Finance Archives - Traveling Wallet

27Feb 2024 by The Roamer No Comments

2023 Traveling wallet yearly review: Full time job and some travel

Reviewing yearly has been a habit of mine since my college days. It is eye opening to look back and see how much can change and happen in the span of a year. My kids are a constant reminder of the passing of time. 2023 was my first year of full time engineering work in over 7 years. It was an adjustment. It felt like work swallowed up the whole day. Looking back, we did make time for adventures in 2023. Reviewing the year and pictures really are the best. It really does help you appreciate and remember the year's adventures, accomplishments and just the lovely day to day things like tending a garden. How did that all matched up to my 2023 yearly goals? Here is what I set…

16Mar 2021 by The Roamer No Comments

023 Season 2 review! Mastermind updates

Finance, Podcast, Shownotes

Live season Finale on Instagram Live! Talk about stepping outside of our comfort zones to try something new and connect with our audience. Hey Changemakers in this episode of Her EnterpRISE podcast its time for some reflection. Reflection is so important as we try to grow and learn. Whether you are trying new things with your money, minimalism or business. You have to set aside time to reflect and look back. What worked? What didn't? Listen Powered by RedCircle Apple - Google podcasts - Spotify - YouTube or your favorite player. (more…)

02Mar 2021 by The Roamer No Comments

022 Health Insurance Options with Joanna Phipps

Finance, Podcast, Shownotes

Did you know that the health market place is opening up again this year for an extra opportunity to enroll? Health Insurance in the U.S. is a landmine, which is why we are so happy to get our health insurance questions answered by a professional. The stories of people getting struck down into poverty due to medical expenses abound. So if we want to head off on our own, and create our own business, how do we deal with the question of health insurance? Hey Changemakers in this episode of Her EnterpRISE podcast we answer a lot of these question. Listen in and don't forget to take action and make sure you are covering yourself in some way for health care emergencies. Listen Add re circle player Powered by RedCircle Apple…

22Jan 2021 by The Roamer No Comments

018 Legitimizing your hustle with taxes -Tony Clark

Finance, Podcast, Shownotes

Tony Clark, Enrolled Agent MST What questions would you ask a tax guy if you had a chance to sit down with them for free? Lets meet Tony , Kelly's favorite tax guy. Are you working in your own business? Just getting started? Or someone who get paid in cash? We cover a lot on today's episode of Her EnterpRISE podcast . Listen Powered by RedCircle Apple - Google podcasts - Spotify - YouTube or your favorite player. (more…)

12Jan 2021 by The Roamer No Comments

016 Double Doubling your Income

Earning, Finance, Podcast, Shownotes

Kelly grew up in poverty and back then she always felt like she was stuck in a place of being in crisis. Growing a successful business and doubling her income 3 years straight wasn't something she thought possible at the start of her journey. Hey Changemakers in this episode of Her EnterpRISE podcast We hear more about Kelly and how she was stuck in fight or flight. She had to manage issues included chronic pain. How does someone like that, make the shift of thinking short term to long term thinking. Listen Powered by RedCircle Apple - Google podcasts - Spotify - YouTube or your favorite player. (more…)

30Dec 2020 by The Roamer No Comments

2019 Goals Review

Continuous improvement, Finance, Yearly Review Series

Its almost time to do a 2020 year review but I never finished 2019. Here is what I wrote back in March but am just publishing now. So much is going on right now. Life is wild. Seriously only 3 months into 2020 and the world shuts down. Our family is finally getting into a flow so here I am wrapping up 2019 by reviewing our goals. This is more for me. I need to revisit last year since this years goals are getting derailed with all the craziness. 2019 Goals Review 2019 (17 Goals) Career, Relationship, Financial, & Lifestyle Find Job work 3-4 hrs /day from 12-4pm ( pays more than $10/hr.)Find 10 Speaking gigsAppear on 12 podcastsRecord my own podcast/ YouTube Re-launch blog with email list ( new…

24Nov 2020 by The Roamer No Comments

004 Celebrating and Optimizing your Wins- Mastermind with Melissa Neacato

Finance, Podcast, Shownotes

Powered by RedCircle Listen here or at Apple, Google podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite player. On this site Traveling Wallet I talk a lot about figuring out MONEY so that you can live the life you want. Finding places to invest and save is one side of the coin. The other side is increasing your income. Or diversifying it. In today Her EnterpRISE mastermind episode I share my challenges in creating financial growth when it comes to increasing income through client work instead of a traditional 9-5 position. What is a Mastermind? A mastermind is a group of people who are striving to get to where you are going, or are already there. Where challenges are revealed openly, experiences are shared and feedback is given honestly. For us that means we are women…

