On hiatus for relaunch

I'm sure you've noticed I haven't posted since May 18. I have good reasons: 1) I spent the bulk of the last three weeks traveling and 2) after considerable thought, it's time to relaunch and revamp the blog. So I'm putting things on hold until about late June. When I come back, you can expect a few things:

• a better layout, images or video with every post and just a generally better looking blog
• better topics. I've noticed how loud the crickets are when I post about the economy and I get more responses when I answer questions that are on people's minds. Look forward to more chances to ask questions and also talk about career choices and other decisions on the periphery of personal finance.
• I may or may not keep the blog here or migrate it over to wordpress. Either way, the URL won't change.

See you in late June

On the road again

I'm traveling again, y'all. Back with a fresh post on Wednesday. Email me with any suggestions or interesting money experiences from the past weekend.

How much property tax is too much?

So, partly inspired by Bobby & Aleks, I'm looking around my neighborhood at homes for sale. It's a great time to buy if you're ready: prices and rates are relatively low, there's an 8,000 property tax credit available from the feds until the end of the year and there remain way more buyers than sellers. Where I live in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights, there are any number houses for sale for under $100,000, which is cheap considering the median price in Shaker is nearly $200 grand and that the neighborhood has excellent public schools and other services (I don't even have to shovel my own snow or take my trash to the curb).

But all those services come with a cost and in Shaker, that cost is high. Property taxes on places that are selling like this, a rehab job selling for less than $35,000, are more than $6,100 a year. If that doesn't sound like much, consider this: a $6,100 a year tax bill would add more than $500 a month to your mortgage; on a house you only paid $35,000 for, that'd be more than double what you paid in principal and interest (assuming a 30-year mortgage at 6.5 percent).

So how much tax is too much? Would you pay exorbitant taxes to move into a great neighborhood with nice schools and services, or would you rather move elsewhere where you might get more house for the money?

What's your biggest money mistake?

Short, simple question today:

What's the biggest money mistake you've made in the past year?

Mine has been ignoring things that I know I should take care of, like parking tickets that I should pay but I let languish and wind up paying exorbitant fees on. What's yours?

The Money Map

There are all kinds of systems and programs out there that are supposed to do essentially the same thing: put you on the right path in terms of handling your money. I usually don't post about them for that reason, but occasionally someone will put me on to one that is interesting or different.

Yesterday, my coworker showed me a copy of a "money map" developed by a group called Crown Financial Ministries. I don't know much about them except that they appear to use Christian principles to promote financial well-being. Their money map (available here) basically gives you seven "destinations" starting with building emergency savings, and ending with having a retirement that's fully funded. At each destination you check off specific goals like saving $1,000 for emergencies, paying off credit cards, buying an affordable home and funding your children's education.

Two things I think are notable: the plan encourages you to make some uncommon sacrifices, but it also builds rewards into the system at every destination. For example, you're not told to start saving for retirement, a home or your children's education until destination 4, after you've already paid off your credit cards and all other consumer debt. That runs contrary to most financial advice I've ever heard, which generally suggests that you allocate money to saving, retirement and paying off debt simultaneously.

In all I think it's an interesting and workable plan that I might adopt for a few months if for no other purpose than to blog about it here. Does anyone else have a plan that they're following that they can share?

What do you wish you knew about money 10 years ago

Finally back from all that traveling: one week, four cities, three states. Yeesh.

The last leg of my trip inspired this post. I spoke to students at my alma mater, Coppin State University, about 10 things they need to know in life and about budgeting and money. What was interesting was that of all the questions I got on that trip, the thing students were most curious about was when I told them I don't like getting a big tax return at the end of the year. They didn't understand (like I didn't at that age), that getting a tax return only meant the government was giving them back money that they shouldn't have paid in the first place.

That got me thinking: what are some other things that you wish you'd known about money, say, 10 years ago, that you didn't know now? Leave your answers in the comments.

Out this week

I'm traveling all this week for work, so I won't be posting until next Monday. Have a great week.