The Moneyaires

We’re the Moneyaires; a couple who’ve learned a thing or two on how to make, save, invest and enjoy money.

Earn and Invest

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  • 5 Penny Wise and Pound Foolish Things

    Advertisements I see a trap many hardworking smart people fall into to save money. You’ll see these posts pop up from popular budgeting blogs about “easy” ways to save money. One that I thought was particularly egregious was about how to optimize loading your dishwasher. As if running only full loads will make you a…

  • Roulette’s Important Investing Concepts

    Advertisements Mr. Moneyaire and I both enjoy playing roulette. However, we have very different styles. Mr. Moneyaire finds the way I play roulette to be a bit annoying. I find the way he plays to be reckless. However, the way we play roulette can teach us important investing concepts. I like playing roulette. There’s a…

  • New Law; 529 Plans & Roth IRAs

    Advertisements One of the biggest reasons parents hold back on funding their child’s 529 College Savings Plans is the fear of overfunding it. They are afraid that they will be locking up money that can only be used for education. What if their child doesn’t go to college? The horror if their child gets a…

  • Should I get Life Insurance for my Child?

    Advertisements I’m in several Facebook groups dedicated to helping women with their personal finance goals. A lot of women ask really important questions, including about life insurance. I was asked directly “should I get life insurance for my child?” She explained that her kid has a high likelihood of being uninsurable as an adult. She…

  • Millionaire Traits

    Advertisements We recently took a trip to celebrate my best friend from college at her 40th birthday party. It was a special occasion and I very much looked forward to spending time celebrating my gorgeous friend. I bought a new dress for the party, we bought our airline tickets and stayed with Mr. Moneyaire’s old…

  • I Bonds Won’t Make You Rich

    Advertisements I’ve been receiving a lot of positive feedback from folks about my articles on I Bonds. I am delighted something I wrote has helped people! However, let’s take a step back and review because I Bonds won’t make you rich. I don’t think I’ve gone a day in the last 5 months without seeing…

  • Your Home Is Not a Great Investment

    Advertisements “Why not buy a larger home with a bigger yard? It’d be a great investment.” A friend of ours asked us this question when we mentioned how it might be nice for Baby Moneyaire to have a bigger yard to play in. We’ve recently been looking at single family homes with a yard. However,…

  • Female Powered Investing

    Advertisements If you’ve mistook the last few week’s headline news reports for fiction straight out of Handmaid’s Tale, you wouldn’t be alone. Women’s right to abortion has taken a huge hit. Someone at the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) leaked an opinion by a majority of the high court that will overturn Roe…

  • ESG Investing

    Advertisements The past few weeks have been special for the Abrahamic traditions. Christians celebrated Easter (Orthodox Easter a week later), Jews celebrated Passover, and Muslims observed Ramadan and Eid. Recently, there seems to be an assault on women’s reproductive rights. Religion, environmental sustainability, corporate governance, and societal concerns, are very important to people’s value systems.…

  • Series I Bonds and a 9.62% Interest Rate

    Advertisements The first time I wrote about Series I Bonds was in November of 2021. I wrote about using I bonds to park excess emergency fund money to stave off inflationary pressures on your cash. November 2021 was the first time I purchased I Bonds because the interest rate was a historic high 7.12%. As…

  • Secondhand Satisfaction

    Advertisements With everything going on in the world today, it’s been hard to get something written for the blog. If the tragedy in Ukraine has taught me anything, it’s that I should count my blessings. This past weekend, I bought Baby Moneyaire a new toy that has sparked a lot of joy both for her…

  • What Can I Do to Help the Ukrainian People?

    Advertisements In what seems like a megalomaniac’s desire to take back lands and live out a Hitler-esque dream of bringing back the USSR, a lot of people in Ukraine are going to die, be displaced, lose everything or be injured. Watching the news and the stock market here in the US I feel a bit…

  • Don’t Panic Sell! Panic Buy!