13Oct 2020 by The Roamer No Comments

009 Economics, mindset, wealth creation & enterprise as a means of alleviating poverty with Kelly O’Brien Pahman

Finance, Shownotes

Powered by RedCircle Listen here or at Apple, Google podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite player. In this episode of Her EnterpRISE podcast, Melissa and Nicole interview their Co-host Kelly. They dig deeper into her thoughts on business and how she has been able to build a successful Craniosacral Therapy practice. She has even been voted Top 10 GRKIDS (Grand Rapids, MI) Birth companion and therapist 5 years in a row. They answer the following questions: How has your perspective on business changed?If I makes more does it mean that someone else makes less?What is the zero sum pie fallacy?What does adding more leaves to the table mean? Quick peek at what's in the episode: How Kelly thought about business as a 19 year old. She conflated it with negative thoughts like greed. Back then business…

28Nov 2017 by The Roamer 4 Comments

Half way through a 4 month mini retirement

Finance

Hi everyone I just figured I should leave a quick note. Last I wrote we were still in the prepping stages of our mini retirement. We were standing at the precipice. I'll be honest I was getting all sorts of butterflies in my stomach. Except it was more like worms, lizards (more…)

04Sep 2017 by The Roamer No Comments

Our San Francisco Vacation and other July Expenditures

Family, Finance, Travel

July is long gone by now. School for my son has started and I am here playing catch up. My monthly expenses were previously reserved for email subscribers but with our up and coming 4 month mini retirement I wanted to share it here. Why? Since I am going to share how much this adventure costs us, you will need some baseline data to compare it against? Therefore, I will be including the July, August and September expenses here on the blog. (more…)

20Jul 2017 by The Roamer 1 Comment

Capsule 8: Spring & 2 years of capsule wardrobes

Capsule Wardrobe, Finance, Minimalism

I first started my capsule wardrobe experiment back in July 2015. I had no idea it would last this long. Today I wrap up 2 years of living with capsule wardrobes. All just 3 months at a time. When I started I didn't commit myself to doing it forever, but it has been such a good experience that I have kept going. Spring 2017 was the final chapter of year 2. My 8th capsule. Here is what I picked out and wore. (more…)

08Feb 2017 by The Roamer 4 Comments

January Expenses and the uber frugal month wrap up

Continuous improvement, Maximizing money

What do the uber frugal month challenge and our January spending have in common? Only that they happened on the same month. So peek through to see our uber frugal month challenge results. How much did we save? How much did we spend? and what was our honest opinion. Finally, whether we think it's right for you. So lets hop to it.. (more…)

16Jan 2017 by The Roamer No Comments

2016 Goals: Year End Review

Finance, Reading, Saving, Travel, Yearly Review Series

It's January, and you know what that means. Goals for 2016 This past year I decided to try something new. I had read that I could be more focused if I just chose one goal and really bore down on it for a whole month. It sounded interesting and logical. It sounded like I would get more, deeper work done. It was also a way to avoid my natural tendency to overload myself with goals. The year before I had jot down 24. Instead this year I could only choose 12 goals for the year. (more…)

09Jan 2017 by The Roamer 6 Comments

Net Worth Update : Our growth in 2016

Continuous improvement, Finance, Saving

Hey Traveling Wallet readers, It's net worth update time. When I first posted my net worth out for the world to see, I wasn’t so sure how I felt about it. I'll be honest I'm still a bit paranoid about the whole thing. It’s probably not a surprise that I feel like I am leaving myself a bit exposed. While I am not sharing my net worth here monthly I do track it regularly. Finally, I decided that giving a yearly snap shot was probably not so bad. (& since Mr. Roamer is on board, then all engines go) Today I will be sharing the growth we saw in the last 12 month period. Sometimes, a year can just fly by, but it turns out 365 days is a lot of time…

06Jan 2017 by The Roamer No Comments

Uber Frugal Month Challenge, Well Why Not?

