I know, I know, Black Friday is dumb; but since it exists, I figured I’d offer a coupon code for 10% off:

• An hourlong phone call with me (that’s $25 off)
• A basic financial consultation with me (that’s $150 off)
• A premium financial consultation with me (that’s $300 off)
• A spot in an Uber Frugal Month Mastermind group (that’s $30 off)

You can purchase any of the above for yourself OR as a gift certificate to give to anyone in your life who needs some Frugalwoodsy financial help. The coupon codes, which you enter at check-out, are:

• FRUGAL-FRIDAY-GC if you’d like to purchase a gift certificate
• FRUGAL-FRIDAY-AP if you’d like to purchase this for your own self

Move fast because these things expire on Monday, November 28th at midnight (12:00am Eastern Standard Time).

Continue reading Yes, I Actually Have a Black Friday Sale for You at Frugalwoods.

Give the gift of financial freedom this holiday season! Do you have a person in your life you keep recommending Frugalwoods to? Do you continually send them links to personal finance articles that they seem to ignore? Does this same person  bemoan that their money is a mess? Do you wish you could stage a financial intervention? Now you can!! I am here for all of your financial intervention needs with…

Gift Certificates for Private Financial Consultations!

Yes indeed, you can wrap me up and put me under your tree. Wondering what my private financial consultations entail? Read all about them here, sign-up for a consultation yourself here, or read on for the Cliff Notes:

I work one-on-one with clients to demystify personal finance and break money management down into easy-to-follow steps.

I explain where to start with organizing your finances and where to go for the longterm in a holistic, straightforward, anti-jargon, anti-judgment way, which means…

This Gift is Perfect For…

1) Your Adult Children/Grandchildren!

Continue reading Give The Gift of Financial Freedom! at Frugalwoods.

Knowing where your money’s at is the first step in financial planning. Before you can set goals, panic about having no money, or compliment yourself on your ability to buy a new back scratcher, you’ve got to know:

1. What you earn
2. What you spend
3. Your debts
4. Your assets
5. In other words, your overall net worth!

Lucky for us, there’s a FREE service that’ll do all of this for us. It’s called Personal Capital. I talk about it all the time. I use it all the time. Today I’ll explain why.

Everything In One Place

When folks do a Reader Case Study here on Frugalwoods, the most time consuming–and critical–aspect is compiling all their financial information. It’s basically Marie Kondo-ing your money:

• Where are those college t-shirts you received for winning beer ping pong?

Continue reading How to Know Everything About Your Money: Why I Use and Recommend Personal Capital at Frugalwoods.

Inflation is here: it’s large, it’s in charge, it’s up 8.5% as of March 2022, which is the biggest 12-month increase since 1981. Woohoo! Aren’t we lucky! But all is not (totally) lost because inflation doesn’t impact all prices equally. As we’ll explore together today, this is an uneven inflationary period: almost everything is more expensive, but some things are hit harder than others.

What Exactly IS Inflation???!!!

Before we dive into how inflation affects us on an individual level, let’s spend some time in Liz’s Definition Corner. Inflation is one of those terms everyone thinks they should know and assumes everyone else knows, but in reality a lot of us are not sure but afraid to ask because we assume everyone else knows… 

I kind of knew what inflation was before this year–like in very general terms–but now I’m deeply curious about what it really is.

Continue reading How to Survive Inflation and Make it Work for You at Frugalwoods.

Today, by popular demand, I bring you a comprehensive rundown of how my husband and I manage our money.

Before we dive in, I want to point out that your money management strategy will likely differ from mine, and that’s ok! Your financial situation will also likely differ from mine, and that’s ok too! There’s no one right way to do money, although there are definitely some wrong ways. What I hope is that by sharing how I manage my money, you’ll be enfranchised to organize, manage, and set goals around your money too.

A disclaimer that I am not a trained financial professional and I encourage people not to make serious financial decisions based solely on what one person on the internet advises.

I encourage everyone to do their own research to determine the best course of action for their finances.

Continue reading How We Manage Our Money: Behind The Scenes of The Frugalwoods Family Accounts at Frugalwoods.

Apparently the stock market is doing terrible things right now. But I don’t care. Monitoring the market like Frugal Hound stalks squirrels is a patently useless waste of time, energy, and brain capacity (same for FH as she’s tethered to a leash and, uh, the squirrels are decidedly not). There’s simply nothing to gain by it.

So while the rest of the world frets over the machinations of the market, I’m taking a different tack. I’m not going to tell you how to optimize your investments or beat the market or pick that one hot fund… why not? Because I don’t know how to and neither does anyone else. No one can predict what the market will do and there’s no secret formula for beating it.

What You Can Do

There are, however, two surefire ways to beef up your investment portfolio: 1) increase your savings and, 2) increase your earnings.

Continue reading Why We Ignore The Stock Market And You Should Too: Demystifying Personal Finance Part 4 at Frugalwoods.

Welcome to Part 3 of our Demystifying Personal Finance Series! This series is all about how to assemble a sound financial life as a young professional, though many of the topics covered are useful to folks of all ages. The series also serves as a reflection of the steps Mrs. Frugalwoods and I have taken to stay debt-free (other than our mortgage), save 71% of our incomes, max out our 401ks, avoid the lifestyle inflation trap, and map a plan for reaching financial independence in 2.5 years at age 33. A quick disclaimer: I am not a financial professional in any sense and am just some guy on the internet. Contrary to popular belief, Frugal Hound is also not a financial professional.

Saving for Retirement (And Why You Should Start ASAP)

Once you have your high interest debt under control, as we discussed in Part 2 of the series, it’s time to start thinking about the future.

Continue reading 401ks Are Your Friend: Demystifying Personal Finance Part 3 at Frugalwoods.

Welcome to Part 2 of our Demystifying Personal Finance Series! Debt repayment is a crucial step in attaining financial freedom and I originally wrote a post about debt repayment myself. But, it was terrible. Since we’ve never had any debt other than our mortgage, it was full of conjecture about what it “must feel like” to have debt and work towards paying it off. Be glad you didn’t have to read it.

Mr. Frugalwoods and I instead came to the conclusion that we shouldn’t write about what we haven’t experienced. And so, we invited Kim Parr, from Eyes on the Dollar, to share her personal experience and wisdom around debt repayment. We’re delighted to have her here on Frugalwoods today!

By: Kim Parr, Eyes on the Dollar

I’m honored to be in the midst of the Frugal Weirdos today talking about how to pay off debt.

Continue reading Banish Debt Like a Boss: Demystifying Personal Finance Part 2 at Frugalwoods.

Two years ago, I gave a presentation to my office on how to manage your money as a young professional. Sound boring? The title was “Compound Interest is a Magic Unicorn of Awesomeness.”

Why was I giving a presentation about personal finance to my office of software engineers (of which I am one)? Well, I’m known as the finance geek. And compound interest is, in fact, just as awesome as a unicorn.

After Mrs. Frugalwoods and I bought a single-family house in Cambridge, MA (one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country) at the ripe old age of 28, my coworkers began querying me on real estate, debt repayment, 401Ks, frugality, and general “how to be an adult with money” questions.

(The best part? My colleagues don’t know about Frugalwoods and have actually suggested to Mrs. FW and I that we should “start a blog about frugality.” We smile, bite our tongues, and take it as a compliment.

Continue reading Unicorns, Soviets, and Compound Interest: Demystifying Personal Finance Part 1 at Frugalwoods.