A personal finance blog dedicated towards reaching FIRE which means Financial Independence Retire Early. On the way to our goal, we shall share our experiences by posting interesting articles on: retirement planning, investing, budgeting, taxes, bank deals and bonuses, frugal living, brokerages, financial theories and tools and other things that have aided us. http://firefinance.blogspot.com/ Thu, 01 Oct 2015 22:13:02 +0000 http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/ http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2009/05/happy-mothers-day_23.html May 10, 2015: We wish you a warm and happy Mother's Day. It's a fantastic day to acknowledge the celebration of motherhood and selfless contributions of mothers to our birth, growth and development. We all know that our moms do a thankless job. So let us seize this opportunity to thank them wholeheartedly. We also express gratitude to Anna Marie Jarvis (1864-1948), who, following the death of noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-8865156321173801358 Sun, 10 May 2015 07:21:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2013/02/happy-valentines-day.html Feb 14, 2015: We wish you a wonderful Valentine's Day :). Hope you have great fun and some treasured moments to cherish for a lifetime. Here is our ode to St. Valentine: One legend says, while awaiting his execution, Valentinus restored the sight of his jailer's blind daughter. Another legend says, on the eve of his death, he penned a farewell note to the jailer's daughter, signing it, "From your noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-5831164003031854626 Sat, 14 Feb 2015 08:12:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2007/01/announcements-happy-new-year-to-all.html Jan 01, 2015: We wish you a wonderful new year ahead. May everything that you need for a better life materialize this year :). At this auspicious start of a pristine year, we wish that all beings experience peace, joy and love. We also pray that there are no wars or natural disasters this year. This is a great time to set new goals. We are in the process of setting some simple ones for our noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-116768018800633133 Thu, 01 Jan 2015 08:00:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2013/11/happy-veterans-day.html Nov 11, 2014: We wish you a Happy Veterans Day :). It's a state and federal holiday across US. But those of us who are employees of corporate America need to go to work :(. Veteran's day has an inspiring history. In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-6726851200277725005 Tue, 11 Nov 2014 18:10:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2007/10/daylight-savings-time-reminder.html Nov 02, 2014: It is time to reset our household clocks and watches to get that extra hour on Sunday morning. We will get an extra hour of Sunday morning sleep on Nov 2, because of the time change that rolls our clocks back an hour every fall. This move back to Standard Time from Daylight Saving Time, or DST takes effect at 2 a.m. the first Sunday in November, rather than the last Sunday in noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-4831849736218541489 Sun, 02 Nov 2014 08:01:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2008/10/happy-halloween.html Oct 31,2014: We wish you a Happy Halloween. Hope you have a wonderful time at tonight's Halloween party dressed in fabulous yet scary costumes. Last night we filled our orange colored pumpkin bucket with colorful candies. Kids love them :). We know that pumpkin carvers are going to have a ball of a time today. There's a best pumpkin carver competition going on at our work place. Creativity noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-7695920859046666694 Fri, 31 Oct 2014 08:11:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2012/10/happy-columbus-day.html Oct 13, 2014: Wish you all a Happy Columbus Day. We Americans celebrate this day to mark the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas, on October 21, 1492. Wow! It's over five hundred years since that discovery :). Thanks to Columbus else Americas would have remained utterly unknown to the world. History Behind This Day The first Columbus Day celebration was held in 1792, noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-555314327958839898 Tue, 14 Oct 2014 04:09:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2008/03/three-quick-ways-to-get-out-of-debt.html Sep 24, 2014: At present we are debt free. It's a great feeling to have no financial debts. In fact it's said that the first step to save is to get rid of our debts. We agree. Your lifestyle can siphon off cash faster than the rate at which you earn it. More so if you lead a fast life where you are conscious of status symbols, social image and can spare no time to manage your finances. Such a noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-4147490752780743568 Wed, 24 Sep 2014 18:35:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2013/09/wish-you-happy-fall.html Sep 22, 2014: We wish you a joyful Fall ahead :). According to the U.S. Naval Observatory, officially it began at 10:29 p.m. EDT during the autumnal equinox, when the sun crossed directly over the Earth's equator and both day and night were about equal. Fall will last three months and end on December 20th. Fall comes with some spectacular foliage and colors. Nature takes on another form with noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-3134587462105310546 Tue, 23 Sep 2014 03:48:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2012/09/happy-labor-day.html Sep 01, 2014: We wish you a wonderful Labor Day. Hope your long weekend went well :). Ours was spent in de-cluttering our household. This year our focus has been to reduce consumption, so we refrained from buying stuff through "Labor Day Sale" promotions. It feels great to get rid of stuff! Coming back to Labor Day and its history, here is a short quote: Traditionally, Labor Day is celebrated noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-1574692539279195817 Mon, 01 Sep 2014 18:11:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2008/03/top-10-dollar-store-buys_3.html Aug 28, 2014: Shopping at a Dollar Store is really fun. Over years we have observed that certain goods are definitely cheaper at dollar stores. So we created a dollar store game plan to cash in on low prices. We often wondered how they kept their prices so low. Later we discovered that dollar stores, whether mom-and-pop shops or local franchises of a national chain, get some inventory from noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-4612518198509718020 Thu, 28 Aug 2014 07:12:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2008/08/quickbooks-simple-start-free-online.html Aug 26, 2014: Quickbooks is offering their product Online Simple Start 2014, FREE for 30 Days. No credit card is needed to avail this deal. If