A smart way to save for college right now is by opening a tax-advantaged 529 account. Inside the account your investment earnings can grow tax-deferred, allowing for a higher return on investment than if the funds were in a taxable account. You can open a 529 account for yourself if you are headed for higher learning or for your children as soon as they are born!
Find out what is going on in my financial world as the new year begins: stock sales, ETF purchases, Grow Your Dough Challenge information, my free financial guide, and more!
Announcing the release of the Squintillions Beginner’s Guide to Building Financial Success. The guide covers a top 20 list of financial tips to help those new to personal finance get started on the path to financial success. Contains explanations for each tip covered as well as links to further resources.
Time for my 2019 Grow Your Dough Challenge third quarter update. The Grow Your Dough Challenge involves putting $1000 into the investments of your choice via the investing platform of your choice at the beginning of the year. At the end of 12 months, we’ll see how the investments have progressed and which one can grow the most dough. I invested in seven different platforms, plus myself and my blog. Read more to learn how my investments are doing.
TD Ameritrade announced commission free trades online on US equities, ETFs, and options. Read the announcement sent to account holders. I give my thoughts on how the news plays into my investment strategies.
My number one tip for beginners on getting started investing is to invest in stock market index funds. This article explains doing so in detail.
The standard recommendation for an emergency fund is 3 to 6 months of expenses (some sources even say 6 to 9 months). Whoa, that seems like a lot of money, especially if you have a family to support! This article breaks down how to get your emergency fund started and covers the benefits of having one. Click the title to read more.
Back in May 2019, I opened a new Trust account with TD Ameritrade. With the recent downturn in stock market prices, I was able to complete the process of buying five of the ETFs I had been keeping track of for this account. My goal with this account is to use up to 50% of the money that I gain from dividends and interest each year as charitable contributions for my favorite non-profit organizations for the following year. (Click title to read more about my selections …)
Time for the 2019 Grow Your Dough Challenge second quarter update! The Grow Your Dough Challenge involves putting $1000 into the investments of your choice via the investing platform of your choice at the beginning of the year. At the end of 12 months, we’ll see how the investments have progressed and which one can grow the most dough. For the challenge, I made investments across six different investing platforms, plus a special bonus category of investing in myself through my blogs and YouTube channel. (Click through to read more…)
Summer is here! What does that mean for Squintillions? It means my children are out of school and home with me all day and it is much more challenging to make any videos for the Squintillions YouTube channel. You know what is awesome though? I got a shout out from one of my favorite personal finance video influencers, Joseph Hogue, on his channel “Let’s Talk Money! with Joseph Hogue, CFA.” We are both doing the Grow Your Dough challenge and he referenced my previous Grow Your Dough update video. Check out his video here: Unforunately, my Sony RX100 VI camera… Read More »Status Update for Squintillions and Shout Out!