frontpage

4
Snowball and Avalanche can cause different costs (increase in interest payments) depending on the kinds of debt, the size of debt and associated interest rates you have. This Snowball vs Avalanche Calculator/Simulator will allow you to determine the cost of the Snowball Method for paying off debt over the Avalanche Method. For more information behind this calculator you can check out the post I wrote about it Snowball vs. Avalanche: Which one is better for you? Not, which one is best? If you’re not sure what to enter feel free to click on one of three simulations I’ve added. Two […]

Online Snowball vs Avalanche Calculator

 in calculators / credit / debt  tagged frontpage by
2
This calculator was created in response to an article I read about what to do with extra money at the end of the month. Apply it to the Mortgage or invest it? I wrote an article explaining the exact numbers. This calculator can be used to figure it out for yourself. The extra payment you enter in this calculator will be applied at the start of the plan (not the start of the mortgage, unless those coincide). The calculator assumes that after you’ve paid off the mortgage, the entire mortgage payment along with the extra payment is redirected to investing. […]

Online Prepay Mortgage vs Invest Calculator

 in calculators / debt / investing  tagged frontpage by
Welcome to the Millionin10 retirement planner. This online version performs many of the excel calculator I released some time ago. I’ve also added some extra features such as adding a mortgage, emergency fund and college expenses to the calculator. All the information you enter in this calculator IS NOT stored online. I WILL NOT ASK YOU FOR YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WHEN YOU CLICK CALCULATE. I will provide you the answers on this page. If you still don’t trust it and want to hide your date of birth, don’t deviate too much: retirement age and 401(k) withdrawal age are based on […]

Online Retirement Calculator

 in calculators / investing / Saving  tagged frontpage by
3
You know the story line: Clark is expecting the Christmas bonus to pay for the money already put down for a swimming pool. Frank Shirley, Clark’s boss turns out to be a crook and the bonus doesn’t come. Things go south from there real quick and real bad. Yes, its from National Lampoon’s Christmas vacation but, truth is not too far from fiction. The minute that financial windfall comes along, many of you tend to spend it right away. Sometimes even before you have it. You’re all doing it wrong. There is the misconception that the soul purpose of money […]

Extra money? Stop it, you’re doing it all wrong!

 in 5 keys / Budgeting / investing / Saving  tagged frontpage by
2
As enrollment for next years health insurance has started for most, the saga of our medical bills continues. As I’m posting this we’ll be taking our son in for followup surgery to his elbow, for removal of pins (ICD-10 Z47.2). For those of you who follow this blog (if not, now would be good time to subscribe), some time ago our son broke his elbow (ICD-10 S52.601A) and required surgery to nail it all back in place. It was only after that, I found out what our deductible truly was. Not the individual deductible of $6,400 but instead the family […]

Despite the high cost, I’m still getting Health Insurance

 in healthcare / Insurance  tagged frontpage by
How much do children play a role when creating budgets on your way to building wealth? I’m not talking about the $300 a month it costs to raise a child. I’m not talking about the choice between private vs public schools for the kids (The Debt Free Divas offer some good food for thought on that one) and I’m not even talking about the daunting task of paying for college, should they be inclined to attend. What I’m wondering is how much you can, can’t, should or shouldn’t “drag” your children into your plans and adjustments to life, budgeting your […]

Budgets are cool, but what about the kids?

 in Building Wealth / family / Living  tagged frontpage by
2
Calculate the savings you could make by switching to LED lights around your house. The upfront cost of LED lights may be daunting but in the long run they really make up for in savings. The calculator below lets you capture in great detail all the lights you use around your house. It will use your electricity price (or uses a default) and replaces each incandescent light bulb with its equivalent LED. After you’ve entered all the room information you can change additional parameters such as electricity prices, LED pricing and bulb longevity or simply scroll down to the Click […]

