This week, I had to do some travel for work, and rather than drive, we took the train. It was an amazing way to travel, much less expensive than flying, and it makes me wish that flying was more like train travel. Not just the ability to keep my shoes on during the entire process, but the amount of space was incredible. Definitely a comfortable ride. That said, it’s also significantly slower than flying. When we were leaving Philadelphia, we met some people who were taking the train all the way to New Orleans. Now that’s a long train trip. But I’m sure it saves some money and there are people who are afraid to fly or perhaps can’t fly for whatever medical reason.
What really impresses me is the old train stations. Union Station in D.C. is gorgeous (at least part of it is) and it just makes me think of the days when people put on their fanciest clothes to travel by train, because it was the only way to travel. I guess there is something romantic about the railroad, and it’s clearly an important part of our history. Doesn’t mean I’m going to be taking the train to New Orleans anytime soon though!
Megan is a 30-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:
In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance. It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information. It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck. While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.
While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.
Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.
So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan. I needed to budget. I needed to know what I was spending my money on. I needed to prepare for the future.
I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way. I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.
This is also on my list of things to do once in my life. I’ve always found the idea of travelling by train to be totally romantic. I had the opportunity to see Union Station at the beginning of the summer and I loved it.
I love the train! It’s the best way to get home to visit my parents,so I do it pretty regularly. It’s also the best time to get lost in your thoughts or a good book. And way easier and more comfortable than flying!