Tag: Finance goals
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Reaching a Personal & Financial Goal
This Monday, we started work on a long-planned house addition! We purchased our house in November 2010, 5 months before our first child was born. As with all large decisions, we set some parameters for the property: 1 acre minimum Closest proximity to Washington, DC possible (inside the beltway) $400-500K Livable (had to have running…
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Master Tax Preparation List
Happy Tax Season! I just received my last document for 2018 filing, and am gearing up to find out what the new tax code will bring us. I’m sharing my master checklist for tax preparation with you. Every year, I review this list, to ensure that I have everything I need. If there are items…
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The Components Of A Consulting Rate
A consultant is a person who provides expert advice professionally. Consultants may charge by the project or by the hour or day. Many struggle to establish a rate that provides the income they want, and covers their expenses. It is important to ensure your consulting rate makes sense for the market. Your market includes the…
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Why Market Price Matters When Setting A Consulting Rate
A number of years ago, my company was interviewing consultants to help with a particular project. I helped with the interviews. The first consultant was a man in his fifties, with a very strong track record in the area we were interested in. His rate was $92/hour. The second consultant was a woman in her…
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When To Hire Help
If you are busy saving, paying off debt, and investing, you are likely doing many things yourself. In our family, the DIY (do it yourself) personality is strong. Why would you pay someone to do the things you can do on your own? There are a few situations where you would do well to hire…
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How Much Cash we Keep for Emergencies
As we go into the 2nd month of Glen missing his paychecks*, I started thinking about how much money we have traditionally had on hand to pay for emergencies. What we consider an emergency probably differs from others’ definitions. We tend to consider expenses under $1,000 as non-emergency events. On average, we save $2,000/month. We…