Ever get to the end of the month, peek at your bank account, and wonder, " woah..where'd all my money go?" If so, this list of what to stop buying to save money will help you reevaluate and reclaim your checkbook! Here's a simple, but effective, exercise. Grab a printed or PDF of your bank statements for the last 3 months. Grab a highlighter and highlight anything you would say isn't essential. If you're anything like most people, you're going to see a LOT more yellow than you might expect! Once you start looking at it, you will be amazed…

Do you ask yourself, “what does it mean to automate my finances?” Or, “should I automate my bills?” You’re in the right place if you want to learn to automate your money. I go into more depth on all of this in my award-winning book, Budgeting Doesn’t Have to Suck. I hope you find this summary and infographic really useful in the meantime. How To Automate Your Money When you create your budget and have money left over…that’s your cash to save and invest. As you will see in the infographic below, the goal is to automate your savings transfers, your…

Not everybody can pen an article that captures your attention. That's actually a really good thing if you are interested in learning about freelance writing for beginners. In this field, there is a lot of opportunities and limited competition.  This is especially the case as we are living in the information era. Information needs to be communicated and that typically takes place in written form. Even other media uses the written word to communicate concepts that go from page to screen. Wherever you see information of any kind, you don't have to look hard to find a writer behind it.…

In 2011 we were at a crossroads. Approaching $200,000 in total debt we were sitting in a bank lobby getting ready to take out a home equity line of credit because two bathrooms in our home were leaking into the basement. We didn’t have enough money in savings to cover the repairs. It was one of those rare moments of complete clarity. In that moment we realized then that we could either continue going down this road of taking on more debt, or go on the attack against it. If you don’t know where to start to pay off your…

Today, I present The Ultimate Retirement Planning Guide to help you on your journey to retirement, regardless of what stage you’re at in life. Why today?  I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the strong subscriber growth over the past few months, and am humbled by the exposure this blog has received.  A sincere “Thank You” to each and every one of you who have recently joined The Retirement Manifesto team!  With so many new readers, I felt it was a good time to compile this Retirement Planning Guide from relevant articles I’ve written over the past 3 1/2 years. A highlight…

Three years ago, Becky Nova had no interest in even owning a home, much less becoming a real estate investor. Today she owns ten units and teaches women how to invest in real estate and build passive income from rental properties. “I’m a traveler, the free spirit type – I never saw myself settling down. Plus I grew up poor and never thought I would be in the position to own a home.” But after her first property, she caught the real estate bug and never looked back. If you’ve ever dreamed about building passive income and reaching financial independence with real estate,…