Summary Sunday for July 16th, 2017

SUMMARY SUNDAY IS A WEEKLY POST WHERE I PUT OUT A SHORT LIST OF THE PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG POSTS AND ARTICLES I LIKED THE MOST THROUGHOUT THE PREVIOUS WEEK. LINKS TO EACH POST ARE IN THE HEADERS. I HOPE YOU ENJOY THEM TOO!

I did something really fun yesterday – I met up with a group of personal finance bloggers! And now that I know them, I thought I’d introduce you, too. It was a diverse group, so there should be something in here for everyone. And for my military friends, there is something at the end just for you!

Zero Day Finance

David led the charge on this meetup. Thank you, David! Most blogs have a niche, and his big thing is the Zero Day Challenge. Remember when I talked about no-spend challenges on Wednesday? He was one of the people I linked to!

Make sure you check out his recent post on saving over $18,000 with the Zero Day Challenge. David got instantly semi-famous with this post. It was featured on CNBC!

Feminist Financier

You can probably guess this by the name, but Feminist Financier is a personal finance blogger who focuses on women and money. Her goal is to help women because of the unique struggles they have with money. But if you are a guy don’t worry, there is plenty of material in her blog for everybody!

Need2Save

We also had a married couple at the table! Mr. and Mrs. Need2Save are working towards financial independence/retiring early and had some exciting news about it to share with us at lunch…but I’ll let you discover their plans by reading the blog! A common reaction I get when I talk to people in real life about FIRE is “yeah, you think it’s possible because you don’t have a spouse and children. Watch what happens when that changes.” Well, Mr. & Mrs. Need2Save are making it happen with two kids! If you are thinking FIRE is an impossible task, I highly recommend their blog.

Guy On FIRE

Guy on FIRE is writing about – you guessed it – FIRE. Specifically, he is focusing on building his passive and residual income so he can retire in his late 20s to early 30s. Talk about early retirement! If you are interested in real estate investing, may I suggest giving his blog a look? I am J-E-A-L-O-U-S over the profit numbers on his properties!

ZJ Thorne

ZJ is paying off a mountain of debt, mostly but not entirely student loans. She’s using the blog to hold herself accountable during the process, which is such a great idea! If you want to stalk observe someone else as they get rid of debt, check her out. She does a weekly breakdown of all of her numbers.

Additionally, one thing that doesn’t get talked about very much in the personal finance world is how different it can be if you are LGBT. ZJ’s blog is one of only two I’m aware of that is talking specifically about the LGBT community. If you or someone you know might be interested in that, check her out!

Tall Investing

If you are looking to learn more about dividend investing, check out Tall Investing! He is building a portfolio based on dividend growth investing, and each month he talks about which companies he is looking at buying and how his portfolio is doing.

A New Lifetime GI Bill Is Likely To Become Law. Here’s How It Will Impact Vets

Task and Purpose – July 13, 2017

And for my military readers, some important news about the GI Bill! There seems to be pretty widespread, bipartisan support for this GI Bill change. And that’s just “GI Bill,” no special name for this one. The part that will impact everybody is the ‘forever’ aspect – veterans will no longer face a use-it-or-lose-it requirement to use their benefits within 15 years of separating from service. There is also good news for survivors and dependents, reservists, and Purple Heart recipients.

There isn’t any mention of any change to the amount of the GI Bill, which makes me think it will be structured like the Post-9/11 version. The Post-9/11 is *usually* worth more because it includes a housing allowance if the user is not already receiving a housing allowance from the military. I’ll keep you updated as this story progresses.