Moving around PF blogs, you see a lot of advice and tips for smart money moves to make. There are some, though, that I just haven’t been willing and/or able to implement.

1. After you’ve paid off your car, keep making those payments to yourself then buy your next car in cash. It’s been ages since we had a car payment (except the four months or so after we learned how not to buy a car). So while I know this is good advice, I’m too late to implement it easily in our family. Our budget is just allocated differently now and I don’t have that kind of money just sloshing around in it. I feel okay about that, though, because barring the total destruction of my car, I don’t figure we’ll be needing to replace either for many years to come.
2. Fund your 401(k) up to the employer match, then fund a Roth to the max, then switch back to the 401(k). I know lots of people advocate this three-step approach. I’ve found it’s too much trouble for me. I just fund my 401(k) up to the maximum for the year and put a couple thousand into each of our Roths.
3. Keep your emergency savings in a high-yield savings account like Emigrant or HSBC. I use a money market fund offered by USAA instead. I’ve compared rates after seeing all the buzz on PF blogs about who’s getting what rate and my money market is competitive. It costs me a little bit in fees, so net-net I’m losing a tiny bit of money using it instead. I do it for a couple of reasons. One, I do everything else with USAA so this keeps it all together. Two, I can get the money immediately if necessary, unlike an online bank. Typically they need 2-3 days to get you the money. Finally, it’s not costing me enough money to switch.