A Personal Finance and Money Saving Blog in Alaska

Today, Ms. Montana is here to take the Roth IRA Challenge. She writes over at Montana Money Adventures and is currently in the middle of a year-long family sabbatical! Not only did Ms. Montana take the Roth IRA Challenge, she has annihilated the challenge! Remember how we’re failing on maxing out our Roth IRAs this year? What’s our excuse? Well, uh… Yeah. Now read all of the setbacks the Montana Family had. After this, I hope your resolve for 2017 is much greater (mine is!). Take it away Ms. Montana…

Mr. Mt and I wasted nearly 3 years before we started maxing out our Roth IRA. There were other things we felt needed taken care of first. Credit card debt. Emergency fund. Student loan debt. Medical debt. Yeah, we had a lot of debt. $50,000 to be exact.

But now I regret that.

While it sounded smart at the time to tackle the high interest rate, urgent stuff first, in reality there will always be something “urgent” to put that money towards. There is no need to speculate what those things could have been for us. Here is a recap of all 14 years we have been married and all the things that could have prevented us from saving for retirement. You know, till later.

Excuses from before we started.

Coloring Your Finances

By MaggieBanks

On November 16, 2016

In Saving Money

Today we’re going to have a little drawing lesson. Don’t worry, even my 2-year-old can do this! For the purposes of this lesson, color=money!

*Special thanks to Mr. T for drawing our awesome moose-piggy bank for this demonstration!*

Coloring Your Spending

When you spend money, you should “stay within the lines.” Only spend money that is actually in your moose bank. Think about this picture.

If you wanted to get the money out, you would have to break the moose bank (awwww… but he’s so cute!). Think of this cute moose every time you go to spend money. Does that mean you should never spend money? NO! But before you spend money from your cute moose bank, you need to get into the habit of pausing and thinking about it first.

Is this purchase worth breaking this cute little moose face? Ask yourself does this spending align with my goals? If it does, break that little moose face and go for it, but don’t spend more than is in there… looking at the picture, that isn’t possible, right? There’s no other money anywhere. Remember this. It’s really that simple. If the money isn’t in the moose, you can’t spend it!

Coloring Your Savings

Savings breaks all conventional rules. There’s no need to “stay in the lines.” The most important thing is to save. You want lots of color!

Imagine just dumping the color all over. Will some of it end up in your moose bank? Yes! Will some of it end up in emergency funds, retirement funds, brokerage funds, etc. Yes! We can argue about the nitty gritty details about which moose bank needs which colors, but that’s not important. Pour that color!

Until you increase the amount of color on your savings picture, you don’t need to worry about the details. If you’re pouring color, you’re moving in the right direction.

Mr. Moose Bank Says: “Stay in the lines for your spending, go crazy on your savings!”

On Kindness

By MaggieBanks

On November 14, 2016

In Research Highlights

Did you know that the incidence of psychopathy in CEOs is 4 times that of the general population? Apparently a lack of empathy and kindness is great material for climbing the ladder all the way to the top!

I’m a firm believer that your selfish vs. altruistic mindsets are firmly cemented the more actions you make. For example, if we spend all of our working years actively chasing early retirement and choosing not to give (after all, one donation could mean 2 weeks/months/years more work!), we’re not going to one day wake up and decide the time is right to start giving. On the flip side, if we get into the habit now of charitable giving, it will become a habit and doing good with money won’t be difficult later.

Just as I think giving money is a habit, kindness is also a habit. Kindness may not make you rich, but it will definitely enrich your journey. Today, I want to make a case for being kind. There is enough rhetoric in the world about how to be cut-throat, ruthless, step on the little guy to get a leg-up, and not looking down on your way to the top. The world doesn’t need more of that. And if that’s the requirement for being successful, I’m happy to be a failure.

Northern Expressions: On Democracy

By MaggieBanks

On November 11, 2016

In Northern Expressions

“Democracy is the worst form of government… except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” – Winston Churchill

He’s right, you know. Democracy is horrible, unpredictable and wonderful. At the end of it all, we celebrate our right to vote. We celebrate the freedom the people have to choose a leader.

Also, on Veteran’s Day, we celebrate those people that have made that freedom possible. It’s worth the fight and I thank you. Sincerely.

Lessons for my Children

Along with that democracy comes the expectation to listen. We vote for people to represent us. We like to throw around the phrase “Every Vote Counts” and then ignore people outside of ballot numbers. A few things I hope to teach my children emerging from this election:

If someone expresses that they feel unsafe or scared, our first response should NEVER be “get over it” or “you’re making a big deal about nothing.” Our first response should be “how can I help?” or “You’re safe with me.” Maybe we’ve never felt threatened. That doesn’t make their threat any less real. (I will be wearing a safety pin to represent this. Maybe it will mean nothing. Maybe it will comfort one person feeling alone. I’m going to take that chance.)
Stories need to be told. If I only listen to the group of people with a very similar background or ideology, I learn nothing new. You wouldn’t come up to Alaska and just know how to mush dogs or dipnet. You would learn from a local. Everyone has knowledge and talents that we don’t. We can learn from them. More voices = more knowledge.
Humans relate best based on human need. We spend too much of our interactions arguing about things like politics where we struggle to find common ground. Can we hug? Everyone needs that. Can we share a meal? Everyone needs that. Can we play a game with a kid? Every kid needs that. Can we be kind? Every heart speaks kindness.
My son needs to be a champion for women in this world and know what toxic language exists and how to change it. And my daughters need to know that they are strong and capable and fierce and that’s not only okay, it’s wonderful. They can stand up for themselves and be a voice in this world. They may need to shout a bit louder, but they shouldn’t stop trying to shout.

