Personal Financial Coach - Mark DeVoe

05/25/2026

05/04/2026

Milo's financial advice may not fit your special situation. How do you choose a financial coach when there is no certification and even Milo can claim to be a coach?

04/07/2026

Epic Mortgage Burning Party
20 Years Ago

In April 2006 we spent two mortgage payments throwing an epic mortgage burning party that is still talked about today. We rented tents and tables to set up by the pool and hired Carol and Bill Bayley of the legendary Bayley’s Seafood Restaurant to provide the food. Our oldest daughter (14) and her friend served (and tasted a few) frozen daiquiris from the machine we rented. Our entertainment was provided by David "Coconut Dave" Waugh performing live on the steel drums. Our neighbors behind us (not invited) had the police shut us down for noise. I soaked the mortgage with the tiki torch oil to make the picture of the main event more dramatic.

I still believe that it is important to celebrate our financial wins whenever we can. I know some of my clients and students act like they’re annoyed with me asking about their wins (which they KNOW is coming). However, it is too easy to get disillusioned with the hard work and the setbacks that frequently occur if we don’t celebrate our wins. When the setbacks occur adjust your plans and prepare for the next blessing.

How did we do it? [If you are one of the Dave Ramsey Pharisees stop reading now]. We did NOT make extra payments to the mortgage. Instead, whenever we had extra money for the mortgage we invested in an S&P 500 index fund. Although our interest rate was less than the 11% on our first house, at 6% the math says that it would probably take longer to payoff the mortgage this way if the S&P 500 returned its average 10%. If you have a 2-3% mortgage the math is more favorable. What the math doesn’t tell you is the emotional drain of living on our six month emergency fund for eight months and watching our equity (laughing at us) tied up in the house. We decided to maintain our liquidity even if it ended up delaying paying off our mortgage (Luckily, it accelerated the time). Once our investment reached the payout amount, we wrote a check and started planning our party.

01/07/2026

How would you respond to "we're from the IRS and we're here to help you!"?

12/19/2025

Playing Santa for the first time was fun except for the horrible beard and wig. I only made 3 children cry.

I enjoy teaching Financial Peace University (FPU) much more than playing Santa. Would you be interested in learning how to manage your finances? My next FPU is 9 weeks on Zoom starting Monday night 7:00ct 3/23/2026.

12/01/2025

Buc-Ee says it’s cool to stay on your Christmas budget

10/29/2025

Online workshop 3/16/2026 7:00CT "Paying for College Without Loans". See comments for link to booking information. Learn what we learned the hard way (or got lucky) in putting our four daughters through college without student loans.

10/22/2025

Ways to pay for college without loans. Choosing a major is the #1 task to determine the cost of college. Next "Ways to Pay for College Without Loans" virtual workshop is 3/16/2026 7:00 CT.


#529

09/29/2025

Open Enrollment starts soon for most companies. Be like Milo and update your 2026 company benefits before it's too late.

09/05/2025

Learn how it is possible to pay for college without student loans even if you haven't started saving in a 529 college fund. If you are a parent of an 8-12 grade student sign up for my next college workshop 11/3/2025 7:00CT.