I read a lot of personal finance blogs every day. Even though many bloggers seem to be slowing down these days, I still read a number of excellent posts last month. Here are some of my favorites.
Francis Bayes wrote a guest post at The White Coat Investor which offers a good frame work for thinking about what to do with extra money early in your career (like residency, when you aren’t making much). I think the list strikes a very nice balance between save for tomorrow vs live for today. Go read Splurge on This, Not on That, for more details.
One of the key components of the spending plan put forth by Dr. Bayes is an emergency fund. I know a lot of bloggers pooh-pooh the emergency fund, stating they can cash flow big purchases, or have a high credit limit. Alan Donegan offers up his experience with his emergency fund during the early pandemic, when it served its purpose well. Read on for his answer to Do I need an emergency fund?
Once you decide you need an emergency fund, what is the next step? Read through this post at Of Dollars and Data for lots of information about the cost of the average emergency, how much you should have in your E-fund, and what to do with the money once it’s saved.
I guess I am really enjoying the guest posts at The White Coat Investor, as I also want to highlight this one from Rikki Racela, What to Do If You Are Not on the Same Financial Page as Your Spouse. There was a lot to think about there, in terms of communication skills, and approaching conflicting approaches to a topic in a marriage.
Moving on from the Princeton Tiger to the Blue Lobster, here is a great post from Millionaire on the Prairie: When You Have a Safety Net, You Have More Options. BL points out that although you might get parental support without much effort on your own, a savings account, or a retirement account, is an excellent safety net you can build on your own.
Lastly, a post from Dennis Friedman at Humble Dollar, who seems to be on the same page as his spouse. He took away eleven lessons on travel from a recent trip to Italy, detailed in When In Rome.
Do you have any favorites to recommend?