2010 - Page 5 of 14 - Engineer Your Finances

Perils of Automation: One Personal Disaster

Aug 20 2015Sep 19 2010 by Fin Engr

If you’ve already read about my sudden disappearance, then you’d know I’ve been out-of-pocket for a while now with personal matters. Well, I’ve got an interesting story to share which occurred during this transitory time.

All the way from the professional guru to the amateur blogger, anyone in personal finance has, at one point or another, touted the benefits of automation. Automatically diverting all of your money to whatever your financial cocktail includes – savings, college, paying bills, investments, mortgages, and so on.

And who could disagree! For those who have trouble saving, it forces them to adjust their spending to whatever’s leftover. For those looking to dollar-cost average their investments, it periodically purchases your holdings at pre-determined intervals, in pre-determined amounts. And what about those crazy late fees! Everybody hates paying those, and with automation you can eliminate them entirely by paying every bill on time.

Or so I thought. And herein lies the story…

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USDA Loans. For everyone?

Aug 21 2015Aug 12 2010 by Fin Engr

Is the American dream of homeownership still in your dreams? Thanks to USDA loans, more and more Americans are becoming homeowners, and you can become one of them. With huge benefits and easy qualification measures, if you’re looking to buy a home in a rural area, a USDA loan could be the perfect finance option for you.

When financing a home, one of the biggest hurdles is often coming up with enough cash to make a down payment on your loan. But with a USDA loan, you don’t have to worry about this. USDA loans are the only non-military loans that offer $0 down payment even with 100% financing, so you don’t have to wait to start looking for a home.

Financial Mistakes of Young Families

Aug 12 2025Aug 09 2010 by Fin Engr

The following is a guest post by Crystal at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff. Her blog covers living expenses, saving for your future, and the fun stuff in between. Quickly gaining popularity and a strong following, make sure to check out her other great articles before she goes big-time!

I don’t hit on parental subjects very often since I only have dogs, but I liked these tips in the Yahoo Finance article, The Six Mistakes Young Families Make. I think these are mistakes made by lots of people, not just young families.

Here’s their six mistakes and my view on them:

Career Lessons from Dating

Aug 21 2015Aug 06 2010 by Fin Engr

Probably one of the more fun articles I’ve written, I was ecstatic when Budgeting in the Fun Stuff let me reprint this article. The original link is included, so check out all the great comments! I’d been on a string of career-type articles, being added to a few Wisebread listings courtesy of Linsey Knerl. ENJOY…

Parallels are all around us. Browsing the site, you may have already come across Financial Lessons From Engineering or Financial Lessons from Running, which made relationships to personal finance from other experiences.

Making the connections can be a lot of fun, and the more adventures we have in life – the more overlapping themes we’ll notice. The funniest part is, you’ll be surprised at where they pop up!