Online LED Savings Calculator

 in calculators / Saving  tagged frontpage by
6
Stupid question right? Who doesn’t want to be a millionaire? The question should maybe be “are you willing to pay the price to become a millionaire?” If you want to become a millionaire  and are willing to do what it takes you can read up on the 5 keys to building wealth which will lead you to many other posts on this blog. Before you do that, the second key in my 5 keys to building wealth is about setting a goal and creating a plan. If you want to set the goal of one million and plan accordingly you […]

Do you want to be a millionaire?

 in 5 keys / millionaire  tagged frontpage by
When’s the last time you’ve set foot in a library? It’s been while for me. I was there some time ago to see my 7 year old’s art exhibit. My wife on the other hand goes there at least twice a weak. My wife loves to read and gets most books from the library. Oh, and while she’s there she texts me with a list of movies I might like to see. Yes, libraries are still there and you can still get paper books and magazines but the Library nowadays is so much more. Today I’m going to hone in […]

That’s right, I got these at the Library

 in Saving  tagged frontpage by
2
There are many articles I’ve written that apply to the 5 steps of building wealth. A short reminder on the 5 keys: Start early Set a goal and create a plan Live below your means Invest wisely Be patient and stay the course I’ve written a couple posts related to the 5th key with regards to patience. In short, it simply takes time to build wealth. There are no shortcuts and please don’t fall for any get-rich-quick schemes. They tend to not work and in the end cost you. What I haven’t written much about is the “staying the course”. […]

The fifth key: Be Patient and Stay the Course

 in 5 keys / Depression / investing  tagged frontpage by
1
That’s right, I invest my emergency fund. I’ve pointed out that, if credit cards are paid off monthly, they serve just fine for an emergency as long as you can free the money to pay those cards again at the end of the month (by selling stock for example). I’m getting a bit of push back on the investment end of things. The main arguments I’m told it is bad are: • An emergency fund should be liquid (hold value). • Emergency fund should be readily available (accessibility). • If you invest your emergency fund, chances are the market will […]

Investing your emergency fund

 in Budgeting / emergency fund / investing / Saving  tagged frontpage by
2
I just saved over $1,400 buying refurbished. If you want to know how I did it and how you could too, read on. It has been well over a year that I left corporate America for a long deserved break and I have to admit I miss some aspects of the job. Surprisingly what I miss the most is the kick ass laptop I was provided. Our company had just gone through a laptop refresh and we had the latest of the latest. For those in the know when I opened task manager it showed 8 threads each with its […]

Buy Refurbished

 in Saving  tagged frontpage by
4
The easy answer is: If you are in a flood zone and have a mortgage your lender will insist on it. But, how do they know you’re in the flood zone? Better question yet, are you really in it? When I initially started writing about this I thought this won’t apply to any of my readers. Turns out there are actually 5.3 homes in the US with flood coverage.  Who knew? Approximately $14,000.00 is what we’ve paid over the last 8 years for FEMA flood insurance. We were the unlucky ones that had their property redrawn into the flood zone […]

Do you need Flood Insurance?

 in Insurance / Saving  tagged frontpage by
2
Without exception, whenever the cashier at Petco would say that will be $18.88 for the cat-litter, I would say “For my cat to poop on”. Lame I know but still, pretty crazy, the things we spend money on. It has been several months now since Daisy, our cat, passed away. We miss her, she had a good 19 years of live and I’m not even going to attempt to put a price tag on that. Speaking of price tags, Americans roughly spent 56 Billion (that’s right with a “B”) on pets in 2013. I can only imagine it has gone […]

Can I afford that pet?

 in Budgeting / Saving  tagged frontpage by
6
It has been close to a year since I created this blog millionin10 with the lofty goal of inspiring you to build wealth the way we did. I was a salaried employee with wife, kids, two cats and a picket fence (not white). I also happened to be an expat that came to this country some 18 years ago with only $500 and a diploma in my pocket; We now have over a million. If we could do it, why can’t you? Since the start of this blog I’ve written posts on topics varying from investing and how it shouldn’t […]

