Personal Finance Blogs
Featuring the Best Personal Finance Blog Articles
Today's Personal Finance Articles
View articles only on the topic you search below.
I found an interesting estimation of Australian household median and average net worth (total assets – total liabilities) broken down by age group on a webpage by wealthvieu. It made the estimates using the ABS survey of Income and Housing for 2019-20, and then adjusting for current (2025-26) property valuations. It also have estimated household net worth for the 25th, 50th (median), 75th, 90th
You’re probably familiar with what you can do to protect yourself from identity theft. But this recent hack of Instructure & Canvas by ShinyHunters highlighted how important it is that I protect my children from identity theft. It’s less common because minors can’t enter into the same financial contracts as adults. A minor can’t open a credit card or sign a contract, so they are less attractive targets for theft. But it’s still possible. And fortunately there are a few steps you can take to protect them. It’s not nearly as many steps as for adults, but it’s still worth considering. Table of ContentsChange Your PasswordsFreeze Credit ReportsEquifaxTransUnionTurn on Two Factor AuthenticationWarn About Phishing AttemptsCheck The Credit Report Annually Change Your Passwords First, change Canvas passwords and any other accounts that were using the same passwords. It’s now a good time to remind them the importance of using a secure password. They’re in the big leagues of theft now… it’s easier to fix this when they have just a handful of logins compared to later when it’s many more. Freeze Credit Reports As a minor, your child won’t have a credit file. This is what makes their Social Security Number doubly valuable – a thief that succeeds in using it can use it for years because no one is checking it. You may check your report each year. I’ve never checked my childrens’ reports (and they likely don’t have one). When you freeze their report, it’s technically known as a “protected consumer credit freeze” or a “child credit freeze.” The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act restricts the online collection of personal information and so the bureaus can’t show you the report of anyone under 13. This is why it has to be done through the mail, even if they are over 13. When you submit a request to freeze, the bureau will usually create a report and then freeze it. You have to submit this request to each of the bureaus individually. NOTE: The bureaus will issue you a PIN, keep this in a safe place because you will need it to lift the freeze. Experian Here are the Experian instructions but all the forms lead to a way to print out what you’ll need to mail in. There is also a way to upload the documents, scroll down on the instructions to see that process. You will need to submit these documents: The printed form A copy of your driver’s license or another government issued identification card, such as a state ID card Proof of your address, such as a copy of a bank statement, utility bill, insurance statement A copy of your child’s birth certificate Proof of guardianship, if not named on child’s birth certificate A copy of your child’s Social Security card Mail it to: ExperianPO Box 9554Allen, TX 75013 Equifax Here are the Equifax instructions and you’ll need this form. They require you to provide: Identification – copy of your driver’s license or other
Note from Earl (February 2026): I rage-typed the original version of this post in a breakroom in 2019 while counting down the minutes until I could escape. Fast-forward to today: I hit my ~$2M net worth goal, fired my boss, and never looked back. No more pointless Zooms, no more Slack doom-scrolling. If your job is stealing your soul, here is the no-fluff playbook I used to buy my freedom—updated with the freshest 2026 data. […]
This June Military Scholarships post is part of my ongoing Military Scholarships series. The scholarship season is slowing down, but there are still opportunities available. As with any other scholarship resource, verify eligibility, requirements and deadlines. We make every effort to ensure these listings are up-to-date, but we can’t guarantee it! Jewish War Veterans… | Read More… The post June Military Scholarships for Service Members, Veterans, Spouses and Kids appeared first on KateHorrell.
Welcome to “Thank God I’m FI” Friday, Volume #171 Here are some things I really like and that you might too! **Note To My Readers – I sometimes get complaints about ads on my blog (too many). I’m kind of… The post T.G.I.F. Friday: Volume 171 appeared first on Accidental Fire.
Singapore Airlines only shows KrisFlyer Miles expiring in the next 6 months. I built a free calculator that takes your full statement and returns the complete expiry schedule using FIFO logic. No AI, no spreadsheet, no signup. Paste, click, done in a minute. The post KrisFlyer Miles Expiry Calculator: Free Tool To Check When Your Miles Expire appeared first on Turtle Investor.
When I first wrote this post in 2018, I had 5 in-house pets, two dogs and three cats. In the past two years, I’ve lost two of those much-loved buddies. Now all of my current pets are seniors. And I am on the verge of bringing one or two new guys in to join our zoo. And it seemed like a good time to update and expand this article to reflect my changing situation and […]
Someone made close to $180,000 last year just by going to the bathroom! I know that sounds weird but selling poop is… The post Get Paid to Donate Stool: 9 Programs Paying Up to $1,500/Month (2026) appeared first on MoneyPantry.com.
Our perceptions of the value of time and money shift as we age. In early adulthood, time is abundant, while money is scarcer. We want more money and are willing to sacrifice our time to get it. By middle age, a thriving career helps us earn more, but job and family obligations consume our time…. The post How Our Perceptions of Time and Money Change as We Age appeared first on Retire Before Dad.
Well hello again! I bet you thought I forgot about throwing together another update. Welp, I’m just late again, as is my recent trend. Now don’t just stand there, come on in and take a quick read. You can check the latest and greatest info on the Track Our Progress page. First, the numbers: Net Worth: End of Quarter 1 Balance: $2,041,820 Up $35,609 from the start of the year. Year to Date (YTD): Up $35,609 […]
I’ve been sharing our personal finances online since 2013. For those who haven’t been along for that whole ride, I will let you know that there have been very few times that we have used our emergency fund for anything. Using the emergency fund is the last option. Usually we are able to handle unexpected expenses without touching our emergency fund. In fact, I wrote a whole article about three ways that our budget handles […]
Well hello FIRE peeps, hope you are doing well. My morning started really good, as I have been able to balance all the cells in my home battery. As of this morning 7:00, the home battery is fully operational! Futhermore, last week me and Mrs Hoefnix have gotten together and planned a new FIRE meetup! Still working on a few details, but see below for a sneak peak and to see if you might be able to help us with volunteers. So here is a quick Home Battery & FIRE Meetup Update. Home Battery Update My last post was already from late March, when I wrote about the purchase of my home battery. At that time I had done my research and had bought a 32 kWh home battery. In many pieces though, as I had to be build completely from scratch. Now, May 6th, I’ve been able to succesfully build and install my new home battery. And to my joy this morning, the load balancing overnight of the 32 individual battery cells was complete and succesfull. As of 7:00 this morning, my new home battery was fully operational! Home Battery & FIRE Meetup Update: Cheesy Battery Now, I will write a more technical blogpost about the full installation and experiences later. But I can share already that it took about 5 days to build, install and commission. This includes installing 38m of ground cables (6mm2 – 4 wires) and drilling through 2 stone walls. This also included building the cabinet for the battery. And it includes many small fuck-ups along the way. Fortunately nothing major, so I didn’t screw up the system or components. But it did take up a lot of extra time. Finally, I did contact our local electrician to do the hookup in the fuse box, this was still a considerable amount of work. It took him almost 3 hours of non-stop work to get everything connected. I would have take me a lot longer. But this added another €225 to the costs of the installation. But this was worth it! Total Damage was just under €9300 or ~€290/kWh installed. Not bad for a system that can run island mode (i.e. if power fails on the grid, we will not notice a thing. Well except all neighbours showing up to charge their mobile phones and drink coffee perhaps…). More to follow later! FIRE Meetup Update Mrs Hoefnix already did a save the date post. In this post I would like to give a bit more information, and give you an overview of the volunteer positions we are looking for to make the day a success. Volunteer positions won’t be required to purchase a ticket. If you cannot, or don’t want to volunteer, a link to the tickets will be made available somewhere in the coming weeks. Here is my safe the date notification: Concept Agenda 12:00 – 13:00: Doors open 13:00 – 13:15: Welcome and agenda for the day 13:15 – 14:00: Financial Horror
Have you ever heard the phrase “You snooze, you lose”? Well, what if I told you that you can actually make money while asleep? This further cements Warren Buffett’s money quote – “If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.” In the current world, it… Read More The post 10 Best Ways To Make Money While You Sleep (Real Passive Income Ideas That Work) appeared […]