M-Network

Cash Money Life: A Special Delivery

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:09:40 -0700

My wife and I had a wonderful surprise last week. Our baby girl decided she was ready to enter the world - 5 weeks early. Baby Emma was just over 5lbs. She was born early, but the doctors and nurses gave her a clean bill of health. It has been an amazing experience to watch her grow and change over the last week. Time has passed so quickly! Timing. The Friday before our daughter was born was my wife’s last day of work. We wanted to give my wife a month or more away from work to prepare f...

My Two Dollars: Money Quote Friday - True Bliss Edition.

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:30:05 -0700

“Materialism is the only form of distraction from true bliss.” -Doug Horton If you are depending on your “stuff” to make you happy, you are setting yourself up for a life of misery. True happiness comes from who you are, not what you own. Have a great weekend, and enjoy the 4th tomorrow! Money Quote Friday - True Bliss Edition. Share and Enjoy: You might also like:Money Quote Friday - Recommending Virtue Edition.Money Quote Friday - Re...

Being Frugal: Review: Energizer 15 Minute Battery Charger

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:10:09 -0700

A couple of months ago, I was approached by Colleen at Classy Mommy about reviewing the Energizer 15 minute battery charger. Since I’m a huge fan of rechargeable batteries, I took her up on her offer. Here’s what I found. I love, love, LOVE this product! I’ve been using a regular Energizer battery charger for the last couple of years, and I’ve found that Energizer batteries tend to hold their charge pretty well. That said, I was skeptical as to whether a battery charger could actua...

Gather Little By Little: Some areas where it pays to spend a little more

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:00:10 -0700

Okay, a little shorter post today with the holiday weekend and all. I do not want to make anyone think too hard but I was reminded recently that “frugal” does not always mean “cheaper”. My wife and I sometimes review some of the purchases that we have made over our lives where we spent little money, but wish we had spent a little more. Vacuum My wife and I will have been married for eight years in July and we are on our fourth vacuum. One of the vacuums was given to us, ...

Mrs. Micah: Income-Based Repayment for Student Loans

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:00:01 -0700

The Federal Student Aid site has put together a great page on their new Income-Based Repayment Plan. Income-Based Repayment (IBR), is just what it sounds like–a repayment plan for federal student loans that caps your minimum based on your income. Which Loans are Eligible for Income-Based Repayment? According to the site: Any Stafford, Grad PLUS or Consolidation loan made under either the Direct Loan or FFEL program is eligible for repayment under IBR, EXCEPT loans that are currently in def...

Moolanomy: Best High Yield Online Savings Account Rates, July 2009

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:00:52 -0700

Although the average interest rate on high interest savings accounts continue to drop, you can still find a good rate if you know where to look. In this article, I’ve compiled a list of nationally available highest yields savings accounts. All of these accounts are FDIC insured up to $250,000. Your principal is protected and you’re guarantee a positive nominal return on investment. Savings Banks With Highest Interest Rate As of 7/2/2009 the highest yield savings accounts are: Bank...

My Two Dollars: How To Fix A Mistake On Your Credit Report.

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:30:07 -0700

Whether someone alerts you to it or not, sometimes mistakes show up on your credit report. And while I have not had any major things come up, I have had credit lines (and even an old car loan!) show as still being open when in fact they had been closed a long while back. If you have been told or are curious to see if there are any mistakes on your report and want to work on fixing them, here are some steps you should take. First off, you should have a copy of your credit report from each of the ...

Being Frugal: Perhaps the Government Needs to be Educated in the Value of an Emergency Fund

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:00:27 -0700

I was surfing the ‘net last night, searching for a good topic for today’s post, when I came across this gem of a video. It’s not long, but if you don’t have time to watch right now, it basically outlines the budget problems various states are facing, due to the economic crisis. Particularly interesting to me is that California is considering issuing IOUs, instead of paying their bills. Now, I could be wrong, but if I owed the state money at tax time, I don’t think they’d look to...

Gather Little By Little: 2 Year Anniversary - Win a new iPod Nano

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:16:55 -0700

Can you believe Gather Little by Little has been online for 2 years now? Me neither, but it has. Since July 2nd of 2007, I’ve published 700 articles (this is article #700), had more than 690,000 unique visitors, 1.1 million page views, and more than 3,000 people have subscribed!! Wow. God has really blessed. Gather Little by Little started on a small personal blogger blog where I was writing about personal finance, then towards the end of July I decided to start a personal finance b...

Moolanomy: The Truth About Investing: The Market Is Beatable

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:40:14 -0700

If you’re an investor in index funds, like I am, then you probably believe that it’s impossible to beat the market in the long run. You’ve had everyone from bloggers to Warren Buffett tell you the best thing for you is to invest in mutual funds indexed to the market. We do this because we believe the market is unbeatable. This is the belief in the so called “Efficient Market Hypothesis“. Basically we’re saying that stock prices already reflect all available...