you have a small business with simple accounting needs then this tool might be a perfect fit for you. Simple Start is an easy-to-use free small business accounting software that can help you to manage your business better by staying organized, being noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-2915141480694306841 Tue, 26 Aug 2014 07:12:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2013/08/check-scam-dont-be-victim.html Aug 19, 2014: We received a letter in the mail which had a check and a notification. It said that we'd won a foreign lottery! So far so good, after all who does not like free money especially lotteries. The next step was to deposit the check but there was a catch which raised our suspicion. We're told to keep the portion representing our winning and wire transfer $3000 back to cover the taxes so noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-3519260742871501609 Wed, 20 Aug 2014 06:11:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2013/08/back-to-school-super-savers-guide.html Aug 14, 2014: Back to school season is here. Parents and students alike are busy planning, budgeting and shopping to meet the semester head on. With rising tuition and increasing costs of school as well as college education, getting our kids back to school can be a major drain on our pockets if we don't plan it well. It gets better if we can get our kids to cooperate with us :). Well, easier said noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-3223704741006629404 Fri, 15 Aug 2014 06:59:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2013/11/top-traffic-referrers-for-fire-finance.html Aug 05, 2014: July saw us traveling a lot. It was really a challenge to maintain this blog amidst our busy schedules. Thankfully, we were able to meet the challenge successfully :). Heartfelt thanks to our loyal audience and friends from the personal finance community for sending traffic and visiting FIRE Finance. We express our gratitude to July's top traffic referrers: Equifax Blog Tight noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-2077238942999891698 Wed, 06 Aug 2014 06:11:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2013/07/julys-best-of-fire-finance-2013.html Jul 31, 2014: July was renamed for Julius Caesar, since he was born in this month. Earlier, it was called Quintilis in Latin, since it was the fifth month in the ancient Roman calendar, before January became the first month of the calendar year. However in the Gregorian Calendar July is the seventh month of the year. We like July since on an average, it is the warmest month in most of Northern noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-5296183462709904649 Thu, 31 Jul 2014 19:46:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2014/07/why-do-we-get-laid-off-complicated.html Every morning a small and simple ant arrived at work very early. Without wasting any time he started his work immediately. He produced a lot and was very happy about his contribution to his company :). The Chief of the company, a lion, was surprised to see that the ant was working without supervision. He thought to himself: "If the ant can produce so much without supervision, wouldn't he noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-4671247828266611855 Tue, 22 Jul 2014 07:21:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2014/07/dilberts-personal-finance.html Jul 17, 2014: We found a very pithy article (at fool.com) by Robert Brokamp about Dilbert's views on personal finance. The essence of the article is quoted as: In his book Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel, Adams offered his one-page personal finance book. Here it is:Make a will. Pay off your credit cards. Get term life insurance if you have a family to support. Fund your 401(k) to the noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-2548910722277085339 Thu, 17 Jul 2014 07:21:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2014/07/save-your-wallet-with-these-penny-hacks.html Jul 15, 2014: Every couple of months our wallets wear out due to the stress of bulging coins on the soft leather. Often the cost of replacing a wallet varies from $10 to $25. We're wondering about ways to optimize this expense. One possible solution is to increase the life of the wallet. Another one is to do away with the use of a wallet! Since we need a wallet, we chose to go with the former one noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-3148219054583387889 Tue, 15 Jul 2014 19:21:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2014/07/free-courses-from-mit-available-online.html Jul 10, 2014: For those of you who are interested in advancing your knowledge through formal coursework, MIT is offering its courses online, FREE for everyone. The site has been given the name MIT Open Course Ware. It offers different courses in diverse subject areas. As FIRE seekers we are interested in courses on Economics and certain topics of Finance offered by Sloan School of Management. noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-114353926768345113 Thu, 10 Jul 2014 07:34:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2014/07/what-is-current-unemployment-rate.html Jul 08, 2014: Unemployment has been a rising concern since the US economy went into recession. At present, our president is trying to boost employment by providing tax cuts and tax credits to encourage businesses to hire. In most reports concerning the US economy, the unemployment rate is frequently mentioned. But many are at a loss for understanding what this number really means. Let's take a noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-4302751711651142619 Tue, 08 Jul 2014 07:12:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2014/07/july-4th-happy-independence-day.html Jul 04, 2014: We wish you all a happy independence day. 238 years have gone by since July 3rd, 1776 when we adopted the Declaration of Independence and broke the shackles from the Kingdom of Great Britain. This is a special day since it commemorates the birth of a great free nation "The United States of America." Independence is dear to most of us. This site was started to maintain a log of our noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-201110331872492949 Fri, 04 Jul 2014 07:21:00 +0000 http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2014/07/improve-your-financial-luck-by.html Jul 02, 2014: One of the best things a person can do to get on the path toward financial independence and early retirement is to start a business. There is simply no limit to what you can do as an entrepreneur. Whether you are an inventor of a product or the creator of a service, entrepreneurship is one path to enormous wealth. One of the most important steps to take in the early phases of noreply@blogger.com (H Basu) tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22709962.post-3499722265318973612 Wed, 02 Jul 2014 07:34:00 +0000