) appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Buffett’s Folly I was fortunate enough to see Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger in person at the Berkshire meetings several times. Their wit and common-sense wisdom never ceased to amaze me. One of the many lessons I’ve internalized from Buffett over the years is the reality of opportunity costs. Here’s how Buffett thought about them ... Read more The post The Spending Tradeoff — Opportunity Costs vs Utility appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
If you’ve followed this blog, you will know that I find tracking personal finances both fascinating and insightful. With the recent bull market, our cumulative (nominal) investment gains since the birth of the blog 8 years ago surpassed $1M last month. Some Backstory A little over eight years ago, I completed my twelfth year ... Read more The post $1M in Investment Gains: A Finance Professor’s DIY Two-Fund Portfolio appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I enjoyed this Costco Connection article on their operations (link). Life For years, I would bike our unfrugal dog about 4 miles a day to give her some exercise. However, in preparation for the triathlon this past summer, I started running her the ~4 mi/day ... Read more The post Financial Update – Sept 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Edit November 11, 2024 The card appears to have been nerfed with the introduction of the new Smartly 4% card on Nov 11, 2024. Existing users can still use the card, but it seems to be closed to new users. RIP. I asked ChatGPT to eulogize it. Here’s what it came up with: Farewell ... Read more The post US Bank Altitude Reserve Card Review appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
For the past seven summers, I have gone backpacking with a group of undergrad friends (who I met in 1999). We’ve gone to Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Peru. 25 years after meeting each other, we decided to backpack Alaska. Ironically, it was a Bogleheads post that inspired that decision. We eventually converged on this packrafting ... Read more The post Alaska Packrafting Adventure (Whale’s Tail) appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Zooming into iPhone chip kind of blew my mind (link). Beau Miles completes his Seinfeld recycling arbitrage (part 1, part 2). Another month, another massive data breach in which our personal info is permanently exposed to the world. If you aren’t already operating under the ... Read more The post Financial Update – Aug 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Neurosurgeon becomes disillusioned with job, quits, and now spends his time hiking in the mountains with his dog (link). The video has gone quite viral, hitting 10M views in a month. A lot of it resonated with me, including how broken the medical system is ... Read more The post Financial Update – July 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I didn’t read/listen/watch too much this month, but on vacation we binged the first season of Welcome to Wrexham with the kids, which is basically a real-life Ted Lasso. It is a fantastic show if you aren’t offended by language. Such a beautiful and well-done ... Read more The post Financial Update – June 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Podcast interview with Die With Zero author, Bill Perkins (link). Perkins’ book, along with the above podcast, has certainly given me a lot of food for thought. The podcast made me reflect once again on whether I’m irrationally hoarding/counting/collecting/obsessing about “Chuck E Cheese” tokens. I ... Read more The post Financial Update – May 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches An interesting Bogleheads thread about life lessons (link). The collective wisdom of this particular group of internet strangers never ceases to amaze me. Rick Ferri interviews Larry Swedroe (link). Larry came to visit my campus seven years ago. About five of us finance faculty met ... Read more The post Financial Update – Apr 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches NYT podcast on the collapse of the National Association of Realtors, along with the 6% commission for selling homes (link). A fascinating David vs Goliath story. I had always thought that the downfall would come organically through competitors such as Homie or Redfin. I was ... Read more The post Financial Update – Mar 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Andre Agassi’s autobiography/memoir, Open (link). I heard about the book in the comment section of the WSJ this past month. I checked out the audiobook from the library and devoured it in about 3 days. For those who don’t care about tennis, you could probably ... Read more The post Financial Update – Feb 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches PBS documentary of “The Boys in the Boat” (link). We took the family to see the movie in the theater. I thought the book and above documentary are better. 12-minute documentary about a man who has spent 50 years as Yellowstone’s “winterkeeper” (link). Rich Roll ... Read more The post Financial Update – Jan 2024 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
