This week, after seven years at my current job, I received an office upgrade. It’s bigger and has windows with a pretty nice view. But the new office is really just another form of “golden handcuffs.” It’s still just a space, inside a building, where I’m supposed to trade years of my …
Isn’t it crazy that July is almost over already? Thankfully, we’ve been making the most of the summer season and still have a lot of fun planned for August. Our financial journey usually plays some role in our day-to-day life, but I’ve been trying to be mindful of taking time …
The reason that most people adopt a frugal lifestyle is probably to improve their finances. Learning how to reduce your living costs can have a huge impact on your net worth. Given that money worries are the most common form of stress in modern society, improved lifestyle can have long …
We’ve been “paying off” our debt for what seems like forever. The underlying problem was our bad attitudes about money. Every time there was a little available credit, we broadened our definition of what was “affordable.” We would bring the balances down, only to build them back up. Now that …
Money problems and time management issues seem to be frequent complaints, yet tons of people (children and adults) have spent this past week running around chasing imaginary creatures with the new Pokemon Go app. While I am happy that this video game encourages exercise, I can’t help but think there are much …
My brain is often bombarded with reflective thoughts (I over-analyze everything), but this is especially true with my birthday. The celebration marks another year gone from my limited time on this earth. Everyone must engage in a little self-assessment on their birthday – pondering where you’ve been and what’s to come. …
Confession: I miss The Walking Dead (the new season doesn’t start until October). We don’t watch that much television, but my Friday night treat used to be catching up on the show while drinking a little bit of wine. It’s probably better to have nothing to watch during the summer, as …
One of the things that constantly inspires me about the personal finance community is the enormous amount of diversity among our goals and road maps. I think we can all agree that there are a number of guidelines (as opposed to commandments) that provide us with methods for escaping from …
The purpose of this blog is to document my family’s journey out of debt and to financial semi-independence. One of the benefits of having a platform like this is to track our progress, with accountability. Well, it’s time to come clean about our current status – for better or for worse. …
The financial independence / early retirement community relies on several basic tenets in their quest for freedom from the “normal” lifestyle defined by working 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, until old age. One of these golden rules for FIRE is that you need to invest 25 times your …