Continuous improvement, Finance

Happy New Year Traveling Wallet Readers! It is officially 2017 and it's time to use that new years motivation to tackle exciting tasks. This month the Roamer clan is participating in the Frugalwood's Uber Frugal month challenge. When Mrs. Frugalwoods first mentioned it, I was intrigued. But because we are trying our hand at travel hacking. Or credit cards rewards, I wasn't sure we would be participating. Our 3 month deadline to meet spending is Jan 14. That is 14 days, where we would be more worried about spending rather then saving. But we (more…)

30Nov 2016 by The Roamer No Comments

5 Scholarships To Fund Your Study Abroad Term

Finance, Travel

I’ve wanted to travel the world for a long time. Now, I am finally taking steps to make that a reality. I am very excited about next year’s 3 month adventure. But I remember when I was in high school and learned about this wonderful thing. Study Abroad. A speaker came to my high school, and informed me that I could go to school, work on my degree. Then a year or two later, take time to go to a different country and visit, all while continuing to work on my degree. Say what? That is amazing! I was sold! And I have to admit that it was one of the main reasons why I wanted to go to university. But life happened, and I never got the chance to…

03Jun 2016 by The Roamer 12 Comments

What we don’t spend on, and how it maximizes our Saving Potential

Finance

After that amazing feature on Rockstar Finance and all the eyes that viewed my post about Big Savings and Happiness. I thought I should shed some more light on the details. You can get a general idea by looking at our yearly spend but I'm getting really detailed here. Maybe your a Californian and your jaw dropped by last years numbers. Its California! it's super expensive! Or maybe you live in the Midwest and still are spending more then us. How do we do it? Well, we do a lot of things the common American does. Like watch movies, and more movies. But we have a few areas where we are very different. Here's the list of things we don't spend money on. This doesn't mean we never, ever, ever…

12May 2016 by The Roamer 3 Comments

Net worth update

Finance, Maximizing money, Yearly Review Series

Hi, So it's about time for another net worth update. When I first posted my net worth out for the world to see, I wasn't so sure how I felt about it. Being transparent about you financials is a bit Taboo. It's probably not a surprise that as the sharer I feel like I am leaving myself a bit exposed. While I am not sharing my net worth here monthly it is something I keep and eye on. I decided that I felt that giving a yearly snap shot was probably not so bad. But I am running behind as these snap shots should be coming out during January. While I didn't get the post out I did make sure to record my stats. So in this post I will…

05May 2016 by The Roamer 24 Comments

Big Savings & Happiness, Can you have both?

Counter Culture, Finance, Saving

Last year we saved $72,360. (Deep breath) You have to give it a moment to let it sink in. (more…)

13Mar 2016 by The Roamer 6 Comments

No employer match, Who cares?

401K, Maximizing money, Saving

I was just working on our Net Worth post and I was looking at this graph. [caption id="attachment_1653" align="alignnone" width="313"] Traveling Wallet's asset allocation[/caption] and it just made me feel like man what a mistake! Your assets graph made you feel like what a mistake? Really?!?!? Yeah it did, and it's that little orange section right there. (more…)

10Mar 2016 by The Roamer 4 Comments

401k Rollover, The Fear

401K, Finance

I stared at the stack of 18 papers in front of me. What am I going to do? Maybe 18 pages doesn't sound that scary, but think about it this way. If you had to read an 18 page medical journal. Then present on it to prove that you understood it, well I'm sure you're probably feeling overwhelmed right now too. That's what it's like, after all, for most people. Ask them to read a 401K rollover document from their 401K provider and you might as well tell them to go rent a physics book from the library. Not only do they have no interest in reading on the topic. It's also seen as so high level that you're intimidated before you even start. It's a recipe for ....well, for…

01Mar 2016 by The Roamer 3 Comments

Why a 30 day challenge?

Finance, Monthly Challenge

Hello! Happy March. Today marks the beginning of the month but most importantly the beginning of a new 30 day challenge. 30 day challenges are a big thing here in the blogosphere. They are easy content fodder. Throw down a challenge invite the readers and let the competition begin. I've seen some really good ones and some that don't quite make sense. Of course the best ones for me are the ones that rile me up enough to join the group. It doesn't really matter whether it's home, food or personal almost anything seems to be able to be boiled down to a good ol' 30 day challenge. (more…)

12Feb 2016 by The Roamer 3 Comments

Yearly Spend Revealed

Finance, Savvy Spending, Yearly Review Series

Money comes in , Money goes out Every year at Traveling Wallet we spend, spend, spend, Spend! But its not all bad. If you try, every year can be better. For us last year was an interesting year and the first full year we had in which we didn't need to spend a single dime on loan or debt repayment. Not one dime. Still... We did spend a lot of money and this post is all about analyzing where it all went. (more…)