On Wednesday, I sent my kids to school with a charge to be extra nice. I give that same charge to you grown-ups. It’s okay to hurt. I’m here. No one should apologize for how they feel. We should just try to be aware. Before you speak, listen. Before you judge, hug.

You people are the best people. I know it. I’ve read your comments of encouragement and love. The world needs that now (no matter what your political views). The world needs your goodness.

Go, friends. Be the light.

Love, Maggie

Perfect Gets in the Way of Good: Finances Edition

By MaggieBanks

On November 9, 2016

In Saving Money

I’m sure you’re familiar with the phrase “Perfect is the Enemy of Good.” I’m experiencing that in my financial situation here at the end of the year. Last week, I calculated our projected taxes for 2016 (PRO-TIP: Do this earlier than November!) and realized we’re set to owe nearly $7,500! Yikes! (It doesn’t help that I am self-employed and our PFD and Energy Program Rebate are both taxable.)

Rewind Rewind

(blatant Hamilton reference, yes)

It’s Time to Face Your Financial Reality

By MaggieBanks

On November 7, 2016

In Personal Finance

Last week, in celebration of Halloween, I shared a tweetstorm of the scariest things you could say to a Personal Finance Geek. Maybe you read that and felt bad about yourself because you have done some of those things (or still do). DON’T. I shared the original tweets. What I did not share were all of the conversations that followed. SEVERAL of these tweets inspired responses from other personal finance bloggers that said things like “Me 2 years ago,” “…said my husband,” “been there!” or “still paying off that debt!”

We are not better than you. And you are not worse.

The Roth IRA… I mean TFSA Challenge

By MaggieBanks

On November 4, 2016

In Roth IRA Challenge

Today’s post comes from my blogger friend, Tawcan. He’s a fellow parent with two children. He’s also an all-around awesome and fascinating guy. In his spare time, he adventures outside, writes cookbooks, does some amazing photography, and blogs over at Tawcan on the journey to financial independence, dividend paying stocks, and living a good life. Tawcan also lives in Canada (our next door neighbor!) and he comes today with his Canadian perspective. Take it away Tawcan!

When Maggie asked me to write about the Roth IRA Challenge I thought she had lost her mind completely. In this hockey-playing-toque-wearing-polar-bear-riding-igloo-living-poutine-eating country that we call Canada, we don’t have anything called the Roth IRA. So I was confused why she wanted a Canadian to write about the Roth IRA Challenge. Did she think that Canada has become a part of the US? After chatting with Maggie a bit more, I realized that the challenge isn’t tied to Americans only. The challenge has more to do with… how do you save $5,500 or more each year so you can put that money toward a tax-free savings account?

Lucky for us Canadians, we have an account that is very similar to the Roth IRA. This account is called Tax Free Savings Account. Boy us Canadians sure are original when it comes to names eh?

October 2016 Plan Update

By MaggieBanks

On November 2, 2016

In Plan Updates

Farewell October! This was a very exciting month because we got our PFD money! YAY money! But then immediately, a whole bunch of bills came in and we bought plane tickets. BOO money! I am choosing to be grateful that we were able to put the majority of the PFD money toward the mortgage. YAY paying off debt!

As for the Stock household updates… the girls took swimming lessons and Penny graduated! We got our first snowfall, which has now entirely melted (boo!). We dressed up as Harry Potter characters for Halloween, with Lui being Hagrid (he wins), Mr. T being Harry Potter, I was Prof. McGonagall, Penny was Hermione (my 80s crimper to the rescue for Hermione hair!) and Florin was Moaning Myrtle (though she did not want to wear a toilet seat around her neck as we suggested!).

The Numbers:

You guys… if you haven’t signed up for Personal Capital, I think you’re nuts! It’s free! I look forward each month to logging in and seeing all of my accounts in one place. It shows all of my credit card accounts, my mortgage, my investment accounts, analyzes my fees, and is very visually compelling. I mean, it’s a geeked-out way to see it all in one glance without spending too much time. Sign up here to help yours truly speed toward financial independence! It has cut down my end-of-the month reckoning significantly since I can see all my accounts together (with graphs!).

Scariest thing to say to a personal finance geek

Scariest Things to Say to a Personal Finance Geek

By MaggieBanks

On October 31, 2016

In Personal Finance

In the spirit of this spooky Halloween holiday, I made a list of the scariest things you could say to a personal finance geek. Then I opened it up on Twitter:

Monday's post is a list of the scariest things to say to a PF geek. Tweet yours to me and I'll add it! Ex: "Bought a house no money down!"

— Maggie Banks (@northernexpense) October 30, 2016

The response was overwhelming. I immediately threw out my own list since all of them were covered. So, turn on the creepy Halloween music and prepare yourself for a Twitter storm of the scariest things you could say to a personal finance geek (ordered by category).

Northern Expressions: Election Edition

By MaggieBanks

On October 28, 2016

In Northern Expressions

These Northern Expressions are usually picked out by me and designed by Mr. T. Today, Mr. T created his own for the crazy election time. If you didn’t know, Mr. T is a biker. We love family bike rides in the summertime and Queen just so happens to be my favorite band.

So, as the election cycle (pun intended) starts getting you down, Mr. T just wants you to remember:

I don’t want to be a candidate for Vietnam or Watergate. All I want to do is BICYCLE, BICYCLE, BICYCLE! – Freddie Mercury

Happy Friday, friends!

Love, Maggie

(and Mr. T – who adds: “next week, I’ll do a ‘fat-bottomed girls’ quote”*)

*Queen reference. Not just a random crude remark. 🙂

Northern Expenditure

Roth IRA Challenge: Max it Out! No Excuses!

Coloring Your Finances

Coloring Your Spending

Coloring Your Savings

On Kindness