Three years ago, my current employer introduced a health savings account (HSA) as an option for my medical benefit. I briefly went over the plan but ultimately chose a PPO version. It’s not until recently that I discovered that HSA plans offer so many benefits and can be used as my third tax-advantaged plan. Some even called the health savings
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In this post, I am going to compare a Roth IRA versus a 401k plan and recommend which one is better for you in your situation. What is a Roth IRA and 401k? Roth IRA (Individual Retirement Account) is essentially a self-directed retirement account. A 401k, on the other hand, is an employee-sponsored retirement account. These are two main ways
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There are many ways to invest in real estate. In today’s post, I am going to go over 5 ways to invest in real estate. Real estate can be argued as a part of a well-balanced investment portfolio and is a good asset class for diversification. Investment in Real Estate-traditional route Traditional real estate investment is self-explanatory. You acquire a
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In this post, I am going to discuss the differences between term life insurance and whole life insurance. Insurance is one of those things in life that’s necessary because of life’s uncertainties. I could finish this post, go outside for a walk and get hit by a car, and that’s all it takes. Most likely we’re all eventually going to
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In this post, I will go over the top five takeaways from Ramit Sethi’s book: I will teach you to be rich. I will teach you to be rich Becoming rich isn’t something that only happens to Ivy League graduates, elite athletes or lottery winners. Anyone can become rich. What you need to do is to define what being rich
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Today we’re going to talk about the controversial topic of pay off debt or invest? The fundamental question is should you pay off your debt first or should you take that money and invest it? Debt is bad Debt sucks! Debt is the worst! There’s definitely good debt and there’s definitely bad debt. In general, most people don’t want to
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This is the top five takeaways summary of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. No matter which track you choose to follow in order to get rich. Becoming a trader, a value investor, a real estate pro, a chief executive or perhaps an entrepreneur, you must have the correct mindset. Due to the law of averages, some people may
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Today’s guest post on how to plan a realistic budget and create a debt reduction plan comes from Catherine, a freelance writer. How to plan a realistic budget and create a debt reduction plan Are you struggling to repay debt? Don’t worry! Continue reading to know about what to consider when you’re planning a budget and how to create a
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In this blog post, I will list 18 tips for how to save money fast! There are many good reasons to start saving money. Maybe you suddenly got slammed with an unexpected bill, or maybe your friends just invited you on a trip of a lifetime. Or perhaps, you want to buy a house and you have to save for
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What are the best investing apps out there in 2019? When it comes to investing, yup, you guessed it right, there’s an app for that! In traditional investing, you need a couple of thousand dollars to get started with either through ETFs or index mutual funds. Enter micro-investing apps. In today’s high-tech world, there are easier ways for you to
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In this post, I wanted to look at the average net worth by age in more detail and provide you with an update of my net worth as of August 2019. Let’s start by reviewing some basics. The average net worth for an American to consider wealthy is $2.27 million according to Charles Schwab. Net worth means assets minus liabilities,
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In today’s post, I am looking at what are the causes of and how to prepare for a recession. Our economy is cyclical, we have had times of great economic prosperity for the past 10 years. Eventually, we will have a contraction, where we see unemployment rates go up, consumer confidence fall and possibly leading to a decline in GDP.
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The Intelligent Investor In today’s post, I will summarize and discuss the top takeaways from the book, “The Intelligent Investor” by Benjamin Graham. Warren Buffet, one of the most successful investors the world has ever known has this to say about the book. The best book on investing, ever written. Warren Buffet Investment vs. Speculation Graham defines investment as: One
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If you have been keeping track of the stock market’s volatility lately, like most investors, you’ll probably want to take a peek your portfolio, asset allocation, and performance. Particularly, if you’re a fan of the three-fund portfolio, you’d wanted to know how it’s performing and make sure that you have the ideal asset allocation. I recently finished listening to The
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You may already own a car, and know somewhat the costs associated with car ownership. But have you ever asked yourself this question: how much car can I afford? In this post, I’ll discuss the 20/4/10 rule and how it applies to the process of buying a car. If you can afford to buy a car with cash that’s the
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What is the 50/30/20 rule budgeting rule One of the most important things in personal finance is to get intimate with your expenses and have a budget in place. And one of the simplest budgeting rules of thumb is the 50/30/20 system. Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren coined the 50/30/30 rule in her book “All Your Worth: The
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What is the true cost of car ownership? Believe it or not, owning a car is expensive. You probably already know that but do you know what’s the real cost of car ownership? An article from MSN shed light on the average cost of a car. Car gurus estimate the average cost to operate and maintain a car is $9,576
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Continuing with my book review series, in this post I will summarize and showcase the top 5 lessons from The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason. It’s true that money principles derived thousands of years ago can still be relevant and applicable today. Let’s dive into the top 5 takeaways from this book. Richest Man in Babylon Lesson
