Trent, to what extent does “knowing your audience” affect your blog posts? I mean, you’ve got a pretty niche market- most people I know would consider it some kind of punishment to read through a financial blog “for fun.” So do you pretend to write to the “average adult American” or do you recognize that your audience is typically more financially responsible than the average American, or at the very least, intending to be more financially responsible than the average American currently is.

In it the author recommends maxing out your 401k up to the company match, and then investing any additional in a Roth. I am currently putting 10% of my income into retirement with contributions between my 401a and 457b plans. This is 2% over the max contribution my employer provides.

Should I take that 2% and open a Roth, or should I just leave it be? It seems like an insubstantial amount of money to go through the trouble of opening a separate account, but if the benefits are worth it I would have no problem doing it.

#4 Foxie@CarsxGirl @ 9:16 am August 17th, 2009

I know when the huge annual bike rally rolls through Sturgis, SD, the entire town (save for the people who like the rally) clears out and rents out the houses… Everyone makes a KILLING doing it, too.

I imagine that this works better in smaller cities such as Sturgis and Lexington than it does in large metropolitan areas such as Washington D.C.

If she makes varying amounts $1-5K/month and is putting $2K every month into savings automatically, I’d be worried that those $1K months, if up next to each other, would cause the savings withdrawal to bounce.

I think the idea is that during the $5K months, she lives on $2K, and puts $2K in savings, leaving the excess of $1K in checking. With enough $5K months, this would balance out, but I agree that it sounds risky. I agree with Dave’s suggestion to put it all in savings and have $2k automatically transferred into checking every month.

Sorry for the screaming caps, but I wanted the person who asked that question to spot it easily. The original question was if the individual ever HAD to replace the water heater (rather than replacing it just for lower fuel cost.)

We were recently in this position: our propane water heater died, and we had a choice of replacements. We went with electric and we are VERY happy with the results! Our electric bill is up a bit, but now that we’re only using propane for cooking, those costs are WAY down and life is a bit easier in terms of planning for bills.

I really prefer some form of gas for cooking, for better control, but I’ll take electric for everything else! The overall cost is cheaper, the results as good.

Hope this helps!

I wondered if your wife has always been on board with living frugally or if it was primarily your idea and she needed to be convinced? In our family, as much as my husband is appreciative and supportive of our frugal lifestyle, I put in most of the effort and enjoy doing so, where he mostly enjoys the rewards. :)

In my opinion, the number one reason to move the money out is that THEY (your former employers) control the 401(k) plan and have no interest in working for your best interests *at all* once you leave – including investment choices, access to the funds, etc. Get your money out of there ASAP!

My grandma is 80 years old and still works 40-50 hours a week (sometimes more) b/c she *loves* what she does. She could retire. She’s saved up for it. Her house has been paid off for decades. But she loves taking care of people (she’s a CNA), so she keeps working. I know my grandma; if she didn’t like her job, she would have left first chance she got. She always says that life is too short to be miserable.

You wrote:
“Part of the reason that purely negative comments frustrate me so much is that they’re usually presenting a good idea, but they bury it in attacks and vitriol that take that good idea and bury it in negativity. This helps no one.”

Electric water heaters are really inefficient compared to ones with a flame. In AZ, use solar if you have good siting and keep your propane as a backup.
If you ever do have to replace it, get more propane or natural gas (if you have that option).

disclaimer: I work for a gas/electric utility.

I saw it mentioned earlier and would like to emphasize: I can’t imagine, living in Arizona, that you wouldn’t benefit tremendously from a solar hot water system. Of course, as others mentioned, this shouldn’t be implemented until your current water heater is no longer viable.

@Trent, JD, and others on Libertarians -

I’ll have to go with JD on this one and say that drinking the kool-aid of any specific party is just kind of creepy to me, yet most of the people in my life are pretty dead set on one side of the fence or the other. Sometimes it leaves me feeling like I’m straddling the line and just need to pick a side.

I’m never very persuasive in a political debate but moderate quite well as I can usually identify with both sides of an argument. I just try to pick the best characteristics and viewpoints from all parties and candidates I learn about vote for an individual, not a party. It’s always refreshing to find I’m not the only one that feels this way.