Category Archives: Money Management & Personal Finance

Book review: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Social Security and Medicare

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Doug Nordman

I didn’t expect to be reading a book like this for at least another decade, let alone writing a review of it. I’m no less than 12 years away from Social Security and nearly 15 years away from Medicare. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Money Management & Personal Finance, Reviews | Leave a comment

Raising a money-smart kid

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Doug Nordman

Our college daughter (just survived freshman year!) spent the last couple weeks at home. As she was reviewing the packing list for next month’s NROTC training, she noticed that it included traveler’s checks. “Traveler’s checks”?!? If you’re at least in … Continue reading →

Posted in Military Life & Family, Money Management & Personal Finance | 3 Comments

Raising an ER-smart kid

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Doug Nordman

Short post today, but it’s building the foundation of raising a financially smart kid. An earlier post talked about the challenges of retiring early when you’re still raising your kids.  That raises another question: How do you raise kids to … Continue reading →

Posted in Military Life & Family, Money Management & Personal Finance | Leave a comment

Building the Ultimate Investment Portfolio

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Doug Nordman

I’ve been reading financial discussion boards for over a decade, and they tend to converge on a few perpetual topics. One of them is “How’s my portfolio?”  Here’s a typical example: “Hi guys glad I found this board great to … Continue reading →

Posted in Investing & TSP | 2 Comments

Military Survivor Benefit Plan – An Overview to Help You Decide if You Should Buy in or Not

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Doug Nordman

This “simple little SBP summary” mutated into a two-part description. Today we’ll cover Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) for active-duty retirees and in the next post we’ll cover the Reserve Component SBP. The SBP will cost you up to 6.5% of … Continue reading →

Posted in Insurance, Money Management & Personal Finance | 13 Comments