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I have to confess, I have to Google the routing number to Wells Fargo every time I needed it. I have been with Wells Fargo since 2002 so that’s a lot of Googling! That is why I am creating this post for my own reference and you’re welcome to use it as well. History of Wells Fargo Wells Fargo is
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Ever wonder how financially literate you are? Take the financial literacy test here and find out! The quiz is from The National Financial Capability Study (NFCS) is a project of the FINRA Investor Education Foundation (FINRA Foundation). For your convenience, here are the questions: Financial Literacy Test: Question 1. Suppose you have $100 in a savings account earning 2 percent
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How does your 401k balance compare to your peers? Tax advantage plans like 401k and Roth IRA are one of the simplest and best ways to invest for your retirement. Do you wish to know how much you need to contribute? What is a 401k? A 401k is an employer-sponsored retirement plan. Employees can automatically deduct a portion of their
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7 Types of Income Streams It is often said the average millionaire has 7 types of income streams. The average person typically has 1 stream of income, usually from their job, and this can put them in a vulnerable position financially. If you take a look at the average millionaire, it is true that they have multiple streams of income-generating
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In this post, we’re going to focus on top digital passive income ideas that you can start today. While there are hundreds of ways to earn passive income, the focus of this post is on five actionable digital passive income ideas for busy professionals. So-called internet gurus are painting the picture of you sipping mai tais on the beach with
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I just finished listening to The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley on audible and I want to share with you some of its key takeaways. The Millionaire Next Door When you think of a millionaire, did you think of the people living on the Upper East Side in New York City or the residents of Beverly Hills California? The
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In this post, I will review financial engines also known as advised assets group and decide whether or not it is worth it due to their fees and other factors. What is Financial Engines (FE)? According to its website, they are founded in 1996. They described themselves as: We provide objective, fee-based advice and asset management, with an aim to
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I will have paid off my student loan at the end of July 2019. My next major financial action is an early mortgage pay off. Early Mortgage Pay off Strategy Early Mortgage Pay off using HELOC Surveying the inter-web there are many options and strategies in which to to pay off my mortgage early. The first option I stumbled upon
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Enjoy this week’s top financial articles from the likes of Forbes, Fortune, etc. 10 Money Mistakes to Avoid in Your 30s From a financial standpoint, your thirties are the most critical decade of your life. By avoiding the items on this list you’ll radically improve your financial future and even position yourself for early retirement. High-Earning Millennials Have a Debt Problem!
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Continuing on my investing series, in this post I will show you exactly the strategy on how I will invest in Vanguard Index Funds. Advantages of Vanguard Index Funds Investing in index funds might the best, easiest, safest long term investment out there for most people. It’s one of my favorites ways to invest. This investment strategy requires very little
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Step by Step on How to Invest Your Money In the post, I will show you exactly how to invest money in seven steps. Starting with the lowest risk and progressing to higher risk forms of investment. How to invest Money Step 1: Low-Risk Investment Here, you’re looking for a basic place to put your money. The number one choice
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Pharmacist House: How much house can a pharmacist afford? I currently own, have a mortgage on a home and I want to retrospectively go back in time as a new pharmacy graduate and crunch some numbers to see what is a good price point if a pharmacist wanted to buy a house. I will also discuss if it is a
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You are familiar with a resume but you may or may not be too familiar with a pharmacist cv (curriculum vitae). This post will guide you on the best practices on how to write a pharmacist CV and resume based upon my own experiences and research. What is a Pharmacist CV? A summary of a job applicant’s professional experience and
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What is Fiverr? Is Fiverr a viable side hustle? Apparently, it is, you can earn a lot more than $5, in fact, you can be a Fiverr Millionaire! In this post, I will summarize how four individuals were able to scale their Fiverr freelancing work and earned seven-figures to become a millionaire in the process. Fiverr is a global online marketplace
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I signed up for a free trial of Audible and got a free audiobook. Due to the high recommendations from friends and other personal finance bloggers, I chose Rich Dad, Poor Dad as my starter audiobook. As a busy pharmacist, while maintaining a nascent blog, I find myself with less and less time. I turned to podcasts and now Audible
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I opened an account with Betterment 7 years ago in 2012. In this blog post, I will document my experience with Betterment. Betterment along with Wealthfront are the two best and most well-known of the so-called robo-advisers. They are called robo-advisors because they decided to cut the human middle man out of the equation and instead relied on its own
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Enjoy the current edition of the Sunday reading for pharmacy professionals, which features interesting articles and topics from the world of personal finance. Average 401(k) Balance by Age The average 401(k) balance may be at an all-time high, but you’ll likely be surprised to see just how low that number actually is. View the chart to see how you compare
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What’s my net worth in May 2019? When I graduated from pharmacy school in 2011, I had a negative net worth of $218,000 with a combination of student loan and credit card debts! It has been a humbling experience clawing my way of that debt to having a net worth of $241,451 at the end of May 2019. I was
