Our strategies

Our strategies for saving/growing our wealth:
max out wife retirement plan and my IRA - ride out the market for long term growth.
Save additional $1,000 per month for a bigger home (the next two years will be great for home buyers)
Grow my consulting business (work more/smarter)
Create a niche product for future passive income growth (henceforth called Project D).

Tax time

It's tax time in our household. Just went through our worksheet. Final tally:
Wife income: $33,000
Consulting biz gross receipts: $72,000
Consulting biz expenses: $36,000
consulting biz income: $36,000
dividend/capital gains: $1,000
AGI before my accountant does his magic and figures some more stuff out: $70,000

taxes paid by wife
$2,448 fed tax
$2,100 SS
$1,800 state
$470 medicare
taxes paid by onein5:
$1,090 federal

total taxes paid so far in 2007: ~$7,900. Not counting sales tax, gas tax, airport tax, highway tax, etcetera. :)

possible itemized deductions:
$6,000 IRA contributions
$900 qualified retirement plan
$9,200 mortgage interest
$345 student loan interest
$200 vehicle tax (state property tax)

Est 2007 taxable income: $52,500. We'll see what my accountant says we owe.

Other good finance blogs

Went looking through the internet and discovered there are a number of good blogs out there documenting the writer's personal financial journeys:

www.mymoneyblog.com
http://www.2millionblog.com/

I will add more as I find them.

Breakdown of non-retirement accounts

Emigrant direct savings: $5,700
Vanguard Wellington: $3,500
Scottrade Brokerage: $1,900 (11 FXI and 70 UEC)
checking accounts: $4-6,000
connected savings accts: $500
Duke Energy DRIP: $300
EE bonds: $900

Breakdown of retirement accounts

combined IRA accounts: ~$91,000
RSP - $24,800
VTRIX - $22,500
VEXMX - $9,500
BRK.B - $9,000
BDJ - $5,440
BDT - $5,070
RPF - $3,700
VPL - $2,700
VWO - $4,800
VGK - $2,900
IXC: $540

Wife Vanguard 403(b) - her present employment plan: $2,424
VGTSX: $850
VEXMX: $484
VIGRX: $966
VGSIX: $124