5 Keys to Building Wealth

 in Budgeting / calculators / credit / healthcare / investing / Saving  tagged frontpage by
4
For those of you who follow my blog I’m sure my post on Shop around for health care, really? is fresh in your memory. If not, check it out but the short of it is that, my son broke his elbow 4 weeks ago and required surgery. I was frustrated by the myth that high deductibles will make people shop around and vented my thoughts on it. like my son’s cast above has changed from bright orange to somber black, so has my mood. In the original article I mentioned a health insurance deductible of $6,700 I was guaranteed to […]

My health insurance deductible is what???

 in healthcare / Insurance  tagged frontpage by
Planning for retirement is not as easy as you think it might be. I’m not talking about whether you’ll go fishing or grow a vegetable garden. I’m talking about getting to retirement with enough funds to last you a lifetime. If you want to skip all the reading and go straight for the FREE Millionin10 Retirement Calculator™ click here. Following is a set of factors that play an important role in getting to that successful retirement (all adjustable in the Free Millionin10 Retirement Calculator™) Date of Birth: Obvious one right? Yes but important nonetheless. If you plan to work till […]

10 factors to consider planning for retirement

 in Budgeting / career / investing / Saving  tagged frontpage by
You read them everywhere, how to save on …. Look around this blog and you’ll find them here as well; articles on how to save money. As you read them you might ask yourself how eliminating a dripping faucet can build you wealth. The answer is simple; all little amounts help, they tend to add up to a lot. For years I thought we were living below our means and in effect we were as money was left at the end of each month. After we started budgeting, we actually learned we could cut our expenses even more, a lot […]

How we saved $23,000 per year

 in Budgeting / Saving  tagged frontpage by
So our health insurance’s high deductibles are supposed to make us more conscious of pricing and have us shop around for the best prices… Bulls@#!! You’ll be given the example of how an x-ray costs 75 bucks at one provider and $350 at the next. CT scans at $2,000 at one provider and $500 at the next. When do you need an x-ray? That’s right, in most cases when you are in really urgent need of one. Your heart stopped beating so let’s do some price comparisons. Yes, there is a wide variety of pricing from one healthcare provider to […]

Shop around for health care, really?

 in healthcare / Insurance  tagged frontpage by
2
Update: This article somewhat outdated I as truly entered early retirement some time ago. It’s been more than a year now since I left my job. Life is good, there is little stress and spending time with my family is great. Some people assume I’m retired and for a while stopped arguing otherwise. Not this time though, let’s argue for a minute. Why is it that I’m pondering going back to work? Is it money? well… yes and no. I’m still a millionaire and as a matter of fact my portfolio is slightly larger than it was the day I […]

Why I’m not in early retirement (yet)

 in career / investing  tagged frontpage by
2
I’ve been investing in the stock market for over 17 years now and it has served me well, very well I might say. from time to time however I’ve been tempted to maybe take on a rental property or two but after 17 years I still haven’t. I’m not giving up on the possibility completely. So the question remains; invest in stocks or rental property? Here’s why I personally hesitate: If you get into rental properties you can build yourself a pretty handsome passive income. In return you have to deal with people. Not that there is anything wrong with […]

Should you invest in stocks or rental property?

 in investing  tagged frontpage by
2
One of the bigger expense items in your life is probably you car. Chances are it wasn’t as expensive as the one above but nonetheless. There is the actual purchase of the car which is most likely the highest of all costs but then there is the upkeep and feeding it. Fuel, insurance, oil, small maintenance and then the always unexpected not so small maintenance/repair. Following is a list of 10 ways to save money on your car, be it your current or next car. Inflate the tires on your car to the proper pressure, McCain ridiculed Obama for making […]