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Podcasts have been around for a while now, a quick google search has podcasting, known then as audio-blogging starting as early as 2004! Like most pharmacists, I commute to and from work every day. You’re lucky if your commute is less than 30 minutes per round trip! I have done it all, at first I was listening to music, but
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Congratulations! After four years of hard work filled with sweat, and tears, you graduated from pharmacy school! You’re ready to conquer the world but what’s next? Hopefully, you didn’t have a hard time passing your NAPLEX or MPJE exams. Now that you’re officially a pharmacist and started a job, how are you going to deal with your personal finance? I
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What is FIRE? FIRE is a fairly new phenomenon, it stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. The financial independence movement started about 5 to 10 years ago. I only learned of the FIRE community when I read news articles discussing about Mr. Money Mustache and other millennials retiring in their thirties. Recently, Your Financial Pharmacist blog posted a really good
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High-yield savings are a fantastic way to stash your free money wasting away in your checking account. This Sofi Money Review will go over the pros and cons of opening an account with Sofi Money. You typically earn an average of 2.20 % APY or more dependent on which savings account you pick. One of the problems with keeping cash
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I came across an interesting article from Bloomberg discussing the definition of being wealthy across different age groups. The data came from the 2019 Modern Wealth Survey from Charles Schwab. The online survey was based on answers from a cohort of 1,000 respondents, age ranged from 21 to 75 years old. Below are some interesting findings: 59% of Americans live paycheck
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I am sure there are a lot of reviews for both Mint.com and Personal Capital out there. However, as with everything, everyone has a different perspective and this is my honest review of two free and most popular personal finance tracker out there. Mint.com I have been a long-time user of Mint. I don’t quite remember when I started using
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Welcome to the first edition of the Sunday financial reading for pharmacy professionals! These are some of my favorite articles I read this recently. Happy reading! Which Should You Fund First: Your 401k or IRA? Article Intro When saving for retirement there are many different strategies and savings vehicles available. The two most popular are 401 (k) and IRA. He’s
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I recently ran an analysis through my 401 (k) provider to check what is the optimum age for me to retire at. My 401 (k) provider, Empower advised me to retire at the age of 70 to get the full retirement benefit! Well, you might be thinking about how long can I live to enjoy that retirement? As you can
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Disclaimer, I am not a personal finance expert. If you’re a personal finance newbie just like myself, the SEC has a really good resource called introduction to investment for you to peruse. Because I’m not an expert I have to do a lot of reading on personal finance from various sources and this is the best strategy I am plotting
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In this post, I will describe 5 five ways pharmacists can generate passive income. There are two types of income sources: active and passive income. Pharmacists get their active incomes from working their full-time jobs. You can get creative with this. I have personally known pharmacists who are trying to earn extra income in a variety of different ways. First,
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In this blogpost, I’m continuing my how-to series on WordPress. Specifically on optimizations via WordPress plugins. Interested in starting a blog just like this one? Read more about it here. It’s probably best to go with as few plugins as possible due to the fact that too many plugins can slow down your website. Find out which ones are most
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What is the average pharmacist salary in 2019? In this blog post, I compiled pharmacist salary data from top salary sources. Pharmacists consistently ranked among the most trusted health care professionals and also among the top earners. How much money do pharmacists actually make? I have researched this topic since 2011 and have a deep interest in it. I know
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In this blog post, I’ll describe a few of my strategies for monetizing this blog. Are you interested in creating your own blog? Please read my post about how to create a blog just like this one. Google Adsense I came across a really good article regarding Adsense from google research. Here adsenseninja gave a thorough explanation of adsense. My
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Do you know which pharmacy school is the top pharmacy schools in Texas? Ever since high school I’ve been infatuated with college rankings. In particular, I love browsing through the US News rankings. There are other college rankings out there but US News is probably the most known and widely cited. They have been ranking colleges since 1983! The latest
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This top ten list is not any particular order. The following are blogs that are my favorites when it comes to personal finance, pharmacy or both! Money Under 30 This is one of the highly recommended personal finance blogs online. Frugal Asian Finance The title is self explanatory! Another FIRE participant with very interesting topics. Financially Alert Follow the very
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This post may contain affiliate links, please read our affiliate policy for more details. Starting a blog ranked highly in most recommendations for a side hustle. While it is tough to stand out in a crowded arena if you find a good niche and put forth a genuine effort. I believe you can be successful. I started this blog as
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If you’re a pharmacist who’s interested in personal finance then you’ve probably have heard of a side hustle. A pharmacist side hustle is anything that you’re doing on top of your full-time pharmacist job in order to earn additional income. I think it is a growing trend amongst millennials who wanted to pad their savings for investments or working toward
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In this post, I will document my student loan journey and how I paid off my student loan in 2 years. MyFed Loan accounts Many college graduates are familiar with this loan servicer. My initial loan started with approximately $29,000 subsidized loan after my graduation in 2006. Student loans are usually subdivided into three different types of loans. After my
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