First, a 40,000 ft overview of 2023: Life flew by, as always. Increasingly so as the years go on. I played many rounds of disc golf and climbed a bunch. I love the competitive, outdoor, social, and physical aspects of disc golf. I like the physical, mental, and social aspects of climbing (mostly indoors, unfortunately). ... Read more The post 2023 Review — State of the Blog & Life appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Lex Fridman interviews Jeff Bezos (link). Smartless dudes interview Arnold Schwarzenegger (link). I discovered the YT channel of Peter Santenello, who makes ~45min documentaries of people from all walks of life (link). It’s like a long-form version of Humans of New York. Pretty fascinating content. ... Read more The post Financial Update – Dec 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Jason Zweig reflects on the life of Charlie Munger on a WSJ podcast (link). Relatedly, Poor Charlie’s Almanac is a good read (old edition, new edition). Beau Miles embarks on a 3-day pumpkin-fueled journey (link). Two cyclists have been biking from the very top of ... Read more The post Financial Update – Nov 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
The 2023 version of FreeTaxUSA is now live: https://www.freetaxusa.com/ Usual disclaimer: the website’s name makes it sounds like a horrible scam. But it is my favorite tax filing site, found through my favorite resource on the planet for all things personal finance: the Bogleheads forum. How do I use FreeTaxUSA? In November, I take 30 ... Read more The post 2023 FreeTaxUSA is live appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Musk’s biography (link). I’m about 1/3 of the way through it. It’s pretty entertaining. A few things I’ve found interesting to far: Musk’s reluctance to “take chips off the table,” but rather doubling down on downstream bets. This repeated “doubling down” seemed destined to make ... Read more The post Financial Update – Oct 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
*** Edit 10/6/2023 **** Since publishing this post, Tesla has dropped the MSRP most trims of their Model 3 and Y by $2k. They also reduced the referral bonus from $500 to $250. *** Original Post *** I discovered my favorite musician, Ben Rector, a few years ago. My wife recently shared with ... Read more The post We Bought a $40k (net) Tesla Model Y LR appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Beau Miles tries his hand at replicating the Seinfeld (Kramer) aluminum can redemption arbitrage (link). His other videos are astounding (link). Mediocre Amateurs continue to inspire me (link). Dolomites 1 + Dolomites 2. Kilimanjaro + Mount Meru. Clipping Chains interviews the White Coat Investor (link). ... Read more The post Financial Update – Sept 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I really liked the Quarterback series, but I’m a sucker for sports documentaries (link). It’s hard not to like Kirk Cousins after watching that show. Relatedly, I learned about Hard Knocks this month. It is also pretty entertaining (link). Life School started again for ... Read more The post Financial Update – Aug 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Steve Levitt (re)interviews Sal Khan on People I Mostly Admire (link). Guy Raz interviews Sal Khan on How I Built This (link). The Finance Buff on: Using Fidelity as a bank (link). I’m still a fan of using the Fidelity brokerage account as my primary ... Read more The post Financial Update – July 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches A fascinating 45-minute BBC documentary on the doomed Titan submarine, filmed many months prior to the recent disaster (link). The amount of red flags documented within the first 5 minutes of this documentary is astounding. For example, during the filmed expedition one of the thrusters ... Read more The post Financial Update – June 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Rational Reminder Podcast interviews Burton Malkiel (link). Malkiel is the author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street, one of my favorite investing books. Since recently discovering this podcast, I’m going through many of their archived episodes. Some of my favorites so far: Ken French ... Read more The post Financial Update – May 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Guy Raz interviews OpenAI’s Sam Altman (link). It’s hard to wrap my head around how much the world is about to change. Speaking of AI, I found these 60 Minutes clips to be pretty interesting: Full segment. Bonus segment. Life The end-of-school is always a ... Read more The post Financial Update – Apr 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches The Finance Buff on the safety/risks of money market funds in a brokerage account (link). His money market fund guide was great too (link). I found BigERN’s post on SVB to be worth reading (link). BigERN also wrote an interesting “Basics of FIRE” post (link). ... Read more The post Financial Update – Mar 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Mrs FP and I (+ the two oldest