    Advertisements Anyone else getting a little motion sickness from the dive the stock market has taken since the start of the year, and especially this past week? I have had a few friends reach out and ask me what I’ve been doing this past week regarding my portfolio. The answer, I think some of them…

  • A Satisfying Way to Save Money

    Advertisements Happy New Year! I have seen and heard so many New Year resolutions around money! People want to save, invest, make, and sell more. It’s all very exciting and I hope everyone hits their goals. I have a little trick that’ll help you in the save and invest department. In this post I am…

  • Budgeting; Tracking Your Money

    Advertisements Mr. Moneyaire here, again—hey! As Mrs. Moneyaire has mentioned on other posts, budgeting is a pretty big deal in the Moneyaire household. We meet semi-regularly to review budget status, have a specific review meeting in January to review that year’s budget, and have lots of informal conversations about budgeting throughout the year. Tracking where…

  • A Budget Process in 3 Steps

    Advertisements If budgeting was a natural and pleasant thing to do, everyone would be doing it. It took us some time to get it right. We have combined our natural affinities to create a 3-part budget process that we’ve fine tuned over 15 years together. I am probably above average regarding how many budgeting “how…

  • Credit Score Hacks

    Advertisements Credit scores are critically important. Having “Very Good”, or better yet, “Exceptional” credit can propel your financial independence journey. A “Good” or lower score can create a significant amount of drag. Scores determine the interest rates you get on on things like credit cards, mortgages, car loans, loans in general or if you’ll even…

  • 15 Answers to 529 Plan Questions

    Advertisements I have helped several families open 529 plans now and these are answers to 15 529 plan questions I get most often. The hardest part of a 529 plan is opening it. Hope this frequently asked questions post helps you get that 529 plan open! 1. Should I open a 529 plan with my…

  • Why I’m Buying Disney Stock Today

    Advertisements Today I’m writing about why I am investing in Disney stock today. This seems hypocritical, given my post on investing rules, right? Hear me out. You should still invest most of your money into cheap index funds or ETFs. However, when a good deal presents itself and you have some investing “fun money” it’s…

  • Moneyaire Investing Rules

    Advertisements The Moneyaires have been investing their money for over two decades and these are some investing rules I follow.  I started investing small amounts of money in a discount brokerage account in college.  I have made a lot of mistakes and I have learned A LOT.  I’ve lost money and luckily, I have, over…

  • Black Friday Moneyaire Style

    Advertisements As soon as we give thanks for all that we’ve been blessed with many of us run out immediately and spend a ton of money on a bunch of other things we didn’t need just a few hours ago in a Black Friday frenzy. Black Friday has bled into Thanksgiving and it’s time to…

  • Navigating Through No

    Advertisements Greetings from Mr. Moneyaire! After much cajoling from Mrs. Moneyaire and some inspiration from her Accidental Landlord post, I’ve finally come up with a topic worth posting on this blog. Anyone who has been in a relationship for any length of time will understand what it’s like to navigate between two competing objectives. This…

  • Series I Savings Bonds and Your Emergency Fund

    I Series Savings Bonds are a virtually risk free way to keep your money from losing out to inflation.

  • Accidental Landlords

    Advertisements We had no intentions of becoming landlords. It was 2006; Mr. Moneyaire and I were engaged to be married and we made the decision to buy a home for us to start our married lives together. We decided that we would purchase a home based on Mrs. Moneyaire’s salary (something she would be able…

  • Asking for 529 Gift Contributions

    Advertisements The Illinois Bright Start Direct-Sold College Savings Plan is a great way to save for college. If you live in Illinois or several other states, it’s probably the best 529 plan option out there. To read up on it and to open one, check out this post. Allowing family and friends to make 529…

  • Time Value of Money

    Advertisements It’s so essential to really understand how just getting started can really bolster your financial growth potential. If you haven’t started saving and investing, or aren’t optimizing it today, the next best time to start is right now. No need to wait for tomorrow or when you have a certain amount saved up. Many…

  • Yes, You can Invest with as Little as $10

    Advertisements Get new content delivered directly to your inbox. One of the biggest things that hold people from investing and growing their money is the thought that they don’t have enough money yet to start investing. Have you ever thought, “I’ll start investing once I save up $1,000”? Forget that! So many brokerages allow free…

  • 529 Plans!

    Advertisements Opening a 529 plan is one of the best investments you can make for your child. In a 529 plan money grows tax free and can be used tax free for educational expenses. Also, in many states you can also claim a tax deduction or credit on state income taxes. Opening a 529 plan…

  • Investing in the Time of Coronavirus

    Advertisements Ever since coronavirus shut down the economy, the stock market has been a roller coaster ride. Many people are wondering if this is a good time to get into the market–or to get out. It’s definitely not the time to sell. For many people, this crisis presents a good time to buy. Buying stocks…

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