Jesse Mecham

It’s that aspirational time of year when we set goals for the following year. But are your goals realistic and achievable?

With two young children at home, Debbie was feeling stressed and depressed about her long work weeks. So she made the happiness-increasing choice to cut back to part-time work and has loved the extra time with the kids. Unfortunately, she and Ed are feeling the effects of the lost income.

Is working two jobs for two years to pay off debt worth it? It depends on your sense of urgency. Read how one couple paid off their mortgage.

Last week’s post on whether to pay off credit card debt or max out a 401k raised good discussion interesting questions.

In the unending “pay off debt first or start investing” debate, I’ve learned about a small wrinkle: If your employer matches your 401k contributions, you earn an instant 100% bonus on every one of those dollars. In the worst of scenarios, your credit card company is charging you interest in the high 20s.

A boss of mine gave me a very nice gift about 11 years ago: a Mont Blanc pen. Excuse me, I should have said writing instrument. My 21-year old self was impressed. There are a few reasons a gift like that is so exciting: 1) I’d never buy myself one and 2) People would wonder how I ever afforded such a pen.

YNABers who request budget reviews are a couple steps ahead of most of us – they open themselves up to criticism. This takes real guts.

When it comes to cell phone plans, consider your options and be INTENTIONAL about what’s bringing you happiness—not just convenience.

I challenge everyone to question every assumption and start attacking your debt like it’s an emergency – because it is. And then get that savings rate up.

In this post I share my own perspective. The goal is to evaluate the costs and benefits of your job from your perspective.

I may never achieve a 50% savings rate (as Mr. Money Mustache encourages). But it’s such a compelling ideal that I’ve resolved to start generally wandering in that direction.

A second interview, where we dive into some other topics, is available here as Podcast Episode 96. Jesse: Okay, I’m here with Mr. Money Mustache, from MrMoneyMustache.