kids) are officially obsessed with Neflix’s Drive to Survive series (link). Prior to this show, we couldn’t have cared less about car racing. But this show is so well produced that it is impossible to not be ... Read more The post Financial Update – Feb 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
A few weeks ago I wrote a deflated post in which I questioned the wisdom of keeping this tiny blog alive. Quite a lot of you responded that I should keep it limping along, so I will. On the topic of what to write about going forward, Ron gave the following suggestion: As a reader, ... Read more The post 2023 Financial Recommendations appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches The Mitchells vs the Machines (link). Pretty entertaining family movie. I’ve recently become addicted to the music of Ben Rector (link). Old Friends (link). What Makes a Man (link). The Men That Drive Me Places (link). Heroes (link). Brand New (link). Drive (link). Life Due ... Read more The post Financial Update – Jan 2023 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
First, a 40,000 ft overview of 2022: Life is flying by. FC1 is halfway through her sophomore year in high school and only a couple of years away from leaving us. Where did the time go!?!?!? I am grateful for good health and am cognizant of the fact any of us are one unlucky roll ... Read more The post 2022 Review — State of the Blog & Life appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I really enjoyed this post from Jonathan at MyMoneyBlog (link). The story he linked to at the end of the post was incredible (link). I really enjoyed the most recent videos from Beau Miles (link). The snow kayaking one was pure joy. Life I ... Read more The post Financial Update – Dec 2022 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches My father recommended the series Formula 1: Drive to Survive (link). I had always thought that car racing was boring, but this series is pretty captivating. Life The month flew by. I’m unsure where it went. Most of the fam jumping after our Christmas card ... Read more The post Financial Update – Nov 2022 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
In my recent FreeTaxUSA post, I announced my retirement from the tax calculator game. However, my retirement was short-lived. Blog reader (and former roommate) Tim convinced me to keep it going. Download my 2022 model here ========> Download Here <============= A big thank you to MDM Reader (and one-time guest interviewee) MDM is a wizard ... Read more The post 2022 Tax Calculator appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
I’ve spent a good chunk of the past couple of years helping to redesign our university system’s ~$5B retirement plan. This post summarizes what I learned. While my setting was a multi-billion dollar university retirement plan, surely many of the lessons learned will also be relevant to any 401k plan by even the smallest of ... Read more The post How to Lobby for a Better Workplace Retirement Plan appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Earlier this week, FreeTaxUSA went live: https://www.freetaxusa.com/ I’ve already filled out my tax forms for 2022, helping me to determine my 2022 federal tax liability with a high degree of precision (probably to within $10 or so). The remaining uncertainty is from not knowing the following parameters: 2022 total taxable dividends However, this is easily ... Read more The post 2022 FreeTaxUSA is live appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches GoCurryCracker on Tax Loss Harvesting (link). I wrote a TLH article a few years back (link). Here are my takeaways from the GCC article: Due to wonky phase ins/outs of various credits (e.g. ACA subsidies), one’s marginal tax rate can be quite high. Therefore, the ... Read more The post Financial Update – Oct 2022 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches WSJ on the versatility of the HSA (link). Not much new here, but it was the first time I’d heard of this trick: Children of parents with HSAs can qualify for their own HSA. This is a mind-blower: Under current law, children such as recent ... Read more The post Financial Update – Sept 2022 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I finished Better Call Saul, which was great. It is the end of an era. Not much else comes to mind. Life I took a trek to Peru (this one). We had three dedicated staff supporting us: our guide (who mercifully spoke English), our cook, ... Read more The post Financial Update – Aug 2022 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches This Bogleheads Live Podcast episode on tax planning for early retirees was moderately interesting (link). The above podcast is different than Rick Ferri’s Bogleheads on Investing Podcast (link). Confusing, I know. Life Despite being vaccinated and boosted, 5/7 of us got Covid for the second ... Read more The post Financial Update – July 2022 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