10 ways to save money on your car

 in Budgeting / Saving  tagged frontpage by
I run a dehumidifier every day from 8am to 8pm. I don’t like to but if I don’t the basement gets stuffy and with stuffiness cones mold. The dehumidifier costs me $0.68 per day to run. How do I know? Well, thanks to the KILL A WAT ™ meter. Yes, I’ve dabbled in a little promotion on my site and yes this is a total plug for a product but I won’t feel bad about it. I got the KILL A WAT  meter many, many years ago and it has been worth the investment. This goes right back to my […]

Know what it costs to run your gadgets

 in Budgeting / Saving  tagged frontpage by
Your utility bill is one of the constants of life (when you grow up and do that settling down thing). Cutting down that bill  is a great way to work your way out of debt or towards financial freedom.  Following is a list of 10 ways to save money on your utility bills. 10 ways of saving we apply or have applied in the past that cut down our utility bills. Whether you want reach financial freedom or want to get out of debt, these savings can help you get there a little faster. Shower 3 minutes instead of 5; […]

10 ways to save money on your utility bills

 in Budgeting / Saving  tagged frontpage by
Working your way out of debt or to financial freedom doesn’t mean you should stop living altogether. Entertainment not only brings joy but some of it nurtures the mind (especially of the young ones). Following is a list of 10 ways to save money on entertainment. These happen to be 10 ways we apply or have applied in the past on our way to become millionaires. Whether you want reach financial freedom or want to get out of debt, these saving can help with both. Get memberships, they often pay off after 2 visits, I wrote a whole thing about […]

10 ways to save money on entertainment

 in Saving  tagged frontpage by
Another one of these cost of healthcare articles, ugh. Yes, another one and I hope more of these keep coming as things can be better here. This one I felt compelled to write as it is from a very personal point of view. After 3 years, we finally went back to the Netherlands to visit my parents. My parents are getting older and so are our kids. 3 years in the life of a child is like a lifetime (for both kids and grandparents). Yes we see each other on Skype every Sunday but that does come not close to […]

Cost of Healthcare elsewhere, seen firsthand

 in healthcare  tagged frontpage by
2
Well, we’re back from a vacation to the Netherlands. We had a blast. We stayed at a nice little villa in a quaint little town, had one of those cute little cars that looks like it rolled out of a cartoon and we went all around visiting the parks and attractions. We also of course visited my family that still lives over there. As summer is in full swing I’m sure you’re gearing up for vacation as well. vacations can be pretty expensive. Don’t ask me why but plane tickets to the Netherlands easily run up to $1,800 nowadays. Long […]

5 ways to save money while on vacation

 in Budgeting / Saving  tagged frontpage by
One of the key ingredients to us becoming millionaires was to live below our means. For a long time into the 10-year-plan to become millionaires we believed we were living below our means. That was until I figured out we could save an additional $20,000  a year (that is not a misprint), getting us that much faster to becoming millionaires. here are the 10 ways to save money on your way to building wealth. It’s what we applied to ours and it worked. 1. Cut the cable cost No we did not the cable, just the cost. We simply looked […]

10 ways to save money on your way to a ...

 in Budgeting / Saving  tagged frontpage by
2
Our path to becoming millionaires was one that took time. It took 13 years to be exact. Throughout the 13 years the following 5 steps were at the core of what made us millionaires. 1. Start early. We started our path to becoming millionaires early in our 30s. Had we started earlier we would have been in an even better financial position. The earlier you start investing the more effective compounding will be. In my article on compounding: Compounding, if you’re 25 READ THIS. if you’re not READ THIS. I work out how by saving only $300 a month at […]

5 Steps to become a millionaire

 in Budgeting / investing / Living / Saving  tagged frontpage by
2
They tell you, over and over again, not to quit your day job when considering writing a Blog. With “they” I mean everybody and with “over and over again” I mean over and over and over again. I like to think of myself as someone who pays attention but oops, I did quit my day job…. It’s coming up on a year now since I quit and I have no regrets. Am I retired now? No. As financially sound as my situation is, it is not enough to retire at 44. Sooner or later I will go back to work […]

Don’t quit your day job, wait what?

 in career / Living  tagged frontpage by