17Jan 2016 by The Roamer 4 Comments

2015 goals: year end review

Continuous improvement, Finance, Yearly Review Series

I started off the year taking a big bite with my goals. But that's me, I always think I can move mountains and 2015 was no different. The year started with me taking on 20 goals . To which I promptly added 4 more once I had printed them out on paper. (I always seem to forget something before I press print.) But more then halfway through the year I had to admit that I just wasn't feeling some of the items I had written down. (more…)

17Dec 2015 by The Roamer 2 Comments

Weekly Pain & Gain: The Free Tree

Special Occasions, Weekly Pain & Gain

The weekly pain & gain series has been a nice addition this year that has really spurned me to post more frequently. So I am going to try and finish the year off strong by not missing any posts for the rest of the year. and the rest of the year sounds a lot like this..... " for the holidays you can't beat home sweet home" ah its the Holiday season and the radio has been playing music it seems like non stop. We are hustling and bustling but mostly with unpacking tasks and not necessarily with gobs and gobs of shopping. Which segues nicely to this weeks pain. Pain We have since moved all our belonging to the new apt. However, this doesn't mean we are all done. No…

11Dec 2015 by The Roamer 16 Comments

Getting Laid………..OFF

Finance, Saving

The one gift you always hope to receive before the holidays is more time off. Of course, that's paid time off. What you don't hope for is that you walk in at the start of your shift on Monday right before the holidays to receive a big fat lay off. Poor timing. It definitely wins the award for that. ..and while I was still in utter shock I was also trying really hard not to smile and shout, "see ya later suckers!!" . ( Of course Mommy would never say such bad things. Felt like I should address my kids there for some reason. Ha ha ha) But I didn't smile and I didn't utter any self aggrandizing phrases. Actually for all my joy, I was very much insulted. "You?!....…

27Nov 2015 by The Roamer No Comments

Guest post on the Plutus Finalist blog, Even Steven Money

Finance, Special Occasions

Lots of great things come from starting up a blog on personal finance and some of us even venture into the realm of Financial independence. The biggest benefit is hearing about other people who are making big changes and reaching their goals. It's reasuring to know there are people out there just like you and me dreaming big and making those dreams a reality. I got to meet a bunch of these inspirational people at this year's FinCon and one of them was Even Steven. And let me tell you something, when people blog anonymously or behind a caricature its always an anticipated moment to see what people really look like. So if you were ever wondering what Even Steven looks like, let me break the tension. He looks just like…

13Nov 2015 by The Roamer 6 Comments

Surprise! Why me? Dealing with bad surprises

Finance, Monthly Challenge, Saving

You know that feeling you get, you know when you feel like "I just can't believe this is happening to me" and not in a good way. But in a Why me? way. That is how I was feeling lately. Why? Because of the Surprise! It wasn't even a good surprise. It was another unexpected, out of nowhere, break you expense. Well, it could have been, had we not been in the financial position we are today. Emergency fund, rainy day fund, unexpected expenses fund. It doesn't matter what it's called. Every one is touting be prepare. Like an 11 year old boy scout. But honestly most people just don't do it. One survey showed that up to 62% of people wouldn't be able to cover a $1,000 expense. While…

26Oct 2015 by The Roamer 1 Comment

Weekly Pain & Gain: Halloween and Dancing

Family, Savvy Spending, Special Occasions, Weekly Pain & Gain

This month is really one of my favorites. I really have lots of fun during Halloween. Pain October has had some un welcome surprises in the automotive department. Like I mentioned we are in the process of getting ready for a move and things have gotten a little harder thanks to car issues. Currently we are down to one vehicle and because of our imminent move this has caused a lot of issues. This automotive issue is being felt with time limitations and later will be felt with our wallet. However, the dollars are less of an inconvenience then the time constraints. Right now we are in serious need of flexibility but instead we are now more constrained. UGH! the timing couldn't be more off. It is frustrating and truly…

09Oct 2015 by The Roamer 2 Comments

A year off from work, Why? & How?

Counter Culture, Family, Finance, Parenthood

I have been wanting to take a year off from work for a very long time. As the year gets closer to its end I have a lot to contemplate. A young mother The whole idea started after giving birth to my son, he's 7 now. See I got pregnant while attending university and due to the situation I didn't even take my full 6 weeks off to recoup. I had deadlines and metrics to meet if I wasn't going to become another drop out statistic. There were plenty of breaks thanks to the academic school term and because of how close I live to campus I spent lots of time back home with my baby. But I still felt I was missing a lot. I remember telling my significant…

Category: Finance