The commenting functionality was broken for a bit. Sorry about that. I’m pretty sure it’s fixed now. Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches MyMoneyBlog on Schwab’s $187M penalty for shenanigans with their robo-advisor customers (link). WSJ on Roth Conversions (link). Top Gun Maverick (link). We went during the $5 ... Read more The post Financial Update – June 2022 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Everybody Lies (link). I discovered the book via the author’s interview with Steve Levitt (link). It’s as if Freakonomics and Google Trends made a baby. David @ OchoSinCoche published a book on 529s (link). I was a beta reader and found it to be a ... Read more The post Financial Update – May 2022 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Steve Levitt interviews Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert (link). MyMoneyBlog on the upcoming expiration of Vanguard’s patented tax-efficient ETF+MF combo (link). While interesting, it seems that the industry has simply transitioned from mutual funds to ETFs. Consequently, the expiration of this patent seems largely inconsequential. ... Read more The post Financial Update – Apr 2022 appeared first on Frug...| Frugal Professor
With domestic markets down 12% YTD, now might be a good time to think about tax-loss harvesting (TLH’ing). For the uninitiated, here is a good overview of TLH’ing: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Tax_loss_harvesting. That said, I think it is a largely unproductive endeavor, as I’ve blogged about here: https://frugalprofessor.com/tax-loss-harvesting-is-overrated/. Despite convincing myself in the above blog post that TLH’ing ... Read more The post Tax loss harvesting for dummies ap...| Frugal Professor
——————————————————– Brief intro from Frugal Professor ——————————————————– One of the best parts about having a blog is getting to meet smart people I wouldn’t have already met. A week ago, one of these smart people reached out to me via email to discuss credit card strategies. I enjoyed the discussion so much that I asked ... Read more The post Slide App Review appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
After reciprocating blog posts a little over a year ago (here and here), Mr Clipping Chains and I sat down for a podcast session a few weeks back. It went live today. If you want to take a listen, here it is: https://clippingchains.com/2022/04/11/ep-29-frugal-professor/. Cliff notes version of the podcast: Brief recap of my money journey. ... Read more The post Podcast Interview with Mr Clipping Chains appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I watched an interesting video of the mayor of Emeryville, CA who is transforming his city into a biking utopia (link). It is pretty inspiring. It is understandable that nobody wants to ride a bike when it is so easy to get killed by ... Read more The post Financial Update – Mar 2022 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
I realize that blogging about my sheltered life is tone deaf in light of the unfathomable suffering in Ukraine right now. But tradition (5.5 years strong) demands that I write something. So here we go… Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Harvard economist Greg Mankiw on Ukraine: Mankiw discussing his ... Read more The post Financial Update – Feb 2022 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
We’ve had Xfinity mobile for about two years now. I figured I was overdue for an update since my initial writeup. Here’s Xfinity’s pricing info: https://www.xfinity.com/mobile/learn/plan/details Here’s our setup We get access to Comcast through my parents. I know; it’s weird. If I had Comcast in my area I would simply have my ... Read more The post A Two-Year Review of our Xfinity Mobile $12/mo plan appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Vanguard hosed their retail Target Date customers with large capital gains distributions. MyMoneyBlog WSJ Lesson learned: Don’t hold funds-of-funds in a taxable account. Beau Miles made some great videos: Planting a tree a minute for 24 hours. Running a half marathon with a wheelbarrow. I ... Read more The post Financial Update – Jan 2022 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches The Rescue on Disney Plus (link). Directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (from Free Solo, Meru, etc). Perhaps the best movie I’ve seen since Skid Row Marathon a year and a half ago. Great movie to watch with the kiddos. 14 Peaks ... Read more The post Financial Update – Dec 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Here’s the third installment in my state-of-the-blog posts: My 2020 edition is here. My 2019 edition is here. 2021 Blog Stats: 382 WordPress / email subscribers 38% growth from last year (298) 317 Feedly subscribers: 10% growth from last year (288) 92,017 pageviews this year (33% less than 2020). 2020 pageviews: 137,594. 2019 pageviews: ... Read more The post State of the Blog – 2021 Edition appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
I got an email from a reader today: First off, I’ve been reading your blog for a couple years now and greatly enjoy your monthly ramblings of all things ‘useful’. Maybe an odd ask, Do you mind sharing a copy of your net worth worksheet (10-Q?…10-“M”?) you share every month? A blank/bare bones version is ... Read more The post My Updated Net Worth (and more) Tracking Spreadsheet appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
I’ve been busy so this post is a few days late. A concerned reader emailed to ask if I’d died…not yet. Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I finished reading the book Die With Zero (link). If I could summarize the book, it’d be: The point of money is to ... Read more The post Financial Update – Nov 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
FreeTaxUSA I’ve been using FreeTaxUSA for a few years now. Despite having the scammiest-sounding name in the world, their software has been great to me. Their business model is pretty straight forward. 100% free federal, $15 for state. Because I’m notoriously stingy, I use FreeTaxUSA for my federal return and use my state’s free self-serve ... Read more The post 2021 FreeTaxUSA is Live appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches GoCurryCracker on getting a mortgage without labor income (link). A friend shared with me that the newest version of the Democrats’ multi-trillion dollar climate/social-spending bill no longer nixes the (mega) backdoor Roth (link1, link2). Who knows what the final version of the bill will ... Read more The post Financial Update – Oct 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches The Finance Buff: On securities-based lending (link). On the (likely?) downfall of the (mega) backdoor Roth (link). Actionable steps? Complete (mega) backdoor Roths before Jan 1 2022 as a hedge. Bummer; I was getting closer every to convincing my university to allow this. Goodbye ... Read more The post Financial Update – Sep 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Season 7 of Alone on Netflix (link). I’ve only seen about half the seasons of Alone, but this was by far my favorite. Unlike prior seasons, in which the objective was to be the last person standing, the objective this season was to last ... Read more The post Financial Update – Aug 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
In my late twenties, I had a quarter life crisis in which I: Quit my engineering job twice after only 4 years (I earned ~$90k/year when I left) Went to grad school for 7 years, earning no more than $30k/year as an intern, TA, or RA Changed careers entirely When I look at my current ... Read more The post 15 years of realized returns in my 401k appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches My frugal brother and parents introduced me to Ted Lasso on Apple TV+. Season 1 was pretty entertaining. Season 2 is currently being released. I’ve retold this bad joke before, but it seems pertinent. Some day, there will be a technological solution invented which ... Read more The post Financial Update – July 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Beau Miles kayaks to work over 4 days (link). Life During my recent trip to UT, my brother convinced me to get a Fitbit. I’ve really enjoyed tracking my various stats (resting heart rate, exercise, biking pace & distance, sleep). It was well ... Read more The post Financial Update – June 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
A colleague of mine recently got a 2% 15Y mortgage from Better. Since I have a 2.25% 15Y mortgage, it piqued my curiosity. Here’s how interest rates have been behaving lately: My last refi was about 9 months ago, but I applied last month to Better. Their rates were not competitive relative to my current ... Read more The post Better/Amex $2k (or $6k jumbo) Mortgage Promo appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Berkshire Hathaway’s 2021 shareholder meeting (link). Nice summary by MyMoneyBlog (link). Life We took a quick trip to Utah. Utah is not ugly. I took a couple day brocation to Zion & Bryce. We camped within Zion. The first morning, we woke up at 4am, ... Read more The post Financial Update – May 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches GoCurryCracker’s 2020 tax post (link). $0 of federal income tax on $143k of income. Entertaining two-hour YouTube documentary of a dude biking (most of) the 2,700 mile Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (link). This ride is now on my bucket list (wiki article)! He’s done ... Read more The post Financial Update – Apr 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches One of the Mediocre Amateur dudes (specifically, this guy) owns a ~$1M helicopter. In this incredible series of videos on their new YouTube channel, they document their recent trip to Canada & Alaska. The footage & storytelling is stunning. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part ... Read more The post Financial Update – Mar 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Intro Well, thanks to the $1.9B Coronavirus stimulus bill (#3), there are some pretty major changes to the tax code this year: Child tax credit (temporary changes for 2021 only): Fully refundable this year Phases out at 5% above $150k of income for MFJ, $112.5 for HoH $3,600/kid for ages 0-6 $3,000/kid for ages 7-17 ... Read more The post 2021 Tax Calculator appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Giant Disclaimer While I pretend to vaguely understand some aspects of frugality and the US tax code, I don’t pretend to be an investing guru. In fact, I’m pretty ignorant on the topic. So please take this post with a gain of salt. Introduction I’ve given some thought recently on the role of international ... Read more The post International Allocation appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Well, the politicians are at it again. They are currently busy figuring out how to dole out the third round of stimulus — $1.9T this time. We should thank our unborn (great)grandchildren for their generosity. It’s my understanding that the bill passed the House and is being debated in the Senate right now. The issue ... Read more The post Stimulus Round 3 – Proposed Senate Phase-outs appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
First, a note on asset ALlocation I don’t pretend to know what the “right” asset allocation is. I think that anyone who claims to have this superpower is trying to fool you. I’m not smart enough to come up with a very sophisticated answer here, so I just guessed. I hope you are smarter than ... Read more The post Asset Location appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Automotive engineering expert Sandy Munro interviews Elon Musk for 50 minutes about technical Tesla design issues (link). It starts off kind of slow with a prolonged discussion about seats, but it gets better (unless you really like discussions about seats, in which case the video ... Read more The post Financial Update – Feb 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
I started regularly rock climbing at my campus gym about 3 years ago, about a year after I arrived at my current job. Why did it take me a year to join my climbing gym? Because I’m slowly graduating from “cheap/stingy/idiotic” to “frugal.” Despite the hefty $41/month price tag, I think my gym membership is ... Read more The post Q&A with Mr Clipping Chains appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
I did an internship for Delta Airlines a little over 10 years ago in which I left my wife and 2 1/2 kids for 10 weeks to live with 5 single men in a filthy Atlanta home (story at the end of the post). I’ve lost touch with all but one of my former Atlanta ... Read more The post Hierarchy of dissavings (aka retirement withdrawal sequencing) appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Prof G interviews NYU finance professor Aswath Damodaran about the GameStop frensy (link). TLDR; prices are asinine and will come back down to reality sooner than later. WSJ article on the mastermind behind the Gamestop/Reddit madness (link). Here’s his Reddit post history, including snapshots of ... Read more The post Financial Update – Jan 2021 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
I’ve been doing a bit of benchmarking retirement plans lately. The vast majority of universities have made their menu structure publicly available, so it’s a pretty easy exercise. Rather having it sit unused on my hard drive, I thought I’d post it to the internet in a dedicated post. If you are interested for some ... Read more The post Benchmarking Exemplary University Retirement Plan Menus appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Here’s the second instance of the state-of-the-blog post. My 2019 edition is here. Blog Stats: 298 WordPress / email subscribers 33% growth from last year (224) 288 Feedly subscribers: 16% growth from last year (248) 136,970 pageviews this year 2020 cumulative pageviews: 316,223. 2019 cumulative pageviews: 179,253. Posts/month: ~3.5. 2020 Profitability: Amazon affiliate revenue: $104 ... Read more The post State of the Blog – 2020 Edition appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Goodbye 2020. You will not be missed. Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches The Finance Buff on the “CARES Act 2.0” (link). $300 (single) / $600 (married) non-itemized charitable deduction for 2021. Does not affect 2020. Cash only — no appreciated securities. Mankiw’s NYT article on the double-edged sword of ... Read more The post Financial Update – Dec 2020 appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
Well, that happened pretty fast. My Coronavirus Stimulus 2.0 hit my Fidelity (which has lightening fast ACH processing times) account this morning. If you don’t bank with Fidelity, presumably this will hit your account tomorrow? Here’s what I understand about the new stimulus: $600/adult + $600/kid if aged 16 or younger. 5% phase out ... Read more The post Coronavirus Stimulus 2.0 hit my Fidelity account today appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor
The Not-Terribly-Astute Observation I frequently marvel at the grand 401k experiment that we’re embarking on. In the absence of pension funds, all of us with 401k’s are pension fund managers. As such, our future livelihoods depends on: Having the discipline to save early and often by forgoing consumption now Understanding how to leverage the US ... Read more The post The Power of Staying the Course appeared first on Frugal Professor.| Frugal Professor