The 7 Personal Finance Articles We Loved This Week

It’s Thursday, and you know what that means: time for another round of awesome personal finance articles hand-picked by ESI of Rockstar Finance!

Happy holidays, everyone! As much as I love this time of year, I recognize that it’s not the happiest time for everyone, for a number of reasons. It can feel especially anxiety-inducing if you’re surrounded by the pressure of certain family members and you’re not where you want to be in life, or if the choices that make you happy are difficult for others to understand.

I loved this week’s post on how to survive moving back home as an adult — it’s a choice SO many people make, and as long as everyone is on the same page about the setup, it’s completely valid. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be difficult to deal with external judgment or even simply sharing the same space as your parents on a daily basis. This passage is particularly useful:

Once your parents consent to you living with them again (it’s their house, not yours), you need to be very clear about your intentions. This doesn’t mean you’ll have to draw up a contract or anything, but you need to be honest with them, and yourself, about what you are trying to accomplish.

Paying off student loans was the reason we lived with my wife’s parents. We told them that from the get-go. But your reasons might be a little different. You could be putting money aside for an emergency fund before you get your own place. It might be trying to find a job.

Having clear and positive intentions from the get-go will help all of you understand what’s happening. It will probably even help you stay focused on that goal so you can eventually move out before your parents just kick you out.

Be sure to check out the rest of this week’s great posts below!

1. How to Survive Moving Back in With Your Parents – Millennial Money Man

“Moving back home isn’t something you should take lightly, embarrassment aside. Your parents thought you would be gone for good, and they’ve probably gotten used to living their best life. Did your Mom turn your bedroom into a sewing room?”  

2. True Wealth is Invisible – Half Life Theory

“Assets, for the most part, are invisible….while liabilities are loud, obnoxious and take up a lot of space. Think about it….The huge, off-white Mercedes G Wagon Truck….Liability. It’s large shiny, and quite impressive to look at. However, the title of ownership, that allows the bank to fleece Mr. Jones at 8-9% each monthly payment, because Mr. Jones has poor credit, is invisible.”

3. Is the Whole Idea of FIRE Just a Fantasy? – The Graying Savior

“As far as alarm clocks go . . . most of the “FIRE people” I know aren’t trying to escape to a life where alarm clocks aren’t needed because they have nothing on their schedules and can sleep 18 hours a day. We’re trying to create a life for ourselves where alarm clocks aren’t needed because we’re awakened by a the freedom to pursue our own passions without the worry of bringing home a paycheck.”

4. What I Learned from a Month of Tracking Everything – The Mastermind Within

“During the month of November 2018, I set a goal to track everything. I decided to track my drinking, eating, waste, exercise, spending, sleep and work, and ended up tracking everything for 30 straight days.”

5. Annual Planning That Works – The Best Chapter

“I know, it’s a lot of time, energy and processing. But for us, it’s worth every bit of the effort because it strengthens our sense of who we are as individuals and what we can create as a couple. It reduces conflicts during the year because we have clear and explicit priorities that we’ve agreed upon. And most importantly, it allows us to move forward strategically into the new year.”

6. Cross-Generational Retirement Strategies: Nine Interesting Statistics you can learn from – Road 2 Eudemonia

“Many of the usual headlines like ‘Millennials are not saving’ or ‘Baby Boomers unprepared for retirement.’ I started surfing the ole’ inner-web for some recent research studies to either confirm or refute the news headlines.  What I found was sort of a mixed bag of confirmations and also some repudiations of common news headlines.”

7.  The Epic Money Lesson I Learned At 10 Years Old – Make Real Cents

“It’s a day that is still crystal clear in my mind, even after all these years. I was around 10 years old, and my siblings and I wanted to treat my mom for Mother’s Day by taking her out for breakfast. We had been hoarding our little savings for a while, to treat our mom to the finest Mother’s Day breakfast we could afford—Denny’s. Yes, I said it. Denny’s, the home of the grand slam, steak & egg, and home fry breakfast.”

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