All tagged relationships

The End of An Era: Goodbye Marriage Penalty

The End of An Era: Goodbye Marriage Penalty

Anna
Relationships, Financial Education, Taxes

50 years. That’s how long it took to get rid of the “marriage penalty” in our federal tax system. What’s even worst is that some people never even knew it existed. The marriage penalty arose if two married individuals, both earning income, paid more in taxes if they file with under “married filing jointly” than if they filed taxes separately under the “single” tax status. How is this possible? It’s because the income tax brackets from single status did not rise in proportion to the marriage filing jointly tax bracket.

Ramen($) or Steak($$$): Finding the Balance

Ramen($) or Steak($$$): Finding the Balance

Anna
Relationships

My husband and I started our FIRE (Financial Independence/Retire Early) journey in the spring of 2017. We agreed that we both wanted to reach FIRE but figuring out how to get there has been a bit of a sticking point. There have been countless discussions about the best approach to get there. He says our focus should be to earn more so we can save for the future and allow ourselves to indulge in the luxuries of life (i.e. steak dinners). While I agree to some extent, I think our focus should be on spending less since this is more of a controllable factor. Now I’m not suggesting we eat ramen noodles for every meal, but there’s nothing wrong with being more cost conscious.

What I Made My Boyfriend Do 6 Months Into Our Relationship For FI

What I Made My Boyfriend Do 6 Months Into Our Relationship For FI

Catherine Agopcan
Relationships

Let's talk money, honey!

I met my boyfriend (now my husband) on Valentine's Day. As with any relationship, our path to becoming "official" took some time. By the time we became official, we had known each for months already. Earlier on in our relationship, we've always been pretty open about the range of topics we would discuss. From family to work to goals and dreams, nothing seemed out of the question to discuss. While we both didn't know how serious we were going to be, to me it was never too early to start thinking about the future.

Dual Income, No Kids, Still Broke

Dual Income, No Kids, Still Broke

Catherine Agopcan
Relationships

Dual income, no kids? Take advantage.

A few years ago, while working in IT, my co-workers which were mostly men always talked about this concept of DINKs. As a 22 year old, I had no idea what that meant. I had never heard of the term before and was pretty surprised that a term like this existed. For those that are not familiar, DINK stands for Dual Income, No Kids. It describes a childless couple where both partners work. For a period of time, many couples will fall into this category as they settle into married life. I wanted to bring this concept up because there's an opportunity here if we stop to take a full look at it. Mainly, it's the opportunity to really coral all of your finances and set yourself up for Financial Independence before kids are in the picture. What can this look like?