You're saying I should put these funds in the 529 now instead of anything else? If so, I agree, that's is what will earn the most. But we're close to paying off these loans so it's worth it to me just to wipe them out. We'll only lose about 14 months of potential gains on the 529s had we put those funds there instead.

I agree with what you're saying. But Ramsey's advice is for people who have dug themselves a deep hole and need to get out. Presumably these are people who live paycheck-to-paycheck, sometimes doing payday loans and triage-type tactics to manage their finances. I suppose there's an argument for those people to put…

There's a cult around Ramsey, to be sure. I think it's the religious aspect of his teachings. Once you know and accept that his advice is for people who aren't that financial sophisticated and/or disciplined, it's pretty good advice. The whole debt snowball thing isn't perfectly financially efficient, since you might…

Good question. I would describe myself as very strongly anti-debt but not a rabid Ramsey type. As I mentioned in my original post, if there's a rational case for investing elsewhere I'd definitely consider it. In this case, the student loans were going to be paid off by Jan. 2018 and May 2019, respectively, and the…

Knowing next to nothing about the totality of your situation, I'd be tempted to leave things as-is and attack that second mortgage. I don't keep a close eye on mortgage rates these days, but a fixed 30-year mortgage at 4.125% seems pretty reasonable. As you said, it may be difficult to roll both mortgages into a new…

This is a great debate, and one my wife and I were just talking about recently. If we could carve out an extra $150/month in our budget to put toward our house, should we apply that directly to the mortgage so it will be paid off, say, seven years early? Or should we invest it in the hope that it grows faster and we…

I can get on board with the idea that a team would be hesitant to draft Michael Sam because of the publicity that follows him around - like this reality show, the hopes/expectations of the gay community and whatever extra pressure might come with that, and so on - becoming a distraction for Sam himself, in terms of…

Sure, if you can make up for it elsewhere, either in your husband's 401(k) or a new Roth for him, go for it. My wife's 401(k) sucks and mine is quite good, so of our 401(k) assets we contribute far more in my name than in hers. In the end it won't matter whose name it is under. (Unless we get divorced, I'm sure people…

Great story, man. Thanks for sharing that. And good luck.

I can confirm the "other people's kids" phenomenon. I love mine to death (obviously) but there are a LOT of kids I just don't like. Same way with dogs. I blame my introversion...I figure if I got to know them better I'd probably like them more.

I can completely see both sides of this argument. (How's that for taking a side?) But over time I've concluded that you as an individual need to understand yourself and your strengths/weaknesses/hopes/dreams/priorities and make the decision that's best for you, despite whatever pressure society or your mother-in-law…

Two thoughts here.

Yep. I have my RSS feed from Longreads dumped right into Pocket.

Well said, man. I listened to the audio book of Unbroken (which is even better than the book, if that's possible). And when Zamparini got transferred to another Japanese POW prison, the book describes how he was excited to escape The Bird's wrath, only to land at his new prison, and who else walks in? When the…

I'd be curious to learn more about this churn system though. Can you point me to any links?

I'm totally on board with using credit cards for as many purchases as possible to reap the rewards. But if you have problems with credit card debt or even just routine overspending brought on by the mental disconnect of using a credit card rather than cash or a debit card, then this simply isn't a good strategy for…

I use Excel. I started out very basic back in the late 1990s and as I've learned more about personal finance I've added many layers to my spreadsheet. I don't think I could replicate anything like it with software and with Excel I have more flexibility to play around with the numbers.

Absolutely. You have to have a sound budget to really make this work. That said, let's assume that your Needs make up 90% of your budget so you could only cut 10% in an emergency. Even then it would stand to reason that your emergency fund could be 10% smaller as a result.

I agree with most of this. I'm always a bit surprised to hear experts talk about emergency funds in terms of car repairs or a new appliance, because people who own homes or cars should be budgeting/saving for maintenance on a routine basis anyway. If you set aside $100 each month for both your home and your car, you…

Warren recommends 50% for "Must-Haves" as she calls them (I called them "Needs" above), 30% for Wants, and 20% for Savings. My budget doesn't fit perfectly into her recommendations - I have more Needs and Savings and less Wants - thus